Motorola has just released its financial reports for 2011, revealing a few hard numbers about the performance of its mobile division. The tablet sales data is the most interesting in light of today’s analysis of the global Android tablet market, with Motorola claiming to have shipped “approximately 200 thousand” Android tablets during Q4 of 2011.

In total, Motorola sold around 1 million tablets during all of 2011. We have no idea if that’s a lot or not a lot, so argue amongst yourselves as to the meaning and relevance of this data – and the use of the word “shipped.”

As for phone sales, Motorola says it shipped 10.5 million phones in Q4 and 42.4 million mobiles during all of 2011 – and 5.3 million of the annual total were smartphones.

Read Motorola’s full latest set of financial data online here.

Samsung has sent out a handful of better images of its Galaxy Tab 10.1 installation in the London Eye, showing us what the bespoke landscape guide looks like when bolted in position. You could probably imagine it, but here it is anyway. The Galaxy Tabs have been encased in a very chunky mount to stop people running off with them.

The SAMSUNG logo is going to be absolutely everywhere this year, as all the big corporations go sponsorship-crazy in the run up to the Olympics. Here’s the announcement from Bouncepad, which provided the custom casings:

Bouncepad’s tablet kiosks fly high at the EDF Energy London Eye

Tablet enclosure manufacturer Bouncepad has revealed that a special version of its robust casing products has been commissioned for a new project at the EDF Energy London Eye. The attraction’s 3.6m annual visitors will now be able to learn as they voyage above the London skyline, using a custom-built application run on Samsung’s sleek, widescreen Galaxy Tab 10.1, housed securely and elegantly in an adapted Bouncepad Gooseneck.

Read the full article »

According to analyst Strategy Analytics, the Android tablet scene is now gathering some serious momentum, with 39% of all tablet shipments in the last three months of 2011 being Android-based units.

Global tablet shipments totaled 26.8 million units in the quarter, up from 10.7 million in the same period of 2010. It is literally kicking off. Here’s a snippet from Neil Mawston, one of the directors at Strategy Analytics:

Android captured a record 39 percent share of global tablet shipments in Q4 2011, rising from 29 percent a year earlier. Global Android tablet shipments tripled annually to 10.5 million units. Dozens of Android models distributed across multiple countries by numerous brands such as Amazon, Samsung, Asus and others have been driving volumes.

While Apple is said to have shipped 15.4 million iPads, it looks like 2012 will be the year Android tablets live up to their promise and manage to out-sell Apple’s tablet.