Australians appear to be developing closer affinity with tablet computing with a new report showing that the now ubiquitous mobile device is currently owned by close to 3 million users in the country.

According to technology research firm Telsyte, 1.4 millions Australians purchased tablet computer by in 2011, pushing up the number of tablet owners to 2.6 million by the end of the past year.

Telsyte researchers also noted that from the total numbers of Aussies who bought the mobile device in 2010, buyers last year contributed to a surge of about 330 percent annual growth for the multi-functioning gadget that was reinvented by Apple in 2007 via its million-selling iPad tablet computer.

It was no surprise then that Apple's innovative product captured the biggest pie of the Australian market in 2011, selling in the past year more than one million units or some 76 percent of the country's tablet computer market, Telsyte said.

Analysts noted that Samsung's Galaxy Tab would have performed much better last year had its release was not hampered by legal suits that Apple filed against the South Korean tech giant that temporarily halted the introduction of Galaxy tablet computers into the Australian market.

By the time an Australian court green lighted Galaxy Tab's debut late last year, Apple's iPad 2 all but dominated the local market like it did in the previous iteration of the cutting-edge mobile gadget.

And there is no stopping Australians from owning the device this year as Telsyte forecasted that another two million units will be sold in 2012, mostly coming from Apple and other vendors that manufacture Android-powered tablet computers.

It is likely though that Microsoft will start drumming up its presence this year with the impending release of tablet computers that will be operated by the new Windows 8 mobile platform.

Tech experts, however, are doubtful if Microsoft will be able to catch up this year - the same period that Apple is set to unveil the new iPad 3 plus the anticipated tablet upgrades coming from Android-focused devices.

The best that Microsoft can achieve this year is to send notice that it is actively playing the lucrative field though Telsyte analysts are predicting that with Microsoft tablets entering the market, its expansion could witness unprecedented movement in the immediate years ahead.

In Australia alone, as many as 11 million could be using tablet computers by 2016, Telsyte said, while Cisco Systems has predicted that global sales of the device will surpassed the global population by that time.

In a Wednesday report by Technology Spectator, the United Nations has estimated that the world population will explode by more than seven billion over the next four years, with Cisco anticipating that mobile devices should some 10 billion units at around the same time.

It is expected too that mobile connectivity, presumably due to further improvements on long-term evolution (LTE) network technology, would be fast enough by 2016 that media content providers should experience incredible growth.

"The rapidly growing audience is creating unprecedented opportunities for media publishers that are delivering their content via dedicated applications," the Telsyte report was quoted by The Australian as saying.