iPad Still Top Tablet But Its Market Share Is Dropping
What comes in mind when you think of the advantages of an iPad? Of course, for some might be the touchscreen or the keyboard pops up when needed, for others the fact that it is easy to use and to carry, as it is lightweight andthe fact that it has no mouse.
But what about the manufacturer? Apple was the leader of the tablet market in the last quarter of 2012, but it seems that its Android competitors, Samsung and Asus, don’t want to leave things as they are now. Even if for the moment the market share says it clear that iPad is the leader, the Android tablets seem they want to conquer the market.
A report from the IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker made it clear that Apple sold worldwide a number of 22.9 million iPads in the last quarter of 2012. This is because of the iPad Mini and the 4th generation iPad, as the report states. The forecast of IDC was in line with the result. The interesting fact is that compared to the same quarter in 2011, the shipments and sales met an improvement of 48.1 percent.
But, in the fourth quarter of 2012, Apple recorded a share of 43.6 percent compared to 46.4 in the third quarter and 51.7 percent in 2011, the same period. So, it seems that people started buying Android tablets more, as their market share is higher.
Still, which comes on the second place? It is Samsung which shipped approximately 8 million Android and Windows 8 tablets, higher with 263 percent, compared to the same period last year. The company’s share on the market is now 15.1 percent compared to the same period last year when it was 7.3 percent, so it doubled.
But what about the other producers? Which is their fraction on the market?
After Apple and Samsung comes Amazon, which has good results in the last quarter of 2012: it shipped more than 6 million Kindle tablets, gaining 26.8 percent compared to 2011. Still, because of the others competitors escalation, its market share dropped with almost 4 percent, from 15.9 to 11.5 percent
Next, comes Asus, on the fourth place. Its market share was improved thanks to a specific product: Nexus 7 tablet.
The 5 place is for Barnes & Noble, with its product Nook tablets. It shipped almost a million products, but he didn’t ascend in the top, as its shipments and market share weren’t as good as those from last year.
What about Microsoft and his newly launched Surface RT tablet? Well, it is not in top five as it shipped under 900,000 tablets. An explanation might be the price, according to IDC as now it is available for $499. Also, Microsoft is going to launch the Surface Pro, which is expected to cost $799. According to Ryan Reith (IDC program manager) Microsoft should come to the market with smaller screen and lower prices. For the moment the consumers are not forward to paying more for desktop operating systems which are premium compared to other tablets, so if the price remains the same there will be no volume sales expected for the next period
The whole tablet market was of 52.5 million in the fourth quarter. Compared to other periods, the situation stays like this:
- 74.3 percent rise from the third quarter
-75.3 percent rise from 2011 – fourth quarter.
According to IDC, the key to success were the selling prices which were lower and the variety of new products which met the expectation of different type of customers.
What about you? What kind of tablet do you own? Are you satisfied with it or you’d rather change it with one of the competitors’ products?
