• Android Tablets Absorb Some Marketshare from Apple Pre-iPad Launch

    by
    Akshay Masand
    Published on 2012-03-14 09:17 AM
    5 Comments Comments


    Research firm IDC recently released its Q4 2011 report on tablet shipments where Apple continues to lead the market with 54.7% of global market share, despite this number being down from 61.5% from the previous quarter. Apple did end up increasing shipments to 15.4 million units in Q4 (up from 11.1 million in Q3) but experienced a decline in market share due to Amazon’s Kindle Fire and other Android devices from competitors such as Samsung.

    The biggest competitor that Apple’s iPad faces is Amazon’s Kindle Fire with a 16.8% share of the tablet market and 4.7 million units shipped during Q4. Samsung follows with 5.8% of the market (up from 5.5% in Q3). The folks over at IDC noted that Apple’s results for the quarter represented an increase of 110.5% from the fourth quarter of 2010.

    As far as the battle between Android and iOS, IDC expects Android to overtake iOS for the global market share by 2015, noting that Andorid currently has 44.6% of the market as of Q4 2011. This result comes in after they saw a decrease for the iOS platform, which eel from 61.6% to 54.7% during the quarter. It should be noted that IDC’s reports account for tablet shipments and not actual sales. Apple typically sells as many new devices as it can make and the sme can’t be said for Android devices for sure. Tom Mainelli, the research director at IDC’s Mobile Connected Devices said the following regarding the report:

    Amazon’s widely-reported entry into the media tablet market with a $199, 7-inch product seemed to raise consumers’ awareness of the category worldwide despite the fact that the Fire shipped almost exclusively in the U.S. in the fourth quarter. As a result, products across the pricing spectrum sold well, including everything from Apple’s premium-priced iPads (which start at $499) to Pandigital’s line of Android-based, entry-level tablets (which start at $120). The success of market leader Apple was particularly noteworthy, as the company’s shipment total for the quarter represents an increase of 110.5% from 4Q10.
    With that being said, it's important to note that Apple's pricing scheme will also be changing. The iPad 2 will start at $399 and the original iPad wil be available in the U.S. refurbished store for as low as $299. Apple’s new “premium priced “ iPads are now up to $200 cheaper than before and in the case of the original iPad, only $100 more than the Kindle Fire. Getting the original iPad would still give you a much better deal for the price you are paying based on what you get in return. With the new pricing scheme in place, Apple should be able to target a wider audience and seek to regain sales in the low end spectrum of the market.

    Source: IDC (Press Release)
    This article was originally published in forum thread: Android Tablets Absorb Some Marketshare from Apple Pre-iPad Launch started by Akshay Masand View original post
    1. Categories:
    2. iOS,
    3. Apple,
    4. iPad
    Comments 5 Comments
    1. Norb's Avatar
      Norb - 2012-03-14, 11:45 AM
      Yeah pretty hard to compare a free OS to one specific companies product. I mean if everyone was jumping off a bridge would you (assuming there was not good reason to jump off and you weren't bungee jumping or sky diving and so on)?
    1. Bhp41's Avatar
      Bhp41 - 2012-03-14, 01:22 PM
      This makes zero sense. It doesn't do anything but scew the numbers of actual market share. This is why Samsung and most others only report shipments. It makes them look a hell of a lot better than they are.
    1. Maxime Caudebec's Avatar
      Maxime Caudebec - 2012-03-14, 02:53 PM
      Makes no sense
    1. zvandiver's Avatar
      zvandiver - 2012-03-14, 05:56 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by Norb View Post
      Yeah pretty hard to compare a free OS to one specific companies product. I mean if everyone was jumping off a bridge would you (assuming there was not good reason to jump off and you weren't bungee jumping or sky diving and so on)?
      The article also talks about tablets "shipped". That bears little relationship to tablets actually sold. Amazon has never released sales figures for the Kindle, and we know that the other companies have not sold anywhere near the numbers shipped. Apple reports iPads sold, which is the only number that matters
    1. scroogelives's Avatar
      scroogelives - 2012-03-14, 11:24 PM
      Quote Originally Posted by zvandiver View Post
      The article also talks about tablets "shipped". That bears little relationship to tablets actually sold. Amazon has never released sales figures for the Kindle, and we know that the other companies have not sold anywhere near the numbers shipped. Apple reports iPads sold, which is the only number that matters
      And it fails to mention the returns rate!! Remember samsungs galaxy tab, high %age returned due to unhappy customers

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