Declining iPad shipments allowed Android tablets to grab more market share than ever in the last three months, as shipments for Android devices more than doubled to 10.2 million units, according to a new study.
Apple disclosed on Thursday that global iPad shipments reached 14 million during its fourth quarter, up from 11 million units in the previous quarter last year -- while shipments increased, that 25.9 percent rise is much smaller than the previous year's 166 percent jump, and those numbers are far below the 15.55 million units analysts expected.
Research firm Strategy Analytics reports that worldwide Android tablet shipment numbers still trailed behind iPad's in the last three months, but estimates that they doubled from 5 million during the same period last year to now 10.2 million. And Android's market share grew from 29.2 percent to 41.3 percent (while Apple's fell from 64.5 percent to 56.7 percent).
No single Android vendor (e.g. Samsung) came anywhere close to matching Apple's volume of shipments, but the contributions from dozens of Google partners are helping Android tablets catch up. Android-based devices have also dominated the 7-inch mini-tablet space with Asus' Nexus 7 (pictured) and Amazon's Kindle Fire.
But Apple is heading into the holidays with its own 7.9-inch tablet, the newly announced iPad Mini, and many game developers tell Gamasutra that the device is likely to dramatically increase Apple's tablet market share. While it's the cheapest iPad Apple's ever sold at $329, it's still significantly more expensive than its rivals.
Microsoft has also just launched the Surface, its own tablet based on the Windows RT operating system (a version using Windows 8 will release in January). Prior to the Surface, the market share for Windows-based tablets dropped from 2.3 percent last year to now 1.6 percent -- shipments remained at around 400,000.
Strategy Analytics' "Global Tablet OS Market Share: Q3 2012" report found that year-over-year total growth for the global tablet market also fell from 288.6 percent in Q3 2011 (17.2 million tablet shipments total) to 43.4 percent in Q3 2012 (24.7 million tablet shipments total).
I've been waiting for this trend to show up ever since I heard a report that mobile carriers are going to stop subsidizing iPhones and iPads. It boggles my mind that a luxury product gained so much market share over it's mass-market competitors for so long, especially when so many people are supposedly out of work in the U.S.
A $600 product should never beat a $200 product in the same category in terms of market share -- it just shouldn't be possible. The iPad and iPhone's recent dominance is akin to 15 carat diamond rings outselling cubic zirconia (however it's spelled) rings -- it just doesn't make sense economically.
...which is why Steve Jobs hated Google with a passion at the end there. The moment Android hit the market it was Macs vs. PCs all over again. "Good enough" beats "perfect" in the market unless the price gap is close.
Apple had a gloss to it. Apple's stuff was (and still is) the cool, trendy product to have. Apple priced their iProducts accordingly. As long as android was noticeably lacking in important features and apps, Apple maintained that gloss.
Problem is there's only so many new important features Apple can add. When Android catches up, which it probably has, it boils down to a war of "nice to have" features. The premium Apple charges for its products sinks its market share down to the hardcore Apple fanatics.
I'm not even touching the fact that iOS6 is a total dog of an update. I was thinking about replacing my old iPhone 3GS with an android phone and iOS6 just nudges me further along that path.
Sell your apple shares, folks. This is as good as it's going to get unless Apple can come up with a new innovative, disruptive product without Steve Jobs.
If you want shipments from Apple you need to look at their channel inventory section which is a bit larger.
Plus Android tablet shipments (not sales) are mostly guesses, which could be greatly inaccurate (look at how accurate analyst's are every quarter with Apple's specifics and that's only one company who provides numbers).
However it is also worth noting that one point doesn't make a trend. At this point iPad sales growth is not slowing down (it could be but you can't say for a least a few more quarters to see the actual trend instead of the one offs).
IT's interesting, but the Android tablet numbers are just for last quarter which marked the debut of the new Fire and Nexus 7 tablets. And they are 7" devices not 10".
Apple had no new tablets released last quarter.
So these numbers while interesting aren't terribly apples to apples.
Does it indicate a longer trend of 7" tablets being favored over 10"? Does the decrease in iPad growth indicate that its market saturation point is near? Will Android continue to bite into Apple market share this quarter when new iPads are being released? Do consumers really like 7" tablets or just the price?
A $600 product should never beat a $200 product in the same category in terms of market share -- it just shouldn't be possible. The iPad and iPhone's recent dominance is akin to 15 carat diamond rings outselling cubic zirconia (however it's spelled) rings -- it just doesn't make sense economically.
Apple had a gloss to it. Apple's stuff was (and still is) the cool, trendy product to have. Apple priced their iProducts accordingly. As long as android was noticeably lacking in important features and apps, Apple maintained that gloss.
Problem is there's only so many new important features Apple can add. When Android catches up, which it probably has, it boils down to a war of "nice to have" features. The premium Apple charges for its products sinks its market share down to the hardcore Apple fanatics.
I'm not even touching the fact that iOS6 is a total dog of an update. I was thinking about replacing my old iPhone 3GS with an android phone and iOS6 just nudges me further along that path.
Sell your apple shares, folks. This is as good as it's going to get unless Apple can come up with a new innovative, disruptive product without Steve Jobs.
If you want shipments from Apple you need to look at their channel inventory section which is a bit larger.
Plus Android tablet shipments (not sales) are mostly guesses, which could be greatly inaccurate (look at how accurate analyst's are every quarter with Apple's specifics and that's only one company who provides numbers).
However it is also worth noting that one point doesn't make a trend. At this point iPad sales growth is not slowing down (it could be but you can't say for a least a few more quarters to see the actual trend instead of the one offs).
Apple had no new tablets released last quarter.
So these numbers while interesting aren't terribly apples to apples.
Does it indicate a longer trend of 7" tablets being favored over 10"? Does the decrease in iPad growth indicate that its market saturation point is near? Will Android continue to bite into Apple market share this quarter when new iPads are being released? Do consumers really like 7" tablets or just the price?