Apple's Share of Tablet Market Sees Slight Holiday Quarter Boost

Iamthinking said:

Yes and No. There are certainly regional interests, as well as location-specific biases (e.g., there are lots of kindles where people are reading ebooks".

However, I think that the more important point is that in situations in which the vast majority of people used to pull out a laptop (which was often overkill), they are now very often pulling out an ipad. The "pie" is made from whatever crust the analysts want to make it from in order to support their theory/point.

However, as already mentioned in previous posts, the "pie" that matters to developers (showing MY personal bias here) is that iOS is where there's lots to eat!

I would submit that the androids, kindles, and even the surface to some extent -- are the novelty toys that are kinda fun to play with or read a book/watch a youtube, but not to own and cart around all day.

-iamthinking

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Agreed. Programmer/App developer know's best. Their income depends on it.

Digital Skunk said:

And I can counter with even more anecdotal evidence.

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There you go - and anecdotal evidence is fun as an exchange of personal experience but in the end it's irrelevant when you look at the sales figures - not only of those of the iPad but tablets in general. Technically even the "use cases" of the tablets doesn't matter, if someone like Winni thinks they are toys, so be it, from his viewpoint obviously other people either want to play all day or do whatever else they want as those things are selling like crazy. And if you think that MS Surfaces are great for your requirements, that's good too (and I have no doubt that in certain use cases a full blown OS on a heavy duty tablet like the Pro can have it's advantages, just like the iPad obviously is first choice for whatever people want them for). So yes, it's all anecdotal, it's just interesting to see how tablets are perceived from different point of views, I for one never would consider them "toys" as I've encountered too many examples of so called "professional usage" over the past few years.

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Oletros said:

Apparently just in this thread, in the real world there is no report about Polaroid

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But isn't Polaroid market leader with it's Android tablets?

Karma*Police said:

"As always, it is important to note that IDC's numbers track shipments instead of sales, and thus how many shipped devices are making their way into consumers' hands remains unclear. IDC's figures are also estimates, as most companies do not release their exact tablet shipment data and thus research firms must rely on supply chain data and calculations from information that is made public by manufacturers to build their estimates."

In other words, IDC's numbers are meaningless and unreliable but the media keeps posting them anyway because of people's fascination with marketshare.

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I've said it before and I'll say it again:

Market share makes a great headline... but there's no compelling story afterwards.

KdParker said:

There will most likely be a time where only professionals who need the versatiliy and extra power of a laptop/desktop will be the target demograhic for desktops and laptops.

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I'm not saying you're wrong... but I'd hate to be a student having to write and research papers on a tablet.

Computers might become like typewriters used to be... students buy them when going off to uni, and never use them again after graduation.

Iamthinking said:

Yes and No. There are certainly regional interests, as well as location-specific biases (e.g., there are lots of kindles where people are reading ebooks".

However, I think that the more important point is that in situations in which the vast majority of people used to pull out a laptop (which was often overkill), they are now very often pulling out an ipad. The "pie" is made from whatever crust the analysts want to make it from in order to support their theory/point.

However, as already mentioned in previous posts, the "pie" that matters to developers (showing MY personal bias here) is that iOS is where there's lots to eat!

I would submit that the androids, kindles, and even the surface to some extent -- are the novelty toys that are kinda fun to play with or read a book/watch a youtube, but not to own and cart around all day.

-iamthinking

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Will do good said:

Agreed. Programmer/App developer know's best. Their income depends on it.

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Exactly! Developers know what's good for them. The market share numbers clearly aren't their driving factor.

The iPad is still the primary focus... even though Android tablets outsell the iPad 3 to 1

The iPhone is also a primary focus... even though Android smartphones outsell the iPhone 5 to 1

In both cases it shows how valuable the iPhone/iPad/iOS is.

Or... it shows how worthless all that Android market share actually is.

carjakester said:

i cant see most people using touchID for the ipad. i know that i dont even use any buttons on my ipad. i use the smart case to sleep/wake and the five finger pinch to close apps. plus i dont even use a password.

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I call that more of a "welcomed" addition. Although, I do use more 5-finger pinch, I still have a passcode, so it'll help with the security aspect. Plus it'll be a little more different as opposed to the traditional "X speed increase, Y% better graphics".

dec. said:

There you go - and anecdotal evidence is fun as an exchange of personal experience but in the end it's irrelevant when you look at the sales figures - not only of those of the iPad but tablets in general. Technically even the "use cases" of the tablets doesn't matter, if someone like Winni thinks they are toys, so be it, from his viewpoint obviously other people either want to play all day or do whatever else they want as those things are selling like crazy.

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Yeah, Winni is a very VERY good voice of reason on the forums, but even i don't agree with everything he/she says.

To be honest, and I really am whispering right now, most of the tablet users I see in the wild use their tablets like mini laptops; iPads and Surfaces alike.

So while Winni may be exaggerating A LOT, there is some minor bits of truth to what he says.

My time with the Venue 8 Pro has shown me that I'd prefer a tablet that can turn into a full OS running laptop/desktop when I need it to, but also be a full tablet with mini OS when necessary.

Apple doesn't agree with me, but I really think people would FLOCK to an iOS/MacOSX iPad Pro and iPad Mini Pro.

I had some Time...

I made a couple Pie Charts in Numbers since I wanted to test it out on My iPad so here is a visual for you!

thedeejay said:

I call that more of a "welcomed" addition. Although, I do use more 5-finger pinch, I still have a passcode, so it'll help with the security aspect. Plus it'll be a little more different as opposed to the traditional "X speed increase, Y% better graphics".

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what would be even more interesting would be if they made touch id into a simple buttonless scanner. though i know most people would throw a fit.

Apple's marketshare once again dropped year over year and the title says their marketshare rose from the previous quarter. Maybe they were able to regain some of their losses from earlier in the year, but I do not think that is the highlight of this study.

It makes perfect sense for Apple to increase its marketshare for the holiday quarter. People always buy more expensive things for others than they would spend on themselves so it does not surprise me that a better, but more expensive, tablet would sell better during christmas.

While it is good that they were able to regain some of their marketshare lost in the previous quarters, I think the more concerning is the continual loss in marketshare. I dont think Apple could keep its 50%+ marketshare for ever, but I am surprised it has fallen this quickly.

NewbieCanada said:

I'm not saying you're wrong... but I'd hate to be a student having to write and research papers on a tablet.

Computers might become like typewriters used to be... students buy them when going off to uni, and never use them again after graduation.

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I could see that happening too. Unless you really need it for work.

redhawk87 said:

Apple's marketshare once again dropped year over year and the title says their marketshare rose from the previous quarter. Maybe they were able to regain some of their losses from earlier in the year, but I do not think that is the highlight of this study.

It makes perfect sense for Apple to increase its marketshare for the holiday quarter. People always buy more expensive things for others than they would spend on themselves so it does not surprise me that a better, but more expensive, tablet would sell better during christmas.

While it is good that they were able to regain some of their marketshare lost in the previous quarters, I think the more concerning is the continual loss in marketshare. I dont think Apple could keep its 50%+ marketshare for ever, but I am surprised it has fallen this quickly.

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Well, the Air and mini were updated this quarter as well so the bump up of the numbers is expected. Actually, it is pretty incredible that Apple still has such a huge market share considering it only competes at the high end of the market. Imagine if Rolex, BMW, etc had 30%+ of their market...

I actually source tablets for my company to package with our products for promotions. For brands like Lenovo, ASUS, I can get bulk purchase for nearly 50%, for Apple, discount is maybe 5-10%. So the prices for Apple vs other brands is even bigger than what we see from the Suggested Retail Price.

Vtwo said:

Well, the Air and mini were updated this quarter as well so the bump up of the numbers is expected. Actually, it is pretty incredible that Apple still has such a huge market share considering it only competes at the high end of the market. Imagine if Rolex, BMW, etc had 30%+ of their market...

I actually source tablets for my company to package with our products for promotions. For brands like Lenovo, ASUS, I can get bulk purchase for nearly 50%, for Apple, discount is maybe 5-10%. So the prices for Apple vs other brands is even bigger than what we see from the Suggested Retail Price.

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Thats correct. As digital Skunk keeps point out, the tablet market going to fragment and you'll have various tablets optimized for various types of users. The Surface like tabs are what he likes, while others may want the cheapest possible tabs to play games on. As long as apple competes in one segement with essentially one product (One big One mini) it will continue to loose market share as long as others dont stop catering to the niche segements. However, loosing market share like that aint all that bad if apple can still continue to grow and sell more iPads..I think the move towards a 12 inch iPad or tablet could bring in more revenue provided they cater to a slightly different market with added capability. Touch ID and Payments can also make the iPad stand out once that feature is added throughout the family which i am sure is not far away.

Oletros said:

Apparently just in this thread, in the real world there is no report about Polaroid

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My friend at church has a polaroid tablet -- him and his wife. I think they got them from their grandkids. I was really surprised. I think it would be cool if Polaroid tablets used their cameras to instantly produce hard-copy pictures for you and had a slot on the back to reload the polaroid instant film cartridge. Sadly, that is not the case.

Lesser Evets said:

Apple's iPad sales blossomed. The market share declined...

The PC market is being destroyed. That was my takeaway.

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Reader's Digest version.

Vtwo said:

Well, the Air and mini were updated this quarter as well so the bump up of the numbers is expected. Actually, it is pretty incredible that Apple still has such a huge market share considering it only competes at the high end of the market. Imagine if Rolex, BMW, etc had 30%+ of their market...

I actually source tablets for my company to package with our products for promotions. For brands like Lenovo, ASUS, I can get bulk purchase for nearly 50%, for Apple, discount is maybe 5-10%. So the prices for Apple vs other brands is even bigger than what we see from the Suggested Retail Price.

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I completely agree. Except for the Rolex mention. Apple makes high quality mass market products that carry a slight premium. Rolex does not make mass market products. Rolex would never garner even 10% of the watch market.