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Apple's Share of Tablet Market Surges to 68% as Kindle Fire Shipments Plummet

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IDC today released its data on worldwide tablet shipments for the first quarter of 2012, revealing that despite a quarterly drop in iPad shipments of over 20%, Apple's share of the tablet market rose to 68% from last quarter's 54.7%. Apple's boost came at the expense of Android-based tablets, most notably Amazon's Kindle Fire which appears to have seen its shipments collapse from 4.8 million units in the fourth quarter of 2011 to less than 750,000 units last quarter.
"Apple reasserted its dominance in the market this quarter, driving huge shipment totals at a time when all but a few Android vendors saw their numbers drop precipitously after posting big gains during the holiday buying season," said Tom Mainelli, research director, Mobile Connected Devices at IDC. "Apple's move to position the iPad as an all-purpose tablet, instead of just a content consumption device, is resonating with consumers as well as educational and commercial buyers. And its decision to keep a lower-priced iPad 2 in the market after it launched the new iPad in March seems to be paying off as well."
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Amazon had surged into second place in the tablet market during the fourth quarter with a 16.8% share of the market as the Kindle Fire debuted in the United States. But while IDC did not report a number for Amazon's first quarter shipments in its press release, it did note that Amazon's share dropped to to "just over 4%" in the total tablet market of 17.4 million units, yielding shipment volume of roughly 700,000-750,000 units for Amazon.

ipadvskindle-500x380.jpg

As a result of Amazon's decline, Samsung was able to regain the second position in the tablet market, ahead of Amazon, Lenovo, and Barnes & Noble. Amazon's slide also comes as mass retailer Target yesterday announced plans to discontinue the sale of all Kindle devices and other Amazon- and Kindle-branded products.

The overall tablet market grew 120% year-over-year, but the 38% quarter-over-quarter decline was even steeper than expected coming off the strong holiday quarter. Apple obviously has a significant influence on the overall tablet market given its dominant position, and the company did ship slightly fewer than expected iPads during the quarter as consumers held off on iPad 2 purchases ahead of the new iPad's launch and Apple experienced some supply constraints when the device did launch with just three weeks left in the quarter.

Article Link: Apple's Share of Tablet Market Surges to 68% as Kindle Fire Shipments Plummet
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2012/05/03/apples-share-of-tablet-market-surges-to-68-as-kindle-fire-shipments-plummet/
chrmjenkins

chrmjenkins

macrumors 603
Oct 29, 2007
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I guess everyone that wants one has one. That's the thing with low price of entry. Takes less time for everyone to get one that wants one.
 
D

dennno

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Jul 22, 2011
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No surprise really. The Kindle Fire is targeted to niche markets, the iPad has wider appeal.

Samsung won't be able to touch the tablet market in the same way Apple does without offering something new and better than the iPad. And let's face it it's not going to happen.
 
spiderman0616

spiderman0616

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Aug 1, 2010
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MacRumorUser said:
So basically new iPad sells more than the nearly 12 month old Kindle fire then... And?
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The Kindle Fire was only announced in September of 2011. It's nowhere near a year old yet. And it was supposed to be the iPad killer, so this is pretty crazy news.
 
milani

milani

macrumors 68000
Aug 8, 2008
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I don't doubt the iPad has the majority of the market, but I frankly don't believe these "shipment" numbers from IDC and NPD anymore.
 
B

bdavis89

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Sep 10, 2009
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Proof that the fire was appetizing around christmas time because it was cheap. Those actually going out and making a tablet purchase, doing research, etc, end up buying the iPad.
 
MRU

MRU

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Aug 23, 2005
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spiderman0616 said:
The Kindle Fire was only announced in September of 2011. It's nowhere near a year old yet. And it was supposed to be the iPad killer, so this is pretty crazy news.
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September. Is it so young! :eek: kind of feels like its been around ages longer than it has so.


It would be interesting to find out how many people bought the kindle fire over the holiday season, had their appetites whetted, and then moved over to the new iPad on its launch.
 
kdarling

kdarling

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Jun 9, 2007
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First university coding class = 47 years ago
So comparing 1Q12 to 4Q11:

The Kindle sold 4 million less than the holiday quarter.

The iPad sold 3.6 million less than the holiday quarter.


--

The Kindle Fire still is mostly a US domestic product, as well, while the iPad sells in many countries.

Amazon just made this comment:

(The) “Kindle Fire remains the #1 bestselling, most gifted, and most wished for product across the millions of items available on Amazon.com since launch” and says “in the first quarter, 9 out of 10 of the top sellers on Amazon.com were digital products — Kindle, Kindle books, movies, music and apps.”

Kindle is “the bestselling e-reader in the world, by far,” CEO Jeff Bezos said.

And the Kindle for iPad app is “the #5 free iPad app of all time and the #1 free books app on iPad.”
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Krazy Bill

Krazy Bill

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Dec 21, 2011
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MacRumors said:
revealing that despite a quarterly drop in iPad shipments of over 20%, Apple's share of the tablet market rose to 68%
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Nothing like putting a little fanboy lipstick on bad news.

"Our sales sucked... just not as bad as everyone else's". :)
 
MattJessop

MattJessop

macrumors regular
Apr 24, 2007
215
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Manchester, UK
In a way its a shame as Apple really works best where theres competition that pushes Apple to be it's best. (I'm looking at you notifications). I really want there to be so that the iPad just gets better and better! :D That said, new iPad is miles ahead of all the Android tablets I've used in terms of experience, so it really doesn't surprise me that the iPad still dominates.
 
japasneezemonk

japasneezemonk

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Jun 13, 2005
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If Business Insider is to be believed. Walmart sold more iPads, than Amazon sold Kindle Fires. Apparently Walmart sold about 1.3 million iPads.
 
M

Macclone

macrumors 6502
Mar 13, 2012
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dennno said:
No surprise really. The Kindle Fire is targeted to niche markets, the iPad has wider appeal.

Samsung won't be able to touch the tablet market in the same way Apple does without offering something new and better than the iPad. And let's face it it's not going to happen.
Click to expand...

You used Samsung, new and better in the same sentence. That is a first. They will just copy the next device that Apple produces.
 
ChrisTX

ChrisTX

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Dec 30, 2009
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I guess Tim Cook was right when he said that nobody wants a limited function tablet! I've been doing some slight photo editing in the PS Touch app, as well as some word processing, and a few other things that would not be available on the Kindle Fire. No surprise that people have lost interest. The iPad has become a tool for me where I personally view the Kindle Fire as a toy! :cool:
 
T

Tarzanman

macrumors 65816
Jul 16, 2010
1,304
15
Although it is a tablet, the kindle is marketed as an e-reader.

Unlike an iPad, there isn't a reason to go out and get the new model when it comes out, and the Kindle's abilities as a computing platform for email, web browsing, etc are limited.

The Galaxy Tab 2 7" is the tablet to be worried about. Thin, great battery life, runs the latest version of android, plays mkv/divx/avi/h.264 out of the box, has a wolfson DAC, and costs $250 new.

They take SIM cards. People hack them to give them full phone capability.

If Samsung had any clue how to market it, then they would sell quite a few of them.
 
R

Ryth

macrumors 68000
Apr 21, 2011
1,591
157
japasneezemonk said:
WOW! I was under the impression that the Kindle Fire was selling like hotcakes. oh well...
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I have a bridge to sell you if you believed that. ;)

This is why Amazon doesn't release their individual sales units...they don't want the word getting out.

Yup, the market for the iPad mini is huge! lol
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Don't make assumptions. I know a lot of people that want a smaller iPad the size of the Kindle...If Apple made it...it would still sell and make money for them...lots of money.
 
zaphon

zaphon

macrumors 6502
Oct 9, 2003
270
130
linux2mac said:
"No matter how you try to slice it, when you give a consumer the choice between an iOS device and an Android device, they are picking the iOS device."

The End Of Android Approaches ...
http://articles.businessinsider.com...7198_1_android-market-smartphone-sales-google
Click to expand...

What consumers though? Where I work and amongst my friends I have seen two trends (tech people)

1. They are all moving away from iPhone/iOS devices
2. They are mostly going Windows Phone (which I dislike even more than iOS)

I just hope that there continues to be a choice, as I will never give Apple another penny.
 
A

Augure

macrumors regular
Sep 3, 2009
225
0
As a long time Apple user, and marketer who doesn't fall into marketing BS, I can only criticize Apple these days, but the large amount of stupid fanboys makes it useless to do so.

However, and even if the iPad 3 was an iPad 2S, I can't criticized the iPad because this is a jewel of tech and this is the product that competitors are way too far to match. The Galaxy Tab is utter crap compared to the iPad and no other tablet is even close.

In comparision, the Galaxy S2 or the Lumia 900 are perfectly good competitors to the iPhone.
 
japasneezemonk

japasneezemonk

macrumors 6502
Jun 13, 2005
491
141
Nomad
Ryth said:
I have a bridge to sell you if you believed that. ;)

This is why Amazon doesn't release their individual sales units...they don't want the word getting out.
Click to expand...

Everyone seemed to be making a huge deal about how the Kindle was going to finally stall the iPad. Looking at the numbers, Walmart alone sold more iPads than Amazon sold Kindles. I just think this race is getting really interesting. It really seems like Android is going to have a really hard time catching up.
 
C

camnchar

macrumors 6502
Jan 26, 2006
434
415
Bought my son a Kindle Fire for Christmas, after much pestering. It now sits in the corner gathering dust while I have to surgically remove him from his iPhone just to eat dinner.
 
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