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Apple's Lead in Tablet Market Share Shrinks as Consumer Satisfaction Slips Slightly

Market share numbers can be very misleading. If multiple new manufacturers enter the market, everybody's market share numbers drop and you have to sell orders of magnitude more devices to keep your percentage.

Seriously, who cares how many cheap tablets are sold? The people who buy these cheap tablets were never going to be Apple customers anyway - Apple haven't lost anything by this as they don't market to this demographic. What matter is Apple continues to take the lion's share of the profits in the phone and tablet market. It means they have the cash to continue R&D, and forge ahead whilst everybody looks to them for direction.
 
Solomani said:
Yup. I have a feeling that the slight decrease is Apple's "tablet customer satisfaction" is more of the fact that Apple's latest iOS 7 and 8 were not better optimized for Apple's iPads. The focused too damn much on a better experience on the iPhones! But they didn't do much to optimize the experience in Apple's own tablets.
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That sounds like Android. :eek:
 
theotherphil said:
Market share numbers can be very misleading. If multiple new manufacturers enter the market, everybody's market share numbers drop and you have to sell orders of magnitude more devices to keep your percentage.

Seriously, who cares how many cheap tablets are sold? The people who buy these cheap tablets were never going to be Apple customers anyway - Apple haven't lost anything by this as they don't market to this demographic. What matter is Apple continues to take the lion's share of the profits in the phone and tablet market. It means they have the cash to continue R&D, and forge ahead whilst everybody looks to them for direction.
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The issue to worry about is that, lower priced tablets, year after year will get better and better, let's say nearer and nearer to what an iPad can offer people.

So the long term natural outcome for the majority will be, that they find cheaper items that perform the task perfectly well for them, without needed to pay a lot, as the expensive models don't do anything much more than the cheap ones.

Then very quickly the people who make the expensive ones find they are in trouble, and it can happen quite quickly.
 
Is RCA including in their numbers all of the replacements they had to send out to replace DOA and dead-within-days units? Go read reviews of their cheap crap anywhere online. I don't know why people think they can get a good tablet for $150.
 
Piggie said:
The issue to worry about is that, lower priced tablets, year after year will get better and better, let's say nearer and nearer to what an iPad can offer people.

So the long term natural outcome for the majority will be, that they find cheaper items that perform the task perfectly well for them, without needed to pay a lot, as the expensive models don't do anything much more than the cheap ones.

Then very quickly the people who make the expensive ones find they are in trouble, and it can happen quite quickly.
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You forget that Apple doesn't just sell "a tablet", it sells the integration of all devices together and that's something that others can't really offer because of fragmentation.

IF Apple fights only on price, it will get creamed because those low end tablets would be unprofitable and Apple couldn't use the money from the hardware to subsidize its ecosystem.

The reason you pay more for the Apple Tablet is NOT just the hardware. Not only that, the high end tablets would subsidizing the low end market, which would canibalize part of its sales (from people who just like the ecosystem, but don't want to pay the price for it) but give nothing back in return. Long term, you get a constant erosion of your higher end and overall profits until the ecosystem and the higher end itself is impacted!

In short, selling low end tablet is a bad deal for Apple if profits fall too low. The Apple Mini II is a pretty good deal for its price, good performance and access to the IOS ecosystem while not eating the margins too much (still probably the least profitable device Apple sells).
 
Amazon tablets highest satisfaction?

Am I the only who finds it odd because they're dreadful tablets?

In my family several have bought cheap tablets that all ended up in a draw or the bin, iOS is far from great on a tablet but i haven't seen anything including amazon tablets that would even vaguely please me let alone rank higher than an iPad right now.

I guess it depends how you ask the question, it might be based on price as well as feature etc that aren't the os.
 
Piggie said:
The issue to worry about is that, lower priced tablets, year after year will get better and better, let's say nearer and nearer to what an iPad can offer people.

So the long term natural outcome for the majority will be, that they find cheaper items that perform the task perfectly well for them, without needed to pay a lot, as the expensive models don't do anything much more than the cheap ones.

Then very quickly the people who make the expensive ones find they are in trouble, and it can happen quite quickly.
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Again, that's only right if you use your tablet in a very narrow way and it functions as an independent device. If Apple keeps it tablet separate from everything you'd have a point. But, with handoff and continuity, we see where Apple wants to go in the future with all its devices.
 
Keirasplace said:
Again, that's only right if you use your tablet in a very narrow way and it functions as an independent device. If Apple keeps it tablet separate from everything you'd have a point. But, with handoff and continuity, we see where Apple wants to go in the future with all its devices.
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Indeed,

Good ideas will carry on and also get implimented by others in their own way, bad ideas will fall by the wayside.

Others will come along and offer people other was of the same thing.

As has always been the case since the first caveman traded skins for some meat probably.

Apple do like the integration thing as they have seen its an area they can currently offer something new in.

Others as I say will decide if this type of thing is worth doing on their products.

Myself I don't know, if I have a phone and mess with a phot app on the phone, do I want to carry on in a limited simple app on my pc? No I'd load the pic into photoshop.

I don't really know how this works for apple products?

Have apple just written a limited dumbed down program a and made a version for the iPhone, iPad and iMac for example?

If so, I'd not want that, I'd want to be using the best program each platform had.

Perhaps this is not how it works?

But anyway, re expensive things, lazer printers, DVD players, scanners, microwave ovens, flat screen TVs etc etc. all these things were really expensive, and you can still get really expensive really nice versions, but most people nw don't buy them as the resonable priced items are good enough for 99% of people out there.
 
Market Share Chart

This might mean iPads are so good, customers don't need to buy a new one much often. Also, the charts looks a bit strange. All the major 3 (Apple, Samsung, Asus) decreased, only the 4th (Lenovo) increased by less than 1 point, and then RCA increased by 3.1 ... others increased by 4.4 points ...

So in summary: Apple is being beaten by: RCA and others !!! ... really ???
 
3N16MA said:
I have a feeling that many cheaper tablets are bought and played with for the first few days (perhaps a couple of weeks) and then end up going untouched for large chunks of time.
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Yep. Our daughter begged us for a 7" Kindle Fire HDX for Christmas last year. Santa delivered. A couple months later she noticed me reading Threat Vector with the Kindle app on my iPad. To which she scolded me for not telling her that she could play all her iOS games AND read her favorite books all on one device. Ah, the life of a parent. Now it sits collecting dust and she reads her books on a tiny 4" screen (iPhone 5C)
 
There's absolutely nothing wrong with the iPad or iOS (other than the 1GB RAM fiasco). iPads + iOS are by far the best tablet+OS combo in the market and it will continue dominating the tablet space for years to come. So... nop, the problem is not in the hardware or software.

The real problem is that the tablet market, and the iPad in particular as its benchmark, have matured and have reached their plateau. The product (and the concept behind the product) has pretty much reached its full potential and people dont feel the need to upgrade their iPads anymore every year: every release nowadays represent a minimal improvement, nothing revolutionary because the formula is pretty perfect as it is.
 
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Actually it's not surprising. Android alternative (especially Nexus) comes with more and more robust features which makes the Apple looks like a mere expensive toy.

And yeah people is bored too much easily. I am bored with my iPhone/iPad. Considering the alternative but still tread carefully. I am moving slowly, one step at a time. I sold my iPhone and moved to Nexus but still keeping my iPad. Let's see if I can walk through the darkside or get back to Apple when they have something worthwhile to buy.
 
iSayuSay said:
Actually it's not surprising. Android alternative (especially Nexus) comes with more and more robust features which makes the Apple looks like a mere expensive toy.

And yeah people is bored too much easily. I am bored with my iPhone/iPad. Considering the alternative but still tread carefully. I am moving slowly, one step at a time. I sold my iPhone and moved to Nexus but still keeping my iPad. Let's see if I can walk through the darkside or get back to Apple when they have something worthwhile to buy.
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95% of the gains of marketshares are in the very low end tablet so again how does this jibe with your assertions? Ipad penetration in businesses right now is 80-90 and is not decreasing; so are you telling me those people don't do serious stuff? What are those "serious" stuff that professionals, technicians, artists, business people use Android tablets for and not Ipads; come on, spit it out. Real extensive example and not your own imaginary data. IBM, a company that does a whole lot of "serious stuff" is about to launch many new enterprise apps for IOS. Guess they're not serious for you...

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KohPhiPhi said:
There's absolutely nothing wrong with the iPad or iOS (other than the 1GB RAM fiasco). iPads + iOS are by far the best tablet+OS combo in the market and it will continue dominating the tablet space for years to come. So... nop, the problem is not in the hardware or software.

The real problem is that the tablet market, and the iPad in particular as its benchmark, have matured and have reached their plateau. The product (and the concept behind the product) has pretty much reached its full potential and people dont feel the need to upgrade their iPads anymore every year: every release nowadays represent a minimal improvement, nothing revolutionary because the formula is pretty perfect as it is.
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The next revolution is a bigger integration with the other devices, the environmnent. The use of this massive local processing to offer new services... Anything is possible, only imagination can lead us there.
 
ipad mini is a 4 year old cpu, that can drag customer satisfaction down if you are installing the newest os
 
So it's 77% Android/google and 23% Apple/iOS

Some might say Apple have lost the game, but i think iPad will live along Android like Mac's live with PC's.

With 77% market share Android/Google rules the field.

Apple just have to bring iOS to this century at some point.

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KohPhiPhi said:
There's absolutely nothing wrong with the iPad or iOS (other than the 1GB RAM fiasco). iPads + iOS are by far the best tablet+OS combo in the market and it will continue dominating the tablet space for years to come. So... nop, the problem is not in the hardware or software.
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Well that's just your opinion. I'm long time iPad user, but i have to say Android in Tablet is way ahead iOS. I would switch if i would not have invested some much money on iOS apps.

And where does iPad dominate?
I would not call 23% market share dominating when android have 77%. It's exactly opposite.
 
Android only has the market share because they provide budget tablets that people in third world countries can afford. Same with android phones.

If apple would lower the entry level price for getting an iOS device, it would be game over for android.

IMO
 
The issue with ipad is that apple isn't making any effort to close the gap between a MacBook and an iPad. We are already paying premium price for an iPad so why not add more ram and create an iPad that is able to run OSX. Of course not all of the features of a MacBook but being able to run apps on my iPad that I run on my MacBook would be nice.

Also android tablets have stepped up. I use to hate android tablets. But last week I brought a Galaxy tab s 8.4 and I got to say I'm impressed. And I'm able to do more on my tab s then my iPad.The screen is surprisingly better than my iPad air. Now the issue of some apps not being optimize for tablets is a little annoying. But overall it is a solid tablet. Android tablets are cheaper that iPads but they are still decent.
Many people are not bothering themselves paying $500+ on a iPad that is a blown up iphone.
 
Strange Famous said:
Android only has the market share because they provide budget tablets that people in third world countries can afford. Same with android phones.

If apple would lower the entry level price for getting an iOS device, it would be game over for android.

IMO
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I don't think that's true, the magic of Apple comes in the whole package not each individual device. There is no benefit to me as a Linux user in buying an iPad the same applies to Windows users. If you're vested in the Apple ecosystem then there is little benefit to buying outside of it.

Android is not that great of an OS but it does offer flexibility which is why folks like it. I think mobile OS's are really transitory anyway I just don't see a future for them. Canonical has the the mobile idea correct IMHO and if Apple can latch onto that and work their magic the industry will be in a world of hurt.
 
Don't know if it's just me, but in Safari I find I quite often have to tap 3 or 4 times to get links to work, or have to zoom to make them larger before they work. That dents my satisfaction.
 
Strange Famous said:
Android only has the market share because they provide budget tablets that people in third world countries can afford. Same with android phones.

If apple would lower the entry level price for getting an iOS device, it would be game over for android.

IMO
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Android tablets are on top lists in every country. And the main reason is the price, but not only that. New Android version does stuff that iOS will do in 2018. Only reason to buy iPad is that you need some iOS specific app. And for common user there ain't many. For special users like music makers android is not really a option.

Don't see apple dropping the price. They rather sell less with higher margins. Like with computers. Most schools seem to buy Android tablets so that is what the kids will learn.
 
I hope Apple is starting to take notice.

After having two iPads over four years, I wanted to downsize. I compared the iPad Mini and the Samsung Tab S 8.4. I just couldn't bring myself to buy the Mini. It's been three months, and I couldn't be happier with the Samsung.

I like to upgrade equipment every two years. I really hope Apple has some new innovative stuff out by then.
 
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