Apple's Share of Worldwide Tablet Shipments Falls Below 40% in 1Q 2013

[Mad Mac Maniac]

You know what would be an interesting statistic? The average selling price (ASP) for each manufacturer. Sure maybe samsung has shipped 8M. Probably sold most of them too, but I'll bet a bunch of them were on crazy discounts.

 

[ValSalva]

Does this include Kindles? If it does Apple has nothing to worry about. An iPad can be a computer/PC replacement in many cases but a Kindle cannot.

 

[Renzatic]

Or you're building more and more warehouses to bury those gazillions of unsold tablets and smartphones

I can see it now...

"Hey, Bobby. I've got this awesome idea! Why don't we dig a big hole out in the desert, build a bunch of tablets, dump them in the hole, and say that's how many we've shipped. That way, everyone will think we're wildly cool and popular before we go bankrupt from making all these tablets no one's buying".

"I like the cut of your jib, Jimmy. Do it, and do it now"!

"It's been nice working with you, Bobby. I'll see you in the line at the soup kitchen".

"Or in front of a jury for investor fraud".

"...hehe. Yeah".

:3 months later:

*HEADLINE NEWS! SAMSUNG SHIPS 2,500,000,000 TABLETS THIS QUARTER, TRUMPING APPLE AND EATING NEARLY 98% OF THEIR MARKETSHARE! GOBI DESERT STILL GLOWING STRANGELY AT NIGHT! PHENOMENON BAFFLES SCIENTISTS THE WORLD OVER!*

 

[TWSS37]

So you prefer Android over iOS. You value specs over user experience. And you believe there is no rational reason for anyone to prefer iOS.

Serious question: what drives you to visit and post on an Apple fan site such as Macrumors?

To be fair, I had an iPad 3 and sold it because I liked my Nexus 10 better.

My dad has an iPad 3 and likes his 1st gen Kindle better.

Had nothing to do with specs.

 

[aerok]

So you prefer Android over iOS. You value specs over user experience. And you believe there is no rational reason for anyone to prefer iOS.

Serious question: what drives you to visit and post on an Apple fan site such as Macrumors?

There is nothing wrong with prefering Android over iOS while visiting MacRumors, Apple does make other products other than iOS.

 

[Liquorpuki]

Where does IDC get their estimates from and how reliable are they? Lets not forget in 2011 they predicted Windows phone to be #2 in market share by 2015.

They forecast using simulations running off a ton of industry numbers and data. They're basically database driven and as objective as you can be using numbers. The only thing is if you can't quantify it, they can't use it. So intangibles, management mistakes, disruptive tech, etc, don't get factored in which is why they're wrong a lot.

As an investor I wouldn't blindly rely on IDC forecasting but I would use it as a reference to compare market data against.

 

[thundersteele]

I'm curious then. Why doesn't the Android equipment makers give out their "sold" numbers instead of "shipped" numbers (especially Samsung) ?

Because they don't have to. Actually they don't give out any numbers, neither shipped nor sold. The data is based on estimates from IDC.

The fact is that if the initial 1M shipment of Samsung tablets doesn't sell, they are not going to throw another 7M tablets on the market. Even Samsung couldn't afford that. So we can safely assume that most of those tablets ended up in consumer hands.

Of course it is unclear how accurate those numbers are. But that doesn't really matter. It is clear that Android tablets have established a presence in the market, and have substantial growth.
Apple is certainly still leading in revenue and profit, but the competition will force them to innovate more to stay ahead, which is good!

 

[Renzatic]

Where does IDC get their estimates from and how reliable are they? Lets not forget in 2011 they predicted Windows phone to be #2 in market share by 2015.

Comeon. They've still got two years to make that.

 

[TWSS37]

You know what would be an interesting statistic? The average selling price (ASP) for each manufacturer. Sure maybe samsung has shipped 8M. Probably sold most of them too, but I'll bet a bunch of them were on crazy discounts.

This is faulty logic. Price should not be a factor. Apple chooses their price points and sticks to them. By your logic, all Apple would need to do is lower price to capture these other tablet sales. Yet they choose not to. So don't blame Samsung (or other tablet vendors) for their price points for sales. We all know Apple has more than enough room to move on margin if they wanted to.

 

[auxiliary]

Those results are based on who bought ipad 4....ipad 3 and 4 are pretty much the same, sure one has a faster chip in it and new cable hook up. Though how many people are going to upgrade just for that? I have ipad 2, and i am trying to sell it now so i can get ipad 3 refrub from apple site.
Ipad is going to hit that computer wall where if you bough an intel chip 3 years ago and you check email and surf the web, a new computer today is going to be close in speed. You know what I am saying? Back in the day when computers were 166MHZ, you would upgrade over and over just to get 30-50Mhz more in speed. Today these chips are pretty fast.

 

[4TheLoveOfTech]

Are you serious? If a tablet has enterprise market penetration then you are likely to see more non-consumption applications written for it. I doubt you are going to see a "office" application written for a Kindle fire.
@Simmias: They post on here for $. They are paid to post on here.

The funny thing is that if the iPad dominates web traffic then what are those millions of android tablets used for? Are they actually in the hands of people or sitting in a warehouse?

I actually have an e-paper kobo reader somewhere. I never use it. I only used it for about a month after I bought it and only briefly.

Amazon has their own Android App Store with many "Office" Productivity Apps available.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_6?url=search-alias%3Dmobile-apps&field-keywords=office&sprefix=office%2Cnull%2C268&rh=n%3A2350149011%2Ck%3Aoffice

 

[onirocdarb]

I would love to see what percent of that are minis

 

[cube]

I also consider Android tablets because Apple does not make a 13".

 

[TWSS37]

Are you serious? If a tablet has enterprise market penetration then you are likely to see more non-consumption applications written for it. I doubt you are going to see a "office" application written for a Kindle fire.
@Simmias: They post on here for $. They are paid to post on here.

The funny thing is that if the iPad dominates web traffic then what are those millions of android tablets used for? Are they actually in the hands of people or sitting in a warehouse?

I actually have an e-paper kobo reader somewhere. I never use it. I only used it for about a month after I bought it and only briefly.

This still does not matter. Just as many "enterprise" apps are built for Android as they are iPad. No one makes a distinction in these reports as personal vs "enterprise", so why should you?

Last time I checked, Google Drive was superior to Apple's $30 paid suite.

 

[JGRE]

Blablabla, shipment went up from 11.8 to 19.5 million and still people think Apple is performing badly; am I missing something?

 

[JGowan]

I've picked up and demo'd numerous 7" tablets over the last couple of years and nothing has impressed me. This weekend, I got to see (live) my first iPad mini. That thing rocks. Lots of value in that $329 unit. I most certainly will own that thing in the near future. I'm thinking white!

Yes... you're right... "Units Shipped" means nada!

Blablabla, shipment went up from 11.8 to 19.5 million and still people think Apple is performing badly; am I missing something?

What you might be missing is that there are 2 types of people in the world. Those that love the Winner. And second, those that hate the Winner. Winners always have a target on their back. Once upon a time, it was Microsoft. Many loved them, but also many didn't. Sometimes there's good reason to hate a winner... I wasn't fond of them mainly because MS shamelessly copied Apple at ever turn and also, I believed Apple to deliver superior products that weren't getting noticed. Fortunately, they DID eventually start getting noticed... AND HOW! Better to be on this side these days.

 

[Dave00]

While there are obvious caveats with using your own experience to form opinions about prevalence, I don't see iPads being under 50% market share, or anything close to that, at least in the United States. I see people every single day with iPads, every couple of days with Kindles (usually the e-reader, not the Fire), and very rarely with Android tablets. If people are purchasing them, they certainly don't seem to be using them.

 

[Megakazbek]

This is what happens if your design is not flat

 

[Renzatic]

Blablabla, shipment went up from 11.8 to 19.5 million and still people think Apple is performing badly; am I missing something?

Only idiots believe Apple is performing badly. They're doing just as well as they always have.

The difference is Apple is no longer THE market for mobile devices. They're now one player among many (though admittedly still one of the biggest).

 

[TC03]

It's easy to see why Apple's outperforming everybody else but I just don't see why Samsung performs so extraordinary.

 

[Renzatic]

It's easy to see why Apple's outperforming everybody else but I just don't see why Samsung performs so extraordinary.

Probably because the public at large generally like Samsung devices. It's only on Apple specific sites that they're relentlessly and endlessly bashed for being crappy.

 

[Rocketman]

I don't doubt for a second that unit sales of other tablets is large and growing. However I remind the casual reader that Apple tablets dominate actual internet usage more than 3:1. Apple profits on tablets dwarf profits from all other players combined by about 6:1. So whether you are a user or are a stockholder, you like the Apple approach better despite the higher unit price and the lowering market share.

The Apple tablets are better for users generally.

Rocketman

My only tablet is an iPhone.

 

[Internaut]

I expect cheap Android tablets to outsell them. Because they are cheap.

I agree, though the kind of customer who buys the cheapest tablets are not necessarily the kind of customers who Apple wants. I wouldn't propose Apple should go for the low hanging fruit but they need to consider the kind of punter who buys a Google or Amazon tablet and then spends plenty of money on Amazon or Play.

The Play store is growing and this indicates, at the higher end at least, that Android is no longer the land of the freetard.

 

[TennisandMusic]

So you prefer Android over iOS. You value specs over user experience. And you believe there is no rational reason for anyone to prefer iOS.

Serious question: what drives you to visit and post on an Apple fan site such as Macrumors?

Man this is just such baloney. The "experience" of Android 4.2 is AWESOME. The "experience" of iOS 6 is extremely poor.

As a former iPhone user for 5 years, I can say the only way someone would still prefer iOS is if they want their phone interaction to be mind numbingly dull, while being fairly incapable. My Nexus 4 is just amazing. Frankly, it really embarrasses my iPhone 5 in just about every way.

I'm tired of people showing blind devotion to Apple just because. I think a real Apple fan calls it like it is with them, because they want them to do better. I'd go back to the iPhone if they could get their act together. It's unbelievable how far Google has lapped them on the phone.

 

[Ryth]

To be fair, I had an iPad 3 and sold it because I liked my Nexus 10 better.

My dad has an iPad 3 and likes his 1st gen Kindle better.

Had nothing to do with specs.

Your dad probably likes his Kindle because all he does is read books on it. If that's all he's ever done, then it was silly to get an iPad 3 for him...complete overkill.

The whole 'I prefer the Kindle' argument usually comes from someone who only uses a tablet for e-reading.

The majority of Kindles shouldn't even been considered 'tablets'...same with a bunch of e-readers out there.