I'm very curious to know where all the Android tablets are? During my tablet-spotting in various airports around the world I've yet to see any. Even in India and Indonesia it was only iPads. I've seen kindles but they inevitably belong to an American or British traveler. In Singapore, Malaysia, Manila and Hong Kong airports I saw kids playing with iPads. I'll keep an eye out when I pass through Korea and South Africa. Domestically, its a mix of iPad and Kindles, I think I saw a Xoom once. Maybe Android tablet owners don't travel?
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Apple's Share of Worldwide Tablet Shipments Falls Below 40% in 1Q 2013
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I wouldn't go this far....
I personally would not buy a tablet with a 16x10 screen ration, and virtually all of the Androids are using it. It's a bit cheaper and the ratio is fine for a phone, but for the way I use a tablet (web browsing, email, Zinio) it just sucks.
On the other hand, yes, Apple needs to get on the ball and fast.
The Nexus 7 at $199 has GPS, while I had to return two WiFi iPads because despite all the map promo pics on the Apple site, you need to fork out another $100 plus tax for the 3G model (even though I don't care for 3G and tether on the rare occasions I have to).
I have two 3G iPad 4s now, but also have a bad taste in my mouth and if Google came out with a 4x3 tablet, I'll dump the iPads, particularly with the open AirPlay alternative that's going to be ubiquitous by the end of this year (which means also goodbye to my Apple TV 3 boxes, which without a jailbreak are mostly glorified Netflix players).
And yes, iOS is already a generation behind Android 4.2 and it will fall further behind this month, when Google unveils Android 5.0.
Hopefully Apple is getting the message.
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Go to developing countries and you will see a lot more Android tablets. Stop thinking US as a reliable sample of the whole world! US is the only country in the world that still uses the English system (vs. the Metric system), the only that marks Sep. 4 (vs. May 1) as the Labor Day, the only that thinks Letter" (vs. A4) is the default paper size used by most people.
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You are right. However, Apple is fighting on its own, while the other dozens are all on the same side (not to say that they dont have conflicts, but they are on the same platform, fragmented or not, still the same platform).
What I don't get is how these companies are even shipping these tablets. The numbers have to be made up, because seemingly next to no one is buying them, at least in this country, though usage data would suggest the rest of the world too. The only other tablet I've seen out and about besides the iPad is a few Kindle Fires. One of those belonged to my uncle, who while visiting, got so jealous of my iPad that he went and bought one to replace the Kindle while on the trip!
Even spending a lot of time in airports in the last year, I've never seen a Nexus 7, which surprised me. You might see a Kindle Fire, and definitely some standard Kindle readers, but everyone and their mother has an iPad, whether they're using Blackberrys, Android Phones, Windows PCs or not, it's starting to feel as if almost everyone that spends any time in the airport has an iPad.
So basically, again, I just don't get how these numbers could be even remotely accurate even for shipments. If even a quarter of as many were being sold in fire sales or being given away even with other products, I think we'd see a lot more of them in the wild. Experiential-based arguments rarely hold much water with me, but I think in this case, there's much to be said for it's validity. These companies couldn't be making this many devices that don't sell. It just makes no sense.
Even spending a lot of time in airports in the last year, I've never seen a Nexus 7, which surprised me. You might see a Kindle Fire, and definitely some standard Kindle readers, but everyone and their mother has an iPad, whether they're using Blackberrys, Android Phones, Windows PCs or not, it's starting to feel as if almost everyone that spends any time in the airport has an iPad.
So basically, again, I just don't get how these numbers could be even remotely accurate even for shipments. If even a quarter of as many were being sold in fire sales or being given away even with other products, I think we'd see a lot more of them in the wild. Experiential-based arguments rarely hold much water with me, but I think in this case, there's much to be said for it's validity. These companies couldn't be making this many devices that don't sell. It just makes no sense.
Thanks, I was wondering what the breakdown was
Strategy Analytics has Windows tablets pegged at 7.5% marketshare for Win8 devices. IDC only listed Surface shipments under Microsoft and stuck all the other Win8 devices under "Others." And since Win 8 tablets are converged devices, these firms don't have a common definition of what a Win8 tablet is yet. Neither of them consider convertibles like the Yoga to be a tablet. So basically, MS is actually doing better than what these firms show, at least when it comes to shipments.
This has been exactly my experience. I travel mainly within the US but see only iPads and some Kindles wherever I go. I see plenty of Android phones but no tablets. Where are all these "shipped" tablets? I can only guess that they are sitting on a store shelf or a bottom drawer somewhere. And also in the hands of a highly vocal group of people on the internet.
Thats what exactly Apples Board said back in the 1980s. Guess what happened? Even with the big technical advance Macintoshes had over IBM PCs, Apples market share shrunk to less 2% and consequently almost brought Apple to bankruptcy.
I don't think it's as hard to switch from Android Devices for many users because they're not paying for as many apps. This is especially true for Android users that jumped on a couple years ago now, many of whom are running outdated versions of the OS as well. For many of them, from their perspective, they didn't buy an "Android phone," they bought a touch screen that was available on their carrier and/or cheaper than the iPhone was. I still think that aside from the Galaxy S3 market, which is certainly substantial, most US Android users would prefer to have an iPhone, and I think the data is starting to show just that, as the iPhone gains market share here while Android is losing it. I don't think this will slow down. Most people aren't drawn to specs and the bells and whistles, and most don't care or understand what "closed verse open" means in any digital context, let alone the distorted version played out in tech blogs. These people generally would prefer to have an iPhone and it's probably a device more suited for them. They're just waiting for an upgrade or for their phone to break. Many forget that people who aren't passionate about cutting edge tech don't even bother to swap out phones every two years. They swap out phones when things break.
And hey, more experiential-evidence, but whatever. It's hard to argue with my experience when literally everyone I know sans 2-3 people that don't have iPhones yet want an iPhone for their next phone. Some of these people have Galaxy S3s on T Mobile. They're not happy about it right now. And if the above paragraph wasn't clear, these people don't know how to jailbreak and unlock phones. I know, shocking...
The bad result (to Apple) shows up slowly. And, when the bad result shows up, it will be already far too late for Apple to save itself. So, Apple better do something useful before that, not after it sees the result (like in the 1990s).
I know many people who have cheaper tablets, nexus 7 and kindle fire most common. But way more iPads 7/10 easily. I do believe Apples market share will continue to drop, but since Apple is not losing money on every sale they definitely from a business perspective own the market.
Does not matter about market share if you have are winning by selling at razor thin or negative margins.
Does not matter about market share if you have are winning by selling at razor thin or negative margins.
Although I generally agree with your conclusion, the two examples you gave are really bad. They can all be done quite easily on iOS, as long as you have accrued your knowledge about the regarding apps. The examples obviously illustrate that you havent been using iOS devices a lot.
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There is a critical difference between the MP3 player market of that time and the tablet market at present. It makes no sense at all to group all of the other MP3 players at that time since they dont share the same OS (no one should really call any of them OS", anyway). On the other hand, most of the other tablets at present are Android tablets.
In the computer market, the smartphone market and the tablet market, the most important thing is not which manufacturer has how much market share, but which OS, since the latter data has much much bigger impact on the long-time trend of the market share changes.
I'm pretty sure there are not 8 Million Samsung tablets on store shelves. Maybe a few 100k, but that wouldn't change the overall picture that much. Also note that Samsung doesn't provide any specific numbers for most of its products, neither sold nor shipped.
I'm not sure exactly what you are trying to say here. The 56% Android are certainly debatable - I wouldn't count the Kindle Fire or the Nook for example.
But it is clear that Samsung and Asus (Nexus 7) have substantial growth. This is different from two years ago, when essentially only Apple was selling tablets, or even 1.5 years ago, when the cheap Kindle was the only "Android" product that was selling in somewhat respectable numbers. Apple is still the biggest player, and still dominating in profit and margins. But they are not the only player anymore.
absolute numbers vs relative numbers
If you had a company and you get to choose between an increase of 12 to 20, or an increase of 2 to 9, which is better? 2 to 9 is a larger percent increase, but I would rather be selling 20M tablets vs 9 tablets. Apple's increase is equal to Samsung's total. Absolute numbers are usually more accurately descriptive then relative numbers, unless you are trying to make a certain company look better.
If you had a company and you get to choose between an increase of 12 to 20, or an increase of 2 to 9, which is better? 2 to 9 is a larger percent increase, but I would rather be selling 20M tablets vs 9 tablets. Apple's increase is equal to Samsung's total. Absolute numbers are usually more accurately descriptive then relative numbers, unless you are trying to make a certain company look better.
I heard Apple's going to die within a week, pass it on.
You got it right. Apple's going to die but not in a week. I would say may be in 5-8 years.
The Same Could be Said for RIM (Blackberry)
Blackberry (RIM) was the dominant phone in the market (Market Share & Profit).
Then a disruption happened in the mobile arena with the iPhone.
Then a disruption happened in the mobile arena with Android.
Read the following story on how RIM (Blackberry) couldn't fall.
http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=949d3940-1a97-4d6e-a643-7ab736fc6d7c&k=48131
"“RIM has demonstrated a quality of genius in being able to pump out model after model in handhelds,” he said. “They’ll continue to reign supreme in the e-mailing space until there’s some kind of revolution in that kind of communications system.”"
Amazing how much has changed in so little time.
Blackberry (RIM) was the dominant phone in the market (Market Share & Profit).
Then a disruption happened in the mobile arena with the iPhone.
Then a disruption happened in the mobile arena with Android.
Read the following story on how RIM (Blackberry) couldn't fall.
http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=949d3940-1a97-4d6e-a643-7ab736fc6d7c&k=48131
"“RIM has demonstrated a quality of genius in being able to pump out model after model in handhelds,” he said. “They’ll continue to reign supreme in the e-mailing space until there’s some kind of revolution in that kind of communications system.”"
Amazing how much has changed in so little time.
5-8 years?
EVERYONE PANIC!
Every company dies eventually, it's only a question of when.
I heard Apple's going to die within a week, pass it on.
I heard they died 8 times in the last two years, and they will die in three months again. Pass it on
This shouldn't be surprising as Apple was never going to hold onto their near monopolistic position indefinitely as it was only a matter of time before Microsoft entered the market and Android was fine tuned from an oversized phone operating system into something approaching that of a tablet operating system. Quite frankly there is nothing Apple can or should do other than accept that it is one but one player in a larger market and that as long as they continue to deliver a consistent experience then they've got nothing to worry about.
Regarding Samsung - lets not over look the fire sale they've been doing recently to grab marketshare. In New Zealand they're pretty much giving away Samsung Tab's with mobile phones, carpet, sofa sets etc. so lets remember what is taking place. The big question is whether, after the fire sale, they maintain their marketshare or whether it drops because I'm sure if Apple really wanted to they could do the same sort of fire sale (at a cost to their bottom line) and double their marketshare over night.
Regarding Samsung - lets not over look the fire sale they've been doing recently to grab marketshare. In New Zealand they're pretty much giving away Samsung Tab's with mobile phones, carpet, sofa sets etc. so lets remember what is taking place. The big question is whether, after the fire sale, they maintain their marketshare or whether it drops because I'm sure if Apple really wanted to they could do the same sort of fire sale (at a cost to their bottom line) and double their marketshare over night.
Sorry - I don't agree with this sentiment at all. "So they can act like they have an iPad" - how pretentious.
"iPads are generally sold to more professionals and enterprise customers" - Fact or made up statistic?
Different strokes for different folks. Let's not turn this isn't people who can't afford iPads buy other things even though what they really want is an iPad. When there's a very good chance (OH MY GOSH) that people actually prefer or want an Android tablet and NOT an iPad (OH MY GOSH)
Market share may be falling quickly, but the stock is falling even quicker. Those guys on Wall Street are crazy!
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I think that most people like the Google ecosystem better than iOS. And because Android phones are so much more popular than iPhones, they go with the platform that they already love when they buy a tablet.
Or, at least, three people do for every two who buy an iPad.
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Because sell through stats are not available to them. Those numbers are known to the retailers.
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Because people like you continue to read it. This ain't rocket surgery.
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I think that most people like the Google ecosystem better than iOS. And because Android phones are so much more popular than iPhones, they go with the platform that they already love when they buy a tablet.
Or, at least, three people do for every two who buy an iPad.
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Because sell through stats are not available to them. Those numbers are known to the retailers.
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Why does MR continue to report this crap that isn't based off shipment data from OEMs (well, except for Apple) but estimates based on who the heck knows what.
Because people like you continue to read it. This ain't rocket surgery.
Agreed.
Or they're just tryna save money
You're telling me Samsung doesn't know their sell through stats? Source?
And people like you continue to believe it. Clicks clicks clicks
There is a big reason why the Apple of today won't follow in the footsteps of the Apple of the 1990s. Actually, there are 150 billion reasons.
Apple doesn't have to worry about bankruptcy anymore. And with that kind of money they can afford to buy tens of millions of parts at a time. Or build new facilities and data centers. Or buy companies and talent. There's no limit to the amount of freedom that much cash can bring.
There's really no comparison between the Apple of the "bad ol' days" and the Apple of today.
But getting back to market share... why is "Android" having more market share such a threat to Apple?
I put "Android" in quotes because it's not really a singular thing. "Android" is made up of hundreds of phones in all shapes and sizes... and price ranges.
Are we surprised that, in India for instance, that an $80 Android phone is more popular than an iPhone that costs 5 times as much?
Of course every Android phone sold means that one less iPhone is sold. But someone who is buying an $80 smartphone wasn't looking at Apple phones at all.
Still though... Apple sells a ton of phones... and expensive phones at that. They sells phones as fast as they can make them. And Apple has developer support, and accessory support, and customer satisfaction.
So like I said earlier... Android gets the "most market share" headline... but it seems like a hollow victory.