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Ok, if you want to look at it that way... then Apple is by default in the losing end of the business. Google makes money off their OS, Apple off their hardware. There is less and less reason for people to upgrade their iPads with each generation. Retina is basically the only improvement, processor upgrades are hardly noticable.

But there are more and more people buying iPads for the first time... they're not all upgraders.
 
actually surprised they are giving Windows that little of an increase

Windows directly competes with Android for the cheap market. iOS does not. Android is better than and is in a better position than Windows on a tablet.

I'm surprised that iOS still holds such a high world marketshare. Anyway, even if it drops to 1%, I'm still using it since Android sucks so badly (unless something changes between now and then).

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He's a hockey player (defense) plays on 2 teams and is a leading scorer on one of them. Besides (forgot to add) Soccer sucks! :D

Nope, basketball sucks, not soccer.

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These research companies just pull stuff out of their collective you know whats.

I guess they realize that if they're wrong, they just don't get any more publicity, but if they're right, they get famous. Stock analysts especially tend to suck and conflict about 50/50.

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"According to a new report from research firm IDC, tablets running Google's Android operating system are poised to overtake the iPad during the course of 2013."

Does this include the iPad mini?

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Yep, my friends kids have 2 android tablets they got for xmas. They sit around collecting dust while the kids try to grab their parents iPhones.

My friend got a Sony S tablet. He's never used it in his life.
 
Abut freckin time :p

How long did this take ? Time for something "other" than IOS to show its colours.

Didn't anyone tell you, there is more than "just a pretty face" ?

Except the Surface to stay second last though :)

Whats this "Other" ? Seems no one favours Nokia.
 
How can anyone take IDC seriously, and how can they pretend to have any accuracy in their numbers when they keep comparing Apple's sold devices vs. shipments from competitors?

Some will argue that all shipped tablets will be eventually sold. But when? In the next quarter, 6 months, a year or more?

The tablet market is expanding rapidly, so of course "future potential sales" will represent a larger number compared to "current actual sales", leading to an unfair inflation of Android's supposed market share numbers.
 
I'd care more if it were like 'X Brand will sell more than Y Brand'.

This iOS market share versus Android doesnt grab me. I see it as one single company (Apple) seems to be rather popular compared to other companies combined. Yes that may change in the future (history tells us this is likely), but it really doesnt say much.

Its like saying Millwall will beat Stanley Matthews in the big match (well maybe the combined team of Millwall will beat the single player - isnt that just logical).

Some of these research companies make me smile - I wonder what their drivers are for these polls. Maybe I dont understand statistics well enough but thats the way I see these things.
 
Love android phones but their tablets do suck.

Hate apple phones. Love their tablets though.

why are apple sheep and android drones so obsessed with numbers? like seriously i never got it. none of us are benefiting from the sales.
 
I have yet to use an iOS device that I liked.

Anyway. The only tablet OS that I'm looking forward to is the forthcoming tablet version of Ubuntu. At this point, Canonical is the only company that has a clear vision of the future - and that vision is especially interesting in second and third world countries (which are the next mass markets). ONE device with ONE software platform that scales from the phone factor over the tablet factor to the desktop. THAT is where the journey is headed. And it's amazing to see how the big players like Google, Microsoft and Apple very apparently miss that development.

Microsoft tried that with windows 8 and Surface tablets. Its not working. A tablet OS thats mediocre on the desktop and the same with a desktop mode on a tablet. At least with Ubuntu people can get rid of Unity on the desktop.
 
Was only....

a matter of time. There are a myriad of Android tablet makers. And in good faith, Apple have the advantage in user experience, integration between software and hardware and so on......but $$ are huge factor, so if you can replicate a fraction of the Apple experience with a steep or significative discount in price, maybe you can get a piece of the pie.


:):apple:
 
I disagree with you, I went from an iphone 4 to a galaxy s III.

So can you name 3 things am iphone can do that the galaxy S III can't?

I never said you should agree with me...it may be your opinion that android is better, but that is entirely subjective. I just happen to prefer the iOS over it and that is just my preference.

As for things I felt iOS did better:
1) Display out...my friend and I could not get it to work properly and had to turn to the iPhone to get the better solution. Also, where this is located in Android was very difficult to find.

2) Connect to the web for searching. We tried several times to search on several topics and ended up using the iPhone for the search as the Galaxy SIII did not want to comply. I admit that this could be entirely a hardware issue, but it still goes to the experience or lack of.

3) Overall ease of use and finding apps and settings and how this was all organized. This is also quite subjective, but I do find that iOS is easier to manage and is better organized.

4) Ecosystem. I have found Google Play to be cumbersome.

And before you blast me...please consider that this is just my experience with Android vs iOS. I actually do want to see Android, MS8 and any other phone/tablet OS to be successful so that competition stays strong. This way all of the players have to stay on their toes and give us better option in the future.
 
Highly doubt it only because the iPad is being used in schools and a lot of companies because of the apps, it will take a while before some apps are written for Android if ever .

Will be interesting to see everything in the near future
 
Anyone want to predict what the Mobile Browers of choice is going to be in 2017? All signs continue to point to Mobile Safari.

Android tablets, what you buy because its cheap. iOS tablets, what you use because it works.
 
You fan boys make me laugh. You criticize other brand loyalists for exactly the same thing you do. The writing has been on the wall for well over a year now. Apple is no longer the "cool" company to own. Apple products were once the hot product but they have now become stale and boring. I see why more Samsung Android phones out in the world than I do iPhone and I'm not talking about those free cheapies either. I'm talking higher end phones that people actually have to pay for. A lot of people are choosing Android phones over Apple. This is a fact. It is only a matter of time before the tablet market also looks the same way. Android is no longer the little fat kid who was picked last in gym class. It has grown up to be a valid player.

Is Apple a quality product? Sure is... but it isn't the only quality product anymore.
 
This argument makes 0 sense. Retailers do not order units they can't sell.

Some would have you believe that there are huge warehouses full of unsold Android devices. Samsung and others just keep churning them out 24/7 and only sell a small portion of their production. The rest are in storage. :D
 
Agree - but it's what the Apple fans bring out whenever there's a story that Samsung/Android/Microsoft/... are gaining market share on the precious fruit company.

Agreed..

I don't understand people who think that retailers order giant warehouses of product product that they know they won't sell, retailers only order what they know they can sell.

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Some would have you believe that there are huge warehouses full of unsold Android devices. Samsung and others just keep churning them out 24/7 and only sell a small portion of their production. The rest are in storage. :D

Of course, Wal Mart, Amazon, Best Buy, Staples, Target, ect are paying to keep massive warehouses heated and staffed of unsold android tablets for years and years, no one ever actually buys them!
 
You fan boys make me laugh. You criticize other brand loyalists for exactly the same thing you do. The writing has been on the wall for well over a year now. Apple is no longer the "cool" company to own. Apple products were once the hot product but they have now become stale and boring. I see why more Samsung Android phones out in the world than I do iPhone and I'm not talking about those free cheapies either. I'm talking higher end phones that people actually have to pay for. A lot of people are choosing Android phones over Apple. This is a fact. It is only a matter of time before the tablet market also looks the same way. Android is no longer the little fat kid who was picked last in gym class. It has grown up to be a valid player.

Is Apple a quality product? Sure is... but it isn't the only quality product anymore.
Agreed.

I think these fanboys can't see why someone would pay $199 for an Android phone versus an iPhone. It just blows their friggin' minds. There is no big difference between the 4S and the 5 for me, so I'm going to get a GS4 depending on what the Thursday press conference reveals.

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Anyone want to predict what the Mobile Browers of choice is going to be in 2017? All signs continue to point to Mobile Safari.

Android tablets, what you buy because its cheap. iOS tablets, what you use because it works.

And what evidence do you have to support it? I used the Nexus 7 and its quiet awesome.
 
I doubt Android Tablets will catch up even by 2017.

iPad is too ubiquitous and too superior on a mainstream level.

With phones it was possible for Android to catch up because the carriers were pushing them for bargains and a phone is an absolute necessity.

When it came time to upgrade they went with a smartphone that was cheap instead of a flip phone.

A tablet is not a category of need like that so it wont have the same push. (Practically asking everyone in the world if they are with or against Apple and making them choose one way or the other because, hey, they have to have a phone.)

And even people who aren't Apple lovers wouldn't mind having one since its so nice and doesn't force you to do anything too committed to Apple. Its like a glorified iPod touch. So if most people are thinking, "hmm, I want to buy a tablet for when I get cozy in bed and want to read or browse," the first instinct is to go with the iPad or iPad Mini.
 
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You fan boys make me laugh. You criticize other brand loyalists for exactly the same thing you do. The writing has been on the wall for well over a year now. Apple is no longer the "cool" company to own. Apple products were once the hot product but they have now become stale and boring. I see why more Samsung Android phones out in the world than I do iPhone and I'm not talking about those free cheapies either. I'm talking higher end phones that people actually have to pay for. A lot of people are choosing Android phones over Apple. This is a fact. It is only a matter of time before the tablet market also looks the same way. Android is no longer the little fat kid who was picked last in gym class. It has grown up to be a valid player.

Is Apple a quality product? Sure is... but it isn't the only quality product anymore.

Samsung recently had a great quarter selling 63 million smartphones.

However... only 15 million of them were the Galaxy SIII and a few million Galaxy Notes.

In other words... only about 1/3 of Samsung smartphones are high-end... leaving 2/3 as "cheapies"

It's possible you're seeing more Samsung Android phones depending on where you live... but statistically they're not all high-end phones.

Now for my piece of anecdotal evidence:

I was at a dance convention this past weekend in Tennessee with folks from all over the South East. Kids of all ages and parents too were in attendance.

There were iPhones everywhere. Even the instructors used their iPhones to play music in their classes instead of using CDs... not Samsung phones.

In fact... I didn't see any high-end Samsung phones at all.

Of course... YMMV
 
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According to a new report from research firm IDC, tablets running Google's Android operating system are poised to overtake the iPad during the course of 2013.

A surge of low cost Android-based tablets has prompted IDC to forecast worldwide tablet shipments of 190.9 million, an increase from its previous estimate of 172.4 million.

48.8% of those are expected to run Google's operating system, giving Android the plurality of the tablet marketshare by the end of the year. In comparison, Apple is expected to retain just 46% of the tablet market, while Windows and Windows RT will make up 4.7% of overall tablet shipments.

In 2012, Apple's share of the market was 51% while Android's was just 41.5%.By 2017, IDC forecasts that Android will have 46% of the market with Apple falling further behind with 43.5%. It is important to note that IDC's estimates are based on shipments rather than sales. Android's larger share of low cost tablet shipments may not translate into greater direct consumer sales.

IDC's newest report corroborates its January findings, where Apple's share of the market slipped to 43.6% in the fourth quarter of 2012, a significant decrease from its 51.7% share in the fourth quarter of 2011 despite increased iPad shipments overall.

Article Link: IDC Predicts Android Tablet Shipments Will Overtake iPad Shipments in 2013

What a sad lack of insight into what the data actually means. From more direct experience, I would say that a lot of people were tempted by the iPad mini. Having been one of them, I have to say that it is wonderful - light, fits in my pocket, roughly meets all of my expectations. BUT after months of use, I have to admit that Steve Jobs was right. Despite the lighter weight and convenient form factor of the mini, it simply does not have enough real estate on the screen. The virtual keyboard is therefore too slow, and in all sorts of ways the inconvenience of the lack of screen area detracts from its overall performance. It is great for reading books, less good at magazines, and pretty hopeless for any serious typing. I tried a Kindle Fire when they came out, and liked the general feel, but quickly got tired of the lag due to a slow processor, the general scrappy feel of the Android UI, and lack of access to the Apple ecosystem. Similarly, many of my friends and associates have tried Android tablets of various sizes and shapes. Even the most outspoken supporter of Android phones is back with an iPad.

These recent stats include a lot of experimentation by potential users. At the end of the day the larger screen sizes will dominate and the Apple ecosystem will create a tendency to iPad hardware. So IDC have probably got it wrong for 2013. It would be unfair to even comment on their longer term predictions. What a tough way to make a living, trying to predict the future with so little insight, and presumably even less actual research.
 
I for one am sick of these "Analysts" and "Research Firms". Do they make money doing this? If so sign me up because thinking of random numbers must be one of the easiest jobs out there.

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Ok, if you want to look at it that way... then Apple is by default in the losing end of the business. Google makes money off their OS, Apple off their hardware. There is less and less reason for people to upgrade their iPads with each generation. Retina is basically the only improvement, processor upgrades are hardly noticable.

:apple:

What in the world does that have to do with what we are talking about? The conversation was about whether Android is a unified platform. :confused:

This argument makes 0 sense. Retailers do not order units they can't sell.

Agree - but it's what the Apple fans bring out whenever there's a story that Samsung/Android/Microsoft/... are gaining market share on the precious fruit company.

Some would have you believe that there are huge warehouses full of unsold Android devices. Samsung and others just keep churning them out 24/7 and only sell a small portion of their production. The rest are in storage. :D

Agreed..

I don't understand people who think that retailers order giant warehouses of product product that they know they won't sell, retailers only order what they know they can sell.

Of course, Wal Mart, Amazon, Best Buy, Staples, Target, ect are paying to keep massive warehouses heated and staffed of unsold android tablets for years and years, no one ever actually buys them!

It's one big circle of affirmation! If you really believe that every android phone ever shipped gets sold, I've got a bridge to sell you. Not all products succeed!
 
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