iPad Grabs 89% of Worldwide, 97% of U.S. Tablet Web Traffic

[singlestick]

There seems to be a huge potential demand for a good Android or Windows tablet. One day someone will get it right. But for now, they keep stumbling, and Apple is beating them up and taking their lunch money.

Even though tablets are still a small part of the total ... device... market, notebook sales have declined, competing tablet sales are weak, and various companies have fired executives because they are unable to come up with strategies to blunt Apple's success.

The much rumored upcoming Amazon tablet might shake things up, if it is more than a phantom product, especially if the price is competitive.

 

[b0blndsy]

Its a great news for apple to be proud of. I read few members in the forum predicting it could be 100% but I'd rather say 100% is only possible when you have no competitor at all, there is a small fraction of customers with different choices and preferences.

 

[aughsum]

You know what is the saddest part is you believe that crap.

I have yet to meet an android user who does not surf on there phone as much as an iPhone user. They fall in the range of normal. I also know iPhone users who never really surf the web.

Simple fact is is the metrics used to collect the data are questionable at best. If it is from Apple fan sites oh god yes they are going to be off balance.
You argument to defend apple is on the same level as if I mean the argument "iPhones are for drulling idiots who can not use any real techology." We both know that is not true.
I just find it funny when some one throws a wrench in the lets worship Apple you get all defenses and points out a huge questionable part of it you jump up and down crying about it. That to me tells me that you know I have a point since you turned into insults.

Most of the android users I know are full blown geeks, some are regular people who like their os, some are braindead and were sold an android phone because it was free after rebate.. the vast majority of smartphone users that I know of have iPhones.

Every argument will have a different metric, said metrics will be built on different perspectives, see above, but this data appears to be unbiased, with a fairly accurate looking means of collection and it fits in with the stereotypes - a few people who love android and use it for everything, a few people who think it's cool they have a smartphone but don't really use it for surfing the web, preferring to reserve that for their home pcs, and a few people who don't know why e salesperson sent them home with that phone, but it was free and let's them check the emails so who cares vs a mobile platform with the best mobile Internet usability.

 

[aughsum]

Its a great news for apple to be proud of. I read few members in the forum predicting it could be 100% but I'd rather say 100% is only possible when you have no competitor at all, there is a small fraction of customers with different choices and preferences.

It will never reach 100% but it doesn't need to - it's iPod 2.0, competitors will try for a few years, then set their sights on whatever wheel apple reinvents next (my money is on home entertainment, television/Atv/game console aio)

 

[AAPLaday]

I disagree.

Having been in it/sys administration for ~13 years, being familiar with the usage habits of thousands of users, and tracking tech-related ongoings for as long as i can remember, I can confidently say that 95% of users can get by with just an iPad. There will be rare cases where certain people need a software application that isn't available on the iPad (yet), but they represent a very, very, very small minority of average users. I made the switch myself and life has never been better; a lot of the "power-user" things I used to do were completely useless - tailored my usage habits to the strengths of the iPad.

Depends what you do and how you work i guess. Even for casual use i found that constantly switching between apps is more cumbersome than say if i had a MBA instead. Although im sure that the majority of users could get by on a netbook or Chromebook too.

Dont get me wrong i do like the device. I just find that it takes more steps to do the things that i want on one.

 

[aughsum]

Depends what you do and how you work i guess. Even for casual use i found that constantly switching between apps is more cumbersome than say if i had a MBA instead. Although im sure that the majority of users could get by on a netbook or Chromebook too.

Dont get me wrong i do like the device. I just find that it takes more steps to do the things that i want on one.

My views are just the opposite. Once a hardcore multitasker, I've found that ios's state-save multitasking has been improving my ability to focus on the things I need to use a computer for - there's a good PBS documentary on multitasking on Netflix - everyone thinks they're a great multitasker, but in reality, it degrades results 100% of the time. Never again.

 

[AAPLaday]

My views are just the opposite. Once a hardcore multitasker, I've found that ios's state-save multitasking has been improving my ability to focus on the things I need to use a computer for - there's a good PBS documentary on multitasking on Netflix - everyone thinks they're great multitasker, but in reality, it degrades results 100% of the time. Never again.

Then we will have to agree to disagree

At the moment im replying to you on here whilst adding HDR effects to a photo i took the other day, importing more pics from my PS camera, selecting a few tracks to play in iTunes , reading my facebook and twitter updates and updating my calendar. I have 17 tabs open in Safari, whilst keeping an eye on wimbledon. All on one screen. Without ever having to switch screens or have an app out of view. This is what i miss on the iPad

 

[Azathoth]

You could not be more wrong. The success of Android in the phone market will not be repeated in tablets. Why? Because unlike smartphones, tablets do not require a comprehensive "smart phone" plan but are either Wifi only or can make use of pay as you go data plans.

All that is based on the way the telecomms market is controlled by the carriers in the USA.

In the RoW there is significant liberalisation and many don't have this "data and voice plans" BS - with the user having considerable freedom in choice of handset irrespective of carrier.

 

[swagi]

For Christ's sake? I didn't realize this religious war was turning into, uh, a religious war.

OK, I'll try to explain what I mean. Why is an iPad a Post-PC device while still being a computer? PC in this context means a box and keyboard and mouse and monitor. That's the typical setup we are used to for the last thirty years, more or less the lifespan of the PC era. Laptops are merely compressed versions of the same thing since they preserve the keyboard and a mouse-like abstraction for pointing and the screen is separate from the keyboard.

The iPad gets rid of the abstractions. You don't have a device between your fingers and the screen. The mouse is gone and you just naturally use your fingers. They physical keyboard is not needed nearly as much as you'd think, so you get a software keyboard only when needed. The OS is in the background, so you don't have to be confronted with OS ideas such as folders and files. You just use an app, and the app handles the data.

In short, the iPad drops almost everything we think of when we think of a PC. It's a new paradigm.

That's why Microsoft bolting on new UIs to old code bases won't work. It's too jarring, for Microsoft being Microsoft, the new UI will only appear some of the time, but at other times you'll be back in the old Word or Excel menus and the effect will be jarring as you try to use your fingers to manipulate items that were meant to be moused and clicked.

Numbers, in contrast, was rewritten from the ground up to be finger friendly, and it works in the new way. You never, ever, ever see the old way. It's all new. Not just a UI bolted on.

Your final comment about the use or lack thereof of tablets for you indicates your ignorance of what tablets can do that you cannot easily do with other devices. Remain in ignorance if you wish, but the world is going to pass you by. Nobody who experiences what touch UIs can do will ever be wholly satisfied with an abstracted mouse experience again. It just gets in your way.

Sorry for the religious idiom - I was just out of english idioms to show my disrespect for the buzz-term postPC era. Maybe I should've said Holy Guacamole, Batman.

Fine for you, if you feel confident about a touch-based UI. Not having used one I can assure you, that my limited hands-on experience with mobile phones (including several iPhone and Android-based phones) is far from perfect. Basically I found these to be nothing but consumption devices - and not production devices. For consumption they may be fine.

Love it or hate it - I had a hard time learning keyboard shortcuts, but is was well worth it. Therefore I may agree with you, that the mouse is sometimes 'in the way', I sometimes also switch to using a Wacom tablet, but...I personally feel the need for a physical keyboard. Otherwise you should answer me the question, if simple tasks like switching font styles or quick marking of text is somehow easily accessible on a tablet (and at least on par with keyboard shortcuts).

Can I finally use keyboard shortcuts on a tablet? AFAIR the iPhone keyboard and the Android keyboard just recognize one finger at a time.

So that's it. A tablet is a mobile consumption device. And me - I don't need more mobile consumption currently.

 

[aughsum]

Sorry for the religious idiom - I was just out of english idioms to show my disrespect for the buzz-term postPC era. Maybe I should've said Holy Guacamole, Batman.

Fine for you, if you feel confident about a touch-based UI. Not having used one I can assure you, that my limited hands-on experience with mobile phones (including several iPhone and Android-based phones) is far from perfect. Basically I found these to be nothing but consumption devices - and not production devices. For consumption they may be fine.

Love it or hate it - I had a hard time learning keyboard shortcuts, but is was well worth it. Therefore I may agree with you, that the mouse is sometimes 'in the way', I sometimes also switch to using a Wacom tablet, but...I personally feel the need for a physical keyboard. Otherwise you should answer me the question, if simple tasks like switching font styles or quick marking of text is somehow easily accessible on a tablet (and at least on par with keyboard shortcuts).

Can I finally use keyboard shortcuts on a tablet? AFAIR the iPhone keyboard and the Android keyboard just recognize one finger at a time.

So that's it. A tablet is a mobile consumption device. And me - I don't need more mobile consumption currently.

So.. You're criticizing something that you have no experience with?

 

[aughsum]

Then we will have to agree to disagree

At the moment im replying to you on here whilst adding HDR effects to a photo i took the other day, importing more pics from my PS camera, selecting a few tracks to play in iTunes , reading my facebook and twitter updates and updating my calendar. I have 17 tabs open in Safari, whilst keeping an eye on wimbledon. All on one screen. Without ever having to switch screens or have an app out of view. This is what i miss on the iPad

I know what you mean, I used to be the same way.

In reality, you're only doing two of those simultaneously, if you count keeping an eye on Wimbledon as one.

 

[haruhiko]

AFAIR the iPhone keyboard and the Android keyboard just recognize one finger at a time.

Absolutely fake information regarding the iPad part.

 

[swagi]

So.. You're criticizing something that you have no experience with?

Yap.

Absolutely fake information regarding the iPad part.

Fine. Enlighten me. So basically you can easily mark text using Shift+Option+Cursor key? You copy it, cut it, paste it, bold it, underline it and all the other stuff with keyboard shortcuts? You can easily undo and redo? All with the same speed of a physical keyboard?

Great - then I maybe should give this stuff a try. Any recommendations for a WYSIWYG-web editor on the iPad?

 

[swagi]

You could not be more wrong. The success of Android in the phone market will not be repeated in tablets. Why? Because unlike smartphones, tablets do not require a comprehensive "smart phone" plan but are either Wifi only or can make use of pay as you go data plans.

Aaaah - I see. So this must be fake: Official XOOM-offer T-mobile

Oh - and in the fineprint it says that you receive another contract for your smartphone XYZ - so if your contract is about to expire, keep your phone and get a XOOM.

 

[aughsum]

Yap.



Fine. Enlighten me. So basically you can easily mark text using Shift+Option+Cursor key? You copy it, cut it, paste it, bold it, underline it and all the other stuff with keyboard shortcuts? You can easily undo and redo? All with the same speed of a physical keyboard?

Great - then I maybe should give this stuff a try. Any recommendations for a WYSIWYG-web editor on the iPad?

iPads aren't for web designers.

 

[cat3600]

Hey, there's always next year.

It's the motto of our Toronto Maple Leafs, where mediocrity is served for breakfast, lunch, and playoffs.

It's particularly fitting here.

Hahaha!! I'm from Toronto & I'm tired of all the beer money I've spent watching them to a dissapiontment

Actually after what happened in Vancouver I wonder if we will ever get the cup!

 

[RWinOR]

You know what is the saddest part is you believe that crap.

I have yet to meet an android user who does not surf on there phone as much as an iPhone user. They fall in the range of normal. I also know iPhone users who never really surf the web.

Simple fact is is the metrics used to collect the data are questionable at best. If it is from Apple fan sites oh god yes they are going to be off balance.
You argument to defend apple is on the same level as if I mean the argument "iPhones are for drulling idiots who can not use any real techology." We both know that is not true.
I just find it funny when some one throws a wrench in the lets worship Apple you get all defenses and points out a huge questionable part of it you jump up and down crying about it. That to me tells me that you know I have a point since you turned into insults.

Well, now you have met one.

I have a Blackberry for work, hate using it to surf the web. It is difficult and the screen is way to small.

I have an Android HTC Evo for a personal phone. (My carrier does not supply IPhones). I wanted the Iphone experience so this was as close as I could get with my carrier. I have tried surfing with it. It sucks the big one. The web pages load oddly, difficult to put passwords in etc. I do not use it anymore for surfing.

I have both an IPod touch and IPad these work great for surfing. No problems whatsoever. Web pages load with no issues. Now I do sometimes turn on my Evo hotspot so I can use my iOS device to surf, when I am somewhere without wifi.

The truth is iOS is a fun user experience for surfing and the entire infrastructure. In my personal experience all others pale by comparison.

 

[Fuchal]

iPads aren't for web designers.

WYSIWYG web editors aren't for web designers.

 

[NebulaClash]

Sorry for the religious idiom - I was just out of english idioms to show my disrespect for the buzz-term postPC era. Maybe I should've said Holy Guacamole, Batman.

Fine for you, if you feel confident about a touch-based UI. Not having used one I can assure you, that my limited hands-on experience with mobile phones (including several iPhone and Android-based phones) is far from perfect. Basically I found these to be nothing but consumption devices - and not production devices. For consumption they may be fine.

Love it or hate it - I had a hard time learning keyboard shortcuts, but is was well worth it. Therefore I may agree with you, that the mouse is sometimes 'in the way', I sometimes also switch to using a Wacom tablet, but...I personally feel the need for a physical keyboard. Otherwise you should answer me the question, if simple tasks like switching font styles or quick marking of text is somehow easily accessible on a tablet (and at least on par with keyboard shortcuts).

Can I finally use keyboard shortcuts on a tablet? AFAIR the iPhone keyboard and the Android keyboard just recognize one finger at a time.

So that's it. A tablet is a mobile consumption device. And me - I don't need more mobile consumption currently.

Simple tasks like switching font styles or quick marking of text is surprising easy with Pages or Numbers. Apple did a great job making these tasks touch friendly. But as for doing it in all apps, no, not yet.

Keyboard shortcuts? There are some built-in Apple ones, such as holding a key down until a pop-up window appears with accented variations. So I think it will be possible to do a much more like that over time as the demand is there.

Are tablets more for consumption than production? Yes.

Are PCs more for consumption than production? Yes.

Frankly, the vast majority of computer use by most people is consumption. There is a subset of users who are heavy producers, and there is a subset of users who are heavy consumers, and some in between. Now I grant you, it is easier to produce with a keyboard and mouse -- because that is what we have been trained to do! I guarantee you the first time most people were confronted with a mouse they were thinking how much easier it is to use a keyboard . . .

So when I posit the future, I'm thinking we're going to have much better ways of inputting data on tablets. Right now, for me, the software keyboard is just fine for emails and Web forms, but not that good for long form documents. For those I switch to my laptop. Same thing for those times when I need multiple windows open at once.

But the average iPad user is not me, not you, not anyone who learned keyboard shortcuts The average iPad user is going to be consumer first, producer a little bit. But the methods of producing will change and grow as companies learn the ins and outs of what multitouch can do. Look at Garage Band and tell me that was the first thing you thought of when you thought about touch screens . . .

For that matter, look at how science fiction used touch screens in Star Trek TNG and later, and in Minority Report, etc. Developers have seen those movies too and they won't stop until they can give us apps that are rich in touch. Make it so, Number One.

 

[stevensr123]

It will never reach 100% but it doesn't need to - it's iPod 2.0, competitors will try for a few years, then set their sights on whatever wheel apple reinvents next (my money is on home entertainment, television/Atv/game console aio)

the tablet market will never me like the mp3 market.

there is already a MASSIVE fan base for android and everything android. this alone will secure future competition. you also sound like you would want it to be 2.0 **** me!!!

competition will do nothing but good for apple and it's consumers.

in a year or so various manufactures such as htc and samsung will release new versions and will quickly catch up to apple and in many way, overtake apple. and thus it will basically be like the mobile market it at the moment.

 

[Les Kern]

I have noticed that electronic store flyers advertise Windows and Android tablets but do not have iPads in either the tablet or Apple sections of the flyer. Always thought this was odd. Maybe it is due to these iPad alternatives not moving off the shelf as fast as initially expected.

Margins are higher on the substandard tabs. The more they unload the more the company makes. It's not like they are trying to promote whats BEST for people.

 

[RWinOR]

the tablet market will never me like the mp3 market.

there is already a MASSIVE fan base for android and everything android. this alone will secure future competition. you also sound like you would want it to be 2.0 **** me!!!

competition will do nothing but good for apple and it's consumers.

in a year or so various manufactures such as htc and samsung will release new versions and will quickly catch up to apple and in many way, overtake apple. and thus it will basically be like the mobile market it at the moment.

You know this Android argument is getting very tiresome. The Android phone makers had the same amount of time to develop a tablet. (Many of you are calling it nothing but a large format Ipod) They choose not to. Apple developed this. Now you all say competition is great and we should embrace the copy cats, who cannot innovate on there own but must follow. This following is good for Apple and keeps them on there toes. I say Bull.

If competition is so good and Apple is so evil, lets see what the next technology leap is and who it comes from... Android or Apple.

No Company pushed Apple to develop the Ipad. They created the market with this device. Others are trying to catch up.

As far as a Massive "Fan" base I strongly disagree. I would say there is a Massive "User" base. but simply having someone hand you an Android phone because it is cheaper, or it is all you can get with you carrier, does by no stretch of the imagination make you a fan.

 

[NebulaClash]

There is a geek base of enthusiastic Android supporters, and geeks dominate the discussion on Web boards, so it may seem as if there is massive general demand for Android, but that doesn't appear to be the case. If there was such a demand for Android, we'd see massive sales of Android tablets now. We don't. The only place Android does well is in phones, and that's due to being available more than anything else. People go to phone store, they take what's there. If Motorola, Samsung, HTC suddenly switched to Windows Phone OS, people would suddenly start using Windows Phone and Android share would plummet.

Geeks always assume the world thinks like them. It doesn't.

 

[singlestick]

You know this Android argument is getting very tiresome. The Android phone makers had the same amount of time to develop a tablet. (Many of you are calling it nothing but a large format Ipod) They choose not to. Apple developed this. Now you all say competition is great and we should embrace the copy cats, who cannot innovate on there own but must follow. This following is good for Apple and keeps them on there toes. I say Bull.

If competition is so good and Apple is so evil, lets see what the next technology leap is and who it comes from... Android or Apple.

No Company pushed Apple to develop the Ipad. They created the market with this device. Others are trying to catch up.

As far as a Massive "Fan" base I strongly disagree. I would say there is a Massive "User" base. but simply having someone hand you an Android phone because it is cheaper, or it is all you can get with you carrier, does by no stretch of the imagination make you a fan.

The whole idea of people being fans is massively overrated. One of my bosses is a huge Android fan boy. Huge. And one of the IT guys in the office is a huge Android fanboy, to the point that he even bragged about how he has never even touched an iPad, as though he has to keep himself pure.

And yet both of these guys have a big blind spot about how the majority of people use technology and what they look for.

The Blackberry was once hugely popular, to the extent that people referred to them as The Crackberry. There are folks who still prefer the device, because of its reliability, damage resistance, battery life and other features. And yet formerly devoted users have moved on to iPhones and Android phones without a backward glance, leaving RIM fighting for its survival. Similarly, Nokia, another former leader in the market, is on the ropes.

Fanboys live in an alternate universe. The majority of people just want what works. They have no loyalty to any device or technology or philosophy (open vs closed systems).

The distinction between massive fan base and massive user base is spot on. There are large numbers of Android phone users. This makes for a huge potential market for a competing tablet device. But the Android people have to deliver, and so far, they have massively failed to do so.

And yeah, they are all competing with desktops and laptops, though less so with notebooks. This is only anecdotal, but I am a big commuter. While I see people with laptops on the train, I very rarely see anyone with a notebook. And people that I talk to about them tend to agree that notebooks are too underpowered to be generally useful. Which makes it all the more odd that some posters here offer notebooks as iPad alternatives.

 

[kdarling]

No, this just reflects the reality that it is far more enjoyable to browse the web on the iPad than the iPhone or iPod Touch so people do it more.

Yep, exactly my point. These figures only reflect who browses the Comscore associated websites, not device sales.

There seems to be a huge potential demand for a good Android or Windows tablet.

There is that, but even larger seems to be the demand for a very inexpensive (but smooth) tablet of any OS type. Most people don't care what it is, as long as they can afford it, and it works well.

For that matter, there seems to be a lot of people buying tablets just because it's "the thing to do", and then wondering what to do with them

The much rumored upcoming Amazon tablet might shake things up, if it is more than a phantom product, especially if the price is competitive.

And especially because most tablet users are consumers, not producers. I know that I buy everything from books to auto parts to electronics to MP3 selections from Amazon.

For that matter, look at how science fiction used touch screens in Star Trek TNG and later, and in Minority Report, etc. Developers have seen those movies too and they won't stop until they can give us apps that are rich in touch. Make it so, Number One.

Ha! Don't get me started

ST:TNG touch panels were a horrible idea on an armed ship, where the crew often gets tossed from side to side and grab onto the consoles to stay upright. Nothing like accidentally opening airlocks or firing photon torpedoes!

As for Minority Report, Tom Cruise had to take breaks every five minutes because his arms got so tired doing the takes for hand motions in the air. And he was a young guy, too.

Touch is just one input option of many. It's certainly not the holy grail.