AfterDawn: News

iPad market share down to 55 percent

According to the latest figures from ABI Research, the iPad remained the market leader in the tablet market, but by the thinnest margin yet.

55 percent of all tablets shipped in the last quarter were iPads, down from 67 percent in the same quarter last year. Android controlled 44 percent with all other operating systems residing on the remaining 1 percent.



At the current rate, Android will overtake Apple's flagship sometime in the new year, much quicker than predicted by analysts who had anticipated Apple dominance until 2015.

Reads the report: "As the OS of choice for the majority of device OEMs, we expect the Android ecosystem to continue growing in numbers – new manufacturers, better device choices for reaching more markets, and more developers finding value from apps and content."

ABI cites the new 7-inch tablets by Google and Amazon as catalysts.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 28 Nov 2012 21:57

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• 5 comments

• Mrrtmrrt

  Andre,
  ABI's figures are from before the launch of the iPad mini so represent the artificial dip before the huge amount of pent-up demand exploded with the launch of the iPad mini.
  
  Apple sold more iPads in the first three days of the launch of the iPad mini than Google or Amazon sold in their entire first three months of sales (sorry I mean shipments). Google only managed 500,000 Nexus 7 tablets in their first month according to the manufacturer Asus. So much for these 7" Android tablets finally being able to earn the title of "iPad killer".
  
  In China, at the heart of the Android tablet flood, Apple's iPad captured an astounding 71% marketshare last quarter and that was also before the launch of the iPad mini.
  
  IBM's recent report that the iPad accounted for a massive 88% of all mobile e-commerce transactions over Black Friday combined with web browser marketshare of 91% and 98% according to Strategy Analytics and OnSwipe respectively confirms that actual sales of Android tablets are far lower than analysts would have you believe - either that or they are sitting unused in people's drawers. or something.
  
  Even in smartphones, iOS is going gangbusters. Kantar Worldpanel ComTech reports that in the last three months the iPhone has surged to 48.1% Marketshare in the influential US market beating Android which plunged from 63.3% to 46.7% in the same timeframe. And this is on the back of only 1 month's worth of iPhone 5 sales.
  
  Android tablets are not overtaking the iPad anytime soon.

  29.11.2012 01:16 #1

• Oddmoore

  Originally posted by Mrrtmrrt: Andre,
  ABI's figures are from before the launch of the iPad mini so represent the artificial dip before the huge amount of pent-up demand exploded with the launch of the iPad mini.
  
  Apple sold more iPads in the first three days of the launch of the iPad mini than Google or Amazon sold in their entire first three months of sales (sorry I mean shipments). Google only managed 500,000 Nexus 7 tablets in their first month according to the manufacturer Asus. So much for these 7" Android tablets finally being able to earn the title of "iPad killer".
  
  In China, at the heart of the Android tablet flood, Apple's iPad captured an astounding 71% marketshare last quarter and that was also before the launch of the iPad mini.
  
  IBM's recent report that the iPad accounted for a massive 88% of all mobile e-commerce transactions over Black Friday combined with web browser marketshare of 91% and 98% according to Strategy Analytics and OnSwipe respectively confirms that actual sales of Android tablets are far lower than analysts would have you believe - either that or they are sitting unused in people's drawers. or something.
  
  Even in smartphones, iOS is going gangbusters. Kantar Worldpanel ComTech reports that in the last three months the iPhone has surged to 48.1% Marketshare in the influential US market beating Android which plunged from 63.3% to 46.7% in the same timeframe. And this is on the back of only 1 month's worth of iPhone 5 sales.
  
  Android tablets are not overtaking the iPad anytime soon. Apple is slowly eating itself with their ridiculous, forced 'pay for everything' prison style pay structure. People want more actual freedom of choice with regard to apps and what they can and can't do with their os. Android is more of a peoples os. Apple is like McAfee Antivirus... it's been forced down the throats of legions of less tech savvy people for the last few years, but as time rolls on and those less tech savvy people become MORE tech savvy, they begin to realize how trapped they really are with an apple product. They inevitably migrate away from i-whatever, to an Android based device or some other alternative.

  30.11.2012 11:42 #2

• Mrrtmrrt

  Originally posted by Oddmoore: "They inevitably migrate away from i-whatever, to an Android based device or some other alternative. Actually, Apple's buyer loyalty figures are the highest of any product in the world, significantly higher than Android.
  
  On the other hand you have the hordes of Android users who get fed up with being unable to upgrade their month-old smartphone to the latest OS, who are fed up with all the spamware in the Google Play store, who can't stand all the carrier crapware clogging up their phones or the inconsistent, poorly designed apps, the lack of tablet-optimised apps, the malware, the amount of fiddling they have to do with the OS and the fact that developers create software for iOS first and then, maybe, create an Android version who then migrate to the beautifully integrated iOS ecosystem.
  

  30.11.2012 22:08 #3

• Mrrtmrrt

  Personal anecdotes don't count I'm afraid.
  
  Strategy Analytics puts Apple customer loyalty at 92%, GfK puts it at 84%.
  
  Android product loyalty is far less down at 60%.
  
  This shows that 40% of Android customers do not want to buy another Android smartphone. That kind of puts it in perspective no?

  1.12.2012 03:02 #4

• lfcrule

  Mmm will be interesting to see figures post iPad Mini launch - I was shopping for one at Bluewater (UK) this Saturday and no retailers had any model except for 64gb Cellular models, that included Apple. Seems demand for the mini is exceeding even Apple's estimates...

  3.12.2012 04:47 #5