It’s good to be king, and make no mistake about it, when it comes to the tablet market, Apple is definitely a king among men. According to recent data compiled by Strategy Analytics, Apple’s iPad constituted 95% of all global tablet shipments during the most recent quarter. Android tablets, the closest competitor to the iPad at this point, accounted for 2.3% of global tablet shipments.
Neil Mawston of Strategy Analytics comments,
The tablet wars are up and running. Apple has quickly leveraged its famous brand, an extensive retail presence and user-friendly design to develop the tablet segment into a multi-billion-dollar global business. Android, Microsoft, MeeGo, WebOS, Blackberry, and other platforms are trailing in Apple’s wake and they already have much ground to make up.
At this point though, the tablet race seems more like a lopsided victory for Apple than an actual war between equally skilled foes.
In any event, the tablet market, though not necessarily new, wasn’t much of anything until Apple introduced the iPad this past April. And with the holiday shopping season upon us, a flood of iPad competitors will be hitting stores with increasing intensity. It remains to be see, however, if competitors can match Apple’s meshing of premium hardware with best in class software to create a unified and slick end product. To date, the first true iPad competitor – the Samsung Galaxy Tab – has gotten less than stellar reviews. Indeed, many upcoming iPad competitors will be sporting smaller 7-inch screens and will cost as much as, if not more than, a more capable and equivalent iPad model.
November 19th, 2010 at 9:59 am
Market share is hardly important at this point. What really matters is profit share. Apple must have 99% of that. Next year the tablet sector will be deluged with Android tablets of all shapes, sizes and quality. They’ll come from every computer and electronic device vendor you can name. From expensive to ultra-dirt cheap. I’m not sure how consumers are going to choose among the vast selection. The Android camps will again say they are going to destroy Apple through variety and overwhelming numbers. Android-running tablets may quickly outnumber iPads.
Apple should easily be able to maintain very high profit share. It’ll be tens of millions of iPads against however many Android tablets there will be split up among dozens of tablet vendors all fighting over smaller profits. Every penny from every iPad will go directly into Apple’s coffers without any dilution whatsoever. There will be dozens of Android tablets, but still only one Apple iPad and it will stand alone. Apple’s iPad won’t be plagued with consumer confusion over what tablet to buy. I’m hoping it turns out the same as iPod domination over every other mp3 player.
November 20th, 2010 at 8:19 am
What’s amusing is apple is all substance will android and now rim are all hype. Yea, like the iPod market, apple will lose some market share but hold onto to a 95%, of all the profits in this market.
December 3rd, 2010 at 8:34 am
You are a very capable individual!