New data from IDC indicates that Apple’s iPad continues to best the competition, with its market share rising from 54.7% in the last quarter to 68% in the current quarter. And as Apple’s iPad continues to surge, Android tablet sales are trending downward with the Kindle Fire in particular seeing a drop in shipments from 4.8 million units in the holiday quarter of 2011 to just about 750,000 units in the Q1 of 2012.
Now if only Amazon was confident enough to release official Kindle Fire sales we could have a better grasp on things.
IDC reports:
“Apple reasserted its dominance in the market this quarter, driving huge shipment totals at a time when all but a few Android vendors saw their numbers drop precipitously after posting big gains during the holiday buying season,” said Tom Mainelli, research director, Mobile Connected Devices at IDC. “Apple’s move to position the iPad as an all-purpose tablet, instead of just a content consumption device, is resonating with consumers as well as educational and commercial buyers. And its decision to keep a lower-priced iPad 2 in the market after it launched the new iPad in March seems to be paying off as well.”
Notably, there have been rumblings that Apple has plans to release a 7.85-inch tablet to compete with the Kindle Fire, or at the very least, stunt its momentum. Perhaps the market took care of that on its own. The most recent reports point to a release in third quarter of this year in a price range of $249 to $299 and an initial supply of 6 million units.
Also, remember that John Gruber not too long ago confirmed in a podcast that Apple was tinkering with a smaller version of the iPad.
What I do know is that they have one in the lab…a 7.85 inch iPad that runs at 1024×768… it’s just like the 9.7″ iPad shrunk down a little bit. Apps wouldn’t need to be recompiled or redesigned to work optimally on it. It’s just the iPad smaller.
via IDC
Thu, May 3, 2012
News