Apple iPad Market Share Plunges Below 30%
Just 15 months ago Apple commanded 70% of the global tablet market, but according to the latest figures from research firm IDC, the iPad has slipped to less than 30% market share. The reason is the growing threat from Android tablets from the likes of Samsung, Lenovo and Asus.
Apple’s decision to shift its iPad launches to the fall from earlier in the year appears to have undermined its standing versus rival tablet makers.
Even with that seasonal factor, the numbers don’t look great for Apple because its sales in Q3 2013 are just 100,000 iPads higher than the were in Q2 2013, and that’s with the new and cheaper iPad mini in the market. Also unwelcome is momentum for arch-rival Samsung, which managed to more than double its shipments from 4.3m to 9.7m. Lenovo also did well, pushing 2.3m ‘slabs out the door, up from 0.4m a year back.
Despite the stuttering Apple sales figures, the tablet market as a whole grew by 36% year-on-year and was up 7% compared to the second quarter of 2013.
The tablet market is starting to look like the smartphone market. Apple defines the industry, then watches as a bunch of low cost competitors eat up share. Apple is still the most profitable of the bunch.
Google sees the tablet market as a fresh opportunity to control personal computing. It has no chance of taking desktop computing away from Microsoft, so it’s attacking tablet computing, which eats into Apple’s market share.
