Sales of tablet PCs rose nearly 50 percent in the
third quarter of 2012 from a year earlier to 27.8 million units, according to
data released by International Data Corporation. The sequential growth in sales
of these devices was 6.7 percent.
Predictably, the sales growth was led by Android
devices, running on Samsung and Amazon.com, Inc.(NASDAQ:AMZN) handsets. Apple
Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL) devices actually saw a dip in market share during the
quarter, the data showed.
Apple saw its share skipping to 50.4 percent in the
third quarter compared to the 65.5 percent it had at the end of the second
quarter this year.
"After a very strong second quarter, Apple saw
growth slow as both consumer and commercial (including education) shipments
declined, and rumours of a forthcoming iPad Mini began to heat up," said
Tom Mainelli, research director, Tablets at IDC.
"We believe a sizeable percentage of consumers
interested in buying an Apple tablet sat out the third quarter in anticipation
of an announcement about the new iPad Mini. Now that the new Mini, and a
fourth-generation full-sized iPad, are both shipping we expect Apple to have a
very good quarter. However, we believe the mini's relatively high $329 starting
price leaves plenty of room for Android vendors to build upon the success they
achieved in the third quarter."
However, during the third quarter, it was Apple's
bitter rival Samsung which gained at Apple's expense.
Driven by its Galaxy Tab and Note 10.1., the Korean
handset maker shipped 5.1 million tablets worldwide in the third quarter, more
than double from the second quarter. That's an incredible four-fold increase
from the third quarter of the previous year, when it had shipped 1.2 million
tablets.
Amazon, which did not have a tablet in its portfolio
last year, took a 9 percent market share in the third quarter with shipments of
2.5 million units. ASUS, which has tied up with Google Inc(NASDAQ:GOOG), saw
its share rise to 8.6 percent from 3.8 percent, while Lenovo saw a marginal
rise in its share.
Samsucks!
ReplyDeleteThey are competing w/all android phones while AAPL maintains exclusivity. Only reason any sales would be down would be the people waiting in line yet to make their purchase.
Also, don't focus on one device that is short on inventory; when the have a barn full of Studs ready to leave the gate.
you are right,
ReplyDeleteApple build quality and performance are great.
I had Samsung, Nokia, Motorola before, their battery covers were falling off after using it for 1-2 years.
I have my iphone since 2008, its been 4 years still awesome, same battery life.
They have been following apple and copying design etc. But they still could not copy the quality.