Recent data from International Data Corp on the sale
of tablet PCs for the third quarter showed that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s share
in the market had dipped to 50.4 percent from the commanding 65.4 percent it
had in the second quarter.
This has immediately set tongues wagging as to whether
Apple's domination in the segment is coming to an end.
It’s quite common knowledge, one which the company has
acknowledged publicly that it sold fewer iPads in its fiscal fourth quarter
which end on September as anticipation of its iPad Mini resulted in many
customers deferring purchases.
Of course, the tablet landscape has change enormously
over the months as newer tablets are coming into the market. There also have
been new entrants such as Google and Amazon, all of which have come at lower
price points than the premium-price Apple.
It is significant that Android-powered tablets have
gained the most market share. Especially Samsung, which increased its market
share in the segment to 18.4 percent from 9.4 percent in the previous
sequential quarter.
Amazon, the vendor of Kindle Fire tablets, followed
with a 9 percent share, while Taiwan’s Asustek Computer Inc., known for its
Asus brand for PCs, came fourth with an 8.6 percent share.
It might be too premature to read any trend just based
on the figures of a single quarter. IDC itself has said that the fourth quarter
of 2012 would be a good quarter for Apple as it has two more models to sell -
the iPad Mini and the fourth generation iPad.
The company is bound to face more competition in the
coming months as Microsoft has just recently launched its Surface tablets -
which is at the same price point as that of Apple.
The thing is that Apple shouldn’t end up pricing
itself out of the market and catering solely to one segment. Its strategy of
introducing the iPad Mini was pretty sound but then it spoilt the whole thing
by pricing it way too high.
It all depends on how the rest of the market responds
to Apple now.
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