An editorial on iPad sales and competition

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by kjk

Well, I don't really know Strategy Analytics methodology-you quoted it in Comment #9 above-how did they come up with that figure?

I don't know, but it doesn't sound like an estimate.

Originally Posted by kjk

I do not know Apple's arrangement with Amazon.

Well in a relation between Apple and other retailers it makes sense that the shipped units would be considered sold. Otherwise it would cause complications with possible returns.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

Otherwise it would cause complications with possible returns.

As Best Buy and HP are currently finding out, I guess.

[RockdaMan]

Another editorial: 'More Evidence That There’s No “Tablet Market”'

it leaves you wondering when the success stories will start to kick in that would create the thriving tablet market that research firms are still predicting will come to be.

it’s been nineteen months since the iPad was announced, and the rest of the industry still feels like it’s in dress rehearsal.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

I'm all for using the best hardware that I can afford at any given moment.

Which is why The iPad is losing market share.

A decision to forego Flash Memory cards removes iPple from consideration as that makes the hardware just too inferior in the perception of many users. This leaves iPple cultists drooling about how an SD Card isnt really a feature or how supporting not supporting Flash is just "A design decision" yada yada yada.

iPple products are pretty. They are usually (but by no means always) durable. They are also lacking in features many consider indespensable.

They are pretty much Guaranteed to lose market share. All of the lost share is not going to go to android. WebOs and RIM faltered, but I expect both to pick up steam. A fragmented market is healthy for the consumer.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by Phogg

A fragmented market is healthy for the consumer.

And healthy for the companies, in terms of keeping them innovative.

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by Phogg

Which is why The iPad is losing market share.

Only if you count by the OS that the devices run. If you count by manufacturer, it's still number one by a long, long distance.

Anyway, I don't think 'losing market share' is the correct phrasing in a growing market where Apple is selling every device it makes. If the market were static, and their sales were falling off, sure.

But neither is the case.

[cfrizz]

Quite frankly, all of these items are "luxury" items, not necessity items. Adding to that is the fact that most of these are stripped down versions running old SW, or have features that up the price, but are not really necessary.

Now that HC is starting to ship, most are 10" which takes it out of the easy portable market. WTH happened to 7" tablets?

When they start to really ship and sell HC tablets with various price points, sizes smaller than 10", that have features that are worth the price, they might start selling more of them.

Providing people have jobs with enough disposable income to buy them.

[RockdaMan]

...and again. It's a media pile-on.

According to a report issued on Wednesday, consumers who already own or plan to buy a new tablet are only interested in one thing: the Apple iPad.

The report, which was published by Robert W. Baird, a Milwaukee-based wealth management and analyst company, was conducted through a survey of 1,114 people, 98 percent of whom lived in the United States.

More than 50 percent of those surveyed, who were between 22 and 60 years old, said they already owned a tablet or were interested in buying one soon, with 95 percent of these respondents choosing the Apple iPad.

Although survey participants were allowed to pick multiple tablet choices, only 10 percent chose the Hewlett-Packard TouchPad as their tablet. A mere 4 percent said they would buy Research in Motion’s new BlackBerry tablet, the PlayBook. The Acer Iconia tablet, which runs Google’s Android software, barely scored 1 percent among survey participants.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/0...tech&seid=auto

[Ankh]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

Only if you count by the OS that the devices run. If you count by manufacturer, it's still number one by a long, long distance.

Wait a minute, that logic is flawed: the tablet market is theirs (Apple's) to lose.

Android crowd shares software and (mostly, see Tegra 2 as a fragmentation source) the apps. All units shipped with Android are collectively undermining (or not) Apple's market share and position.

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by Ankh

All units shipped with Android are collectively undermining (or not) Apple's market share and position.

Let's not have that argument. Apple is selling every iDevice they can make.

Androids phones are selling faster, but

A. They haven't impacted iDevice sales

B. It's because Apple didn't go multi-carrier and multi-device (different models: screen sizes, physical keyboard or no...etc.) That they are doing this with one model varied by memory size only is incredible.

[OtterBooks]

Finally a tech journalist acknowledges the elephant in the room:

There is no "tablet market."

[stonetools]

Great marketing helps, but there are three main reasons why the iPad is so dominant-

1. It was first to the market and therefore defined the whole category of the consumer tablet. Every other device that came after was compared to the iPad.

2. It was a really solid product from day one. Whatever it's shortcomings, both hardware and software was polished and fully functional. Most of the Android tablets , by contrast, were missing promised features like Flash and in general seemed half baked.

The main reason the iPad dominates, however, is 3. The iPad launched with the full backing of Apple's insanely great ecosystem. Frankly, only geeks care that much about things like SD cards, Flash, USB ports, etc. What mattered to the average consumer was that from day one there were lots of apps, games, and content that they could enjoy on the iPad . Since then, Apple's ecosystem for the iPad has only gotten much better.
There are 100,000 apps in the App Store for the iPad, versus 1000 or so from Android and only a few hundred for the Touchpad and the Playbook.
There are thousands of games for the iPad. Indeed, the iPad is rapidly becoming the number one gaming device, at the expense of consoles.
There is all that great content from the iTunes store and third party apps like Netflix and HBO
Also present are all the major booksellers and lots of magazines .

When you look at all the Apple ecosystem has to offer, there really is no contest as to which tablet you can do more with, and enjoy more, whch us why consumers continue to flock to the iPad .

[RockdaMan]

First, I heard, yes HEARD several peoples heads explode as they read your post.

Originally Posted by stonetools

. Most of the Android tablets , by contrast, were missing promised features like Flash and in general seemed half baked.

The Era of Beta Hardware:"Software companies release unfinished products all the time, of course–it’s just that they label them as betas and don’t charge for them...RIM and Motorola, however, aren’t cheerfully acknowledging that their tablets are less than complete, and they’re not offering a price break."

Indeed, the iPad is rapidly becoming the number one gaming device, at the expense of consoles

The many pleasures of iPad games: " A few months ago, a producer at a major video-game company startled me by admitting that the economic viability of the triple-A video-game production cycle — the expensive development process, in other words, by which games like Halo, Grand Theft Auto, Uncharted, and BioShock are unleashed upon the world — is in all likelihood doomed."

[covfam]

the article is correct you have to sell it to the average american not the techies.

Heck look at computers they have been around since the 1950's and Home computing from the late 70's but only the hobbiest used them. the average person did not even think of computers untill windows 95 came out and wasnt untill windows 98 was out that computers were in the home and people were using the internet. they didnt care about computer spec's then or computer/tablet specs now.

All the average american wants to know is Can i watch youtube,read email,play angry birds,check my datebook,get on facebook,get the news and for the average american the Tablet can do every single thing the average american wants. the average american doesnt even understand let alone care what operating system the tablet uses or the features on the tablet. they want to know if it can do the above things and since almost can the next important thing is whats the popular brand.

how else can you explain why E-machines,HP,Dell,Gateway could stay in buisness making electronic junk for the last 20 years and be the computer sellers ....because they dont care about the device all they want is Angry birds

[sabredog]

Anything remotely as good as the iPad, Apple are actively filing law suits to stop them being sold or modified so they are less capable.

The Samsung galaxy Tab for example has, by court order, been stopped being sold in Australia and Europe.

Little wonder, people are looking at the iPad when the best of the other brands are not available to be a viable alternative.