Research: Android taking over the tablet market from iOS

But I seem to remember not too long ago that "iPad was the iPod of tablets" or something, and therefore will always have 80+ percent market share. I guess that didn't turn out true.

Re: Research: Android taking over the tablet market from iOS

#5

Post by Touche » Sat, Sep 28, 2013, 2:10 PM UTC

Relevant:

> I’m not trying to cherry-pick data. I’m simply observing, based on Apple’s sales data and Google’s activation data, that the tablet market doesn’t today look anything like the smartphone market ever did. The iPad didn’t enter the tablet market. It created the tablet market. The iPad’s role in the tablet market much more closely resembles the iPod’s role in the digital music player market a decade ago than it does the iPhone’s role in the 2008 phone market.

> http://daringfireball.net/2011/07/ipad_dominance

> There’s an iPad market, and the iPad could be classified as a tablet, from a hardware-centric viewpoint. But the market for non-iPad tablets is about as big today as it was before the iPad, which isn’t nothing, but it’s close enough to nothing that Apple doesn’t need to worry about it.

> http://www.marco.org/2010/12/31/there-really-isnt-much-of-a-...

Re: Research: Android taking over the tablet market from iOS

#6

Post by Touche » Sat, Sep 28, 2013, 2:12 PM UTC

devx wrote: post #4

I'm sure a lot will say now that "It was inevitable. Android is made up of multiple OEM's, yadda, yadda...". But I seem to remember not too long ago that "iPad was the iPod of tablets" or something, and therefore will always have 80+ percent market share. I guess that didn't turn out true.

You're absolutely right. That people could hold these two ideas in their head at the same time still boggles my mind:

1) Tablets are the future of personal computers 2) The tablet market is more like the media player market than the phone market.

This was absolutely a popular belief just a couple of years ago, although the people who said this have become quite silent.

Re: Research: Android taking over the tablet market from iOS

#7

Post by selectodude » Sat, Sep 28, 2013, 2:20 PM UTC

Wait, wait. So in a quarter where the newest iPad is 6 months old, there were less iPads sold than every Android tablet manufacturer in the world combined?

APPLE IS DOOMED

Re: Research: Android taking over the tablet market from iOS

#8

Post by badman_ting » Sat, Sep 28, 2013, 2:23 PM UTC

Touche wrote: post #5

Relevant: > I’m not trying to cherry-pick data. I’m simply observing, based on Apple’s sales data and Google’s activation data, that the tablet market doesn’t today look anything like the smartphone market ever did. The iPad didn’t enter the tablet market. It created the tablet market. The iPad’s role in the tablet market much more closely resembles the iPod’s role in the digital music player market a decade ago than…

Also relevant: the dates of those posts.

Re: Research: Android taking over the tablet market from iOS

#9

Post by danmaz74 » Sat, Sep 28, 2013, 2:38 PM UTC

selectodude wrote: post #7

Wait, wait. So in a quarter where the newest iPad is 6 months old, there were less iPads sold than every Android tablet manufacturer in the world combined? APPLE IS DOOMED

Apple is far from doomed. But those who were saying that Apple would dominate the tablet market forever were wrong. PS please don't answer "but look at the profits". They will come down too, as it's only right in a competitive market.

Re: Research: Android taking over the tablet market from iOS

#10

Post by Zigurd » Sat, Sep 28, 2013, 2:56 PM UTC

The tablet market is not like the phone market. In many ways, it will be easier for Android to gain market share, since the channel isn't controlled by carriers in some markets. Any OEM can enter this business, and many many will.

Tablets are the post PC device, and the skip-the-PC device.

Tablets will be the inexpensive personal internet access device for Asian markets that now rely on internet cafes. Apple will take only the luxury market here, but will make plenty of money at that.

Tablets will displace PCs from the desks and especially the non-desk-bound workers in enterprises who can't justify the support costs of a PC. Apple will be a stronger contender here because of their long head start, but Android has some technical advantages as well as cost and choice of OEMs.

One thing that's missing is software that takes advantage of tablet power and screen real estate. My prediction is that this will happen first in enterprise software where budgets will support more ambitious software development, and that it's possible it will happen on Android first because it's easier to make a suite of cooperating apps for Android.