Apple holds on to top spot in tablet sales despite iPad decline
The tablet market remains Apple's to lose, according to new data released Thursday, as the Cupertino company commanded almost 27 percent of tablet shipments in the second quarter of 2014 -- nearly 10 percentage points more than rival Samsung, its closest competitor.
South Korean conglomerate Samsung held 17.2 percent of the market, followed by Chinese PC maker Lenovo with 4.9 percent and Taiwanese firms Asus and Acer at 4.6 percent and 2 percent, respectively. Lenovo experienced particularly explosive growth, increasing shipments by 64.7 percent year-over-year, according to the latest estimates from research firm IDC.
The overall market is said to have grown by 11 percent from the year-ago quarter to 49.3 million units. Much of the increase came from smaller tablet makers, IDC said.
"Until recently, Apple, and to a lesser extent Samsung, have been sitting at the top of the market, minimally impacted by the progress from competitors," IDC tablet analyst Jitesh Ubrani said in a release. "Now we are seeing growth amongst the smaller vendors and a leveling of shares across more vendors as the market enters a new phase."
Apple sold just 13.2 million iPads in its own fiscal third quarter, a 9.2 percent year-over-year decline. Company officials said they were not concerned, however, and CEO Tim Cook went as far as to say his company is "very bullish about the future of the tablet market."
South Korean conglomerate Samsung held 17.2 percent of the market, followed by Chinese PC maker Lenovo with 4.9 percent and Taiwanese firms Asus and Acer at 4.6 percent and 2 percent, respectively. Lenovo experienced particularly explosive growth, increasing shipments by 64.7 percent year-over-year, according to the latest estimates from research firm IDC.
The overall market is said to have grown by 11 percent from the year-ago quarter to 49.3 million units. Much of the increase came from smaller tablet makers, IDC said.
"Until recently, Apple, and to a lesser extent Samsung, have been sitting at the top of the market, minimally impacted by the progress from competitors," IDC tablet analyst Jitesh Ubrani said in a release. "Now we are seeing growth amongst the smaller vendors and a leveling of shares across more vendors as the market enters a new phase."
Apple sold just 13.2 million iPads in its own fiscal third quarter, a 9.2 percent year-over-year decline. Company officials said they were not concerned, however, and CEO Tim Cook went as far as to say his company is "very bullish about the future of the tablet market."
Comments
I'm an Apple person since the old Apple II days. However, being an IT professional, I had to try all the other flavors of tablets. Apple just gets it. No one else understands the tablet metaphor any better than our friends in Cupertino.
But conventional computers will still have their uses, and Macs are advancing steadily.
What is interesting is to see how the transition happens. At first it seemed it would be a slow shift over many years. Then the iPad took off and it seemed the shift was happening fast. Now tablet sales are slowing (but user base is still growing) and the truth seems somewhere in between.
Complicating factors:
- Tablets stay useful a long time, and aren't subsidized by phone makers. High tablet usage doesn't always mean high repeated sales.
- Many people just use their phones for their primary computing (not just phablets, but that help). In that way, touch can replace a laptop for many tasks and not need a tablet.
- Apple is making it increasingly easy to use a Mac and iOS device(s) together. (Together in the right way! Not a la Microsoft.)
The iPad will eat most of the Mac market (never all!) but it looks to be a slow transition. What about the larger market? Android seems to be claiming the "dumb video player" market worldwide, and the rest leans heavily to Apple. Enterprise? Microsoft wants it. They have a tough road, but they have a chance.
I agree that iPads are not going to have the regular, subsidized upgrade cycle like the iPhones (all phones, actually) do every 2 years.
It will be much more like desktops/laptops which tended to get upgraded every 5 years or so.
So, what you'll see over time is a slower long term growth in iPads as more and more people who don't have one decide to buy it for the first time. And as the older iPads get long in the tooth, have smaller memory sizes, slower processing, lack of multitasking and other advances, the older iPads will be upgraded to whatever new iPad is available. Just like laptops and desktops.
The IBM deal with the Enterprise market, plus the Education market, will add to that long-term growth.
The day I can drop my iPad in a charging stand and at that point operate it with a keyboard (inc the use of CMD-Tab), and a mouse it will become a LOT more useful and speedy as a laptop replacement. Not sure it will ever happen because the mbAir is still so awesome. I feel spoilt for choice to be honest and I am pretty damn happy with my mix of devices at this moment.
The day I can drop my iPad in a charging stand and at that point operate it with a keyboard (inc the use of CMD-Tab), and a mouse it will become a LOT more useful and speedy as a laptop replacement. Not sure it will ever happen because the mbAir is still so awesome. I feel spoilt for choice to be honest and I am pretty damn happy with my mix of devices at this moment.
You could always opt for a Surface Pro 3.
I agree that iPads are not going to have the regular, subsidized upgrade cycle like the iPhones (all phones, actually) do every 2 years.
It will be much more like desktops/laptops which tended to get upgraded every 5 years or so.
So, what you'll see over time is a slower long term growth in iPads as more and more people who don't have one decide to buy it for the first time. And as the older iPads get long in the tooth, have smaller memory sizes, slower processing, lack of multitasking and other advances, the older iPads will be upgraded to whatever new iPad is available. Just like laptops and desktops.
The key item with tablets is the interface to the world.
Apple, given their single source model, can support more models backwards, so there is even less 'turns' for SW improvements, but on the other hand, every 3 years there will/could/likely/possibly be a HW integration that is must have. TouchID I think is key** and I think that a commercial version of 'wallet' will also be important (not for payment but for proof of self/afiliation.... Watching Wedding Crashers, and I thought that would be a cool app... 'evites' where the RSVP is digitally signed, that only your TouchID can unlock).
Other things, such as the M7 chip... Nothing speak like corporate time and motion studies than replaying what you're doing (I wasn't joking in the other thread that IBM/Apple can help the USPS in determining variance in carrier routing (a little big brother), or providing instant information on 'where' a carrier is' [health/safety, follow-up, custom service ['customer left a big-@ss package for pickup 'HERE' (GPS converted to 11 digit zip code)'].
As Apple adds these items to the iPad, and who knows what's next, there will be a 3 year transition.
or better still contribute to other revenue channels (app store, applecare, other). I look at the BYOD/Enterprise space and see a huge collision that basically says there won't be a 'home PC' and a a 'work PC' There will be 'my tablet' in 'work mode' and 'play mode.' I don't think you'll see a person with 2 iPads, but you will see a person with 'their' iPad take it everywhere (and where it's not, your iPhone is there).
(TL;DR - why TouchID will make a big difference);
**(but I'm in the Identity Management world. The key thing about 'home PCs' was... outside of our corporate walls, is that you, or your 12 yo daughter (auto)logging in to the corporate network? Now we can be sure (more sure), for less money... when I first started out, it was about $200 a year for 'managed' RSA tokens... While today, it's less (more like $50/year... there is a lot of overhead integrating into organizational provisioning systems, even if the fob is $5. $50 by 80,000 employees (or $100 for 50 employees) is big money for corporations. Soon it will be builtin into your iOS VPN app (evaluatePolicy:IDPolicyDeviceOwnerAuthenticationWithBioMetrics), or any iOS app (your sales forecasting tool)... get the biometric, send the AppleID or whatever unlocked to that back to the mothership, bingo... instant multi factor factor authentication... your login into the device (appleID), the device itself (your registered token), and your fingerprint (a success token stored in the Secure Enclave, saying person AppleID's was used on a registered (managed) device, and the only place where that token was, was successfully returned.
That's a couple Billion dollars saved for every financial institution that is skirting the FFIEC laws from 2011 requiring non-replayable real 2 factor authentication (almost all banks are faking it with stored tokens in your browser, making the 'device' the 2nd factor, which just about any malicious hacker can get access to, and the 'ease of use workaround' is a 'mothers maiden name, first school, pet's name secret'.... just another 'first factor' repeatable shared secret)
I haven't looked at their income statement, but a really simple explanation is that their expenses increased more than their revenues did. Samsung may have brought in more revenues than ever, but if they spent even more on R&D or marketing, then their profits would still decline.
I find it funny how Apple was a few percentage points off market expectation on a device that WILL see an update in a few months and suddenly it's all doom and gloom. Please. People actually do other things in the summer other than play on their iPad. We also know that Apple also reports numbers purchased by consumers, not tablets shipped. Hell, Amazon doesn't tell you any information on their devices.
Like many have said before, Apple is also a victim of its own success with the device since for many, there's no need to upgrade what they have. Does that mean Android is suddenly winning? Um, no. Take a look at web usage and you'll see that even Amazon tablets are being used more than Samsung tablets. And what's up with the "other" category? Is IDC still pretending like cheap, Chinese white=box tablets sold in CVS and street corner tourist shops some how holds a torch to the iPad?
2. "Others"
'Nuff said.
Not to worry. The post-PC era has barely even begun.
The Wintel PC era started in the '90s.
The DOS PC era started in the '80s.
The general "personal computing" era started in the '60s.
Plenty of time for iPad to take over in the post-PC era.
The day I can drop my iPad in a charging stand and at that point operate it with a keyboard (inc the use of CMD-Tab), and a mouse it will become a LOT more useful and speedy as a laptop replacement. Not sure it will ever happen because the mbAir is still so awesome. I feel spoilt for choice to be honest and I am pretty damn happy with my mix of devices at this moment.
My guess your desire for the old 'docking station' will not be an Apple product....
because...
- Power will shift to inductive.
- 'ac' networking will approach gigabit speeds
- speakers/display are 'airplay' now.
- BT keyboard (mouse/trackpad... maybe soon)
- Continuity gives you the ability to have both worlds for all your dual-platform 'content'.
I do see the market for what you want (5% of a 27% of a global market... is a bit number).
Apple would rather sell you
AppleTV
Airport Extreme
for $300
Than a $100 docking station.
1. Shipments
2. "Others"
'Nuff said.
3. "Others" = "A Lot of Kindles"
Not to worry. The post-PC era has barely even begun.
The Wintel PC era started in the '90s.
The DOS PC era started in the '80s.
The general "personal computing" era started in the '60s.
Plenty of time for iPad to take over in the post-PC era.
I would argue that the 'revolution' cycle time has decreased by an order of magnitude, and increased on world social impact by an order of magnitude. 10% of every man/woman/child in the world has smartphones now. .00....01% had access to a 'computer' before 'personal' computers.
and I would argue it was never a PC thing, but a network (lower case 'n') thing, which at its root, a speed of communication thing.
The iPad/iPhone is just a very convenient Internet Spigot you can keep in your pocket/satchel. The more people who have similar (or have things that interconnect seamlessly with the apps/functions on my spigot), the more valuable.
Moore's Law is less important than Metcalf's Law. And like other networks (Ma Bell, for example), it's those early years that define the path, trajectory, and limits of the capability. We don't want a disconnected Babel.
ROFL
I would argue that the 'revolution' cycle time has decreased by an order of magnitude, and increased on world social impact by an order of magnitude. 10% of every man/woman/child in the world has smartphones now. .00....01% had access to a 'computer' before 'personal' computers.
and I would argue it was never a PC thing, but a network (lower case 'n') thing, which at its root, a speed of communication thing.
The iPad/iPhone is just a very convenient Internet Spigot you can keep in your pocket/satchel. The more people who have similar (or have things that interconnect seamlessly with the apps/functions on my spigot), the more valuable.
Moore's Law is less important than Metcalf's Law. And like other networks (Ma Bell, for example), it's those early years that define the path, trajectory, and limits of the capability. We don't want a disconnected Babel.
All excellent points. I think, to split hairs, we can divide the PC era into sub-eras: pre-internet and internet.
Pre-internet ('80s to early '90s) there was DOS, there were floppy discs, and there were Ethernet LANs.
PCs were for desktop publishing, grinding out spreadsheets, etc. and then sending it all to your boss on the LAN.
Internet access allowed PCs to be used for searching the web, doing online research, and communicating globally.
PCs went from being local LAN workstations to being, as you say, internet appliances.
(Remember the words "workstation" and "sneakernet?" How about "pizza box"? LOL.)
But we have no idea how long the post-PC era will last, or what sub-eras it might contain.
Will Siri and Google Now become the UX of choice (like in the move "Her") in the next 10 years?
Will all the chrome and animation and oh-so-precious pixel-perfection of app design all just go away in favor of voice?
Will the iTunes App Store evolve into the Siri Accessories store? With UI-less iOS plugins that used to be called "apps"?
Will we finally dump the "keyboard" and move on to gesture / voice / thought control of our devices?
Will we all be walking around with earpiece internet appliances and disposable displays in our pockets in 2024?
Who knows?
Will Siri and Google Now become the UX of choice (like in the move "Her") in the next 10 years?
Will all the chrome and animation and oh-so-precious pixel-perfection of app design all just go away in favor of voice?
Will the iTunes App Store evolve into the Siri Accessories store? With UI-less iOS plugins that used to be called "apps"?
Will we finally dump the "keyboard" and move on to gesture / voice / thought control of our devices?
Will we all be walking around with earpiece internet appliances and disposable displays in our pockets in 2024?
Who knows?
I sure hope not. That sounds terrible. Do we really need more disposable electronics?
Personally, I'd much prefer a 60" 4K monitor and a PFLOP computer with pixel perfect input control.
I sincerely hope that visual arts based computing will continue to be developed in parallel with small personal communication devices. Neither replaces the other. Since the days of carving petroglyphs, visual art has been part of the human experience and I don't see that ending anytime soon. To imagine that the computing world to be reduced to sending tweets via Siri sounds absolutely dismal.
I sure hope not. That sounds terrible. Do we really need more disposable electronics?
Personally, I'd much prefer a 60" 4K monitor and a PFLOP computer with pixel perfect input control.
I sincerely hope that visual arts based computing will continue to be developed in parallel with small personal communication devices. Neither replaces the other. Since the days of carving petroglyphs, visual art has been part of the human experience and I don't see that ending anytime soon. To imagine that computing world to be reduced to sending tweets via Siri sounds absolutely dismal.
Oops. Forgot to say "mobile computing" somewhere in there. (And absolutely, mobile computing will devolve into "disposable electronics".)
There will always be a place for big-screen 8K pixel-perfection: the living room.
Or maybe by the time 8K TVs become affordable, we'll have room-filling holographic 3D displays.
Again, like in the movie "Her."
Been using tablets since the days of Windows 3.11 for Pen Computing, the Apple Newton. The modern Surface pro tablets try to mimic the hardware and polish of modern iPads, but not the post-PC user experience. Microsoft recently patted itself on the back for shipping a "metro UI" file manager for their tablet. Uh, that's not a step forward.
The day I can drop my iPad in a charging stand and at that point operate it with a keyboard (inc the use of CMD-Tab), and a mouse it will become a LOT more useful and speedy as a laptop replacement. Not sure it will ever happen because the mbAir is still so awesome. I feel spoilt for choice to be honest and I am pretty damn happy with my mix of devices at this moment.
My guess your desire for the old 'docking station' will not be an Apple product....
because...
- Power will shift to inductive.
- 'ac' networking will approach gigabit speeds
- speakers/display are 'airplay' now.
- BT keyboard (mouse/trackpad... maybe soon)
- Continuity gives you the ability to have both worlds for all your dual-platform 'content'.
I do see the market for what you want (5% of a 27% of a global market... is a bit number).
Apple would rather sell you
AppleTV
Airport Extreme
for $300
Than a $100 docking station.
Continuity is such a strong concept. Rather than trying to create a compromise device that combines phone-tablet or tablet-pc, let each dedicated device do what it does best, but allow a seamless transition from one device to the next. I am not totally opposed to a hybrid concept, especially if funds don't permit having one of each type of device, but Continuity seems so much more powerful. Especially considering that so many people have at least two of the three: phone, tablet, or laptop.