iPad market share hit by deep PlayBook price cut in Canada

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014


New data released on Wednesday suggests Research in Motion's PlayBook tablet has managed a ten percent increase in Canadian marketshare on substantial discounts, and has pulled the share of Apple's iPad down to 68 percent.



Citing market research data from Toronto-based Solutions Research Group, The Globe and Mail reports that market share of the oft-maligned PlayBook has risen to 15 percent of the Canadian market, but comes at the cost of discounts which equate to hundreds of dollars per unit.



The data, taken from a survey of 1,000 Canadians, illustrates that while RIM's share is but a fraction of the iPad's, the sharp rise in sales saw Apple's market presence drop from 86 percent to 68 percent since fall 2011. This steep decline also means that Android tablets have also shown growth during the period.



Despite critical reviews from bloggers and the media, RIM chose to stick with the PlayBook even as a the inability to sell units cost the company $485 million in earnings at the end of the holiday quarter.



In an attempt to salvage the device, RIM initiated a fire sale in November which slashed prices of the premium tablet by as much as $300, and continues to uphold the low cost in order to move product.





RIM's deep discounts have translated into a bump in Canadian market share. | Source: BlackBerry.com







A software update for the 7-inch tablet, dubbed PlayBook 2.0, is expected to be announced in the coming weeks and will bring much needed e-mail and calendar apps as well as the ability to type on the device using a BlackBerry handset's physical keyboard.



[ View article on AppleInsider ]

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 51
    ...while people hold back for the iPad 3, prepare for some whoopassing after .
  • Reply 2 of 51
    It's not really surprising given the prices of the playbook.



    Playbook is actually a really neat OS that has multi-tasking that puts the iPad to shame. I almost got one to add to my collection of tablets when they had sales.



    Neat unit. Lack of software killed it.
  • Reply 3 of 51
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    It looks like slapppy was right¡ Apple can only get more than half the market unit share when companies sell at a loss. Apple must be sweating bullets knowing they only take in 100% of the profits.
  • Reply 4 of 51
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Let 'em keep selling the PlayBook at fire sale prices in which they make a few cents off of every tablet. It will only hasten the inevitable. The market has shown that yes, you can take market share away from the iPad IF you basically give your product away. Not exactly a sound business model in my uninformed opinion.
  • Reply 5 of 51
    count down to ipad 3 starts now
  • Reply 6 of 51
    kolchakkolchak Posts: 1,398member
    RIM is no Amazon. They can't sustain selling below cost for very long. This is probably just clearing out the inventory. Once it's all gone, owners are going to be stuck with an orphan device. Not that it has much support even now.
  • Reply 7 of 51
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by realwarder View Post


    It's not really surprising given the prices of the playbook.



    Playbook is actually a really neat OS that has multi-tasking that puts the iPad to shame. I almost got one to add to my collection of tablets when they had sales.



    Neat unit. Lack of software killed it.



    It's the ecosystem, baby, the ecosystem.
  • Reply 8 of 51
    cpsrocpsro Posts: 3,192member
    (Secret internal memo ordered all RIM employees to buy a playbook.)
  • Reply 9 of 51
    What is this 'email' they speak of. This could be huge!
  • Reply 10 of 51
    Canada must have a hella small market for RIM to have enough of these on hand to to affect market share. No igloo is complete without a RIM heating pad.
  • Reply 11 of 51
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post


    It looks like slapppy was right¡ Apple can only get more than half the market unit share when companies sell at a loss. Apple must be sweating bullets knowing they only take in 100% of the profits.



    Slappy has spoken!



    "DOOMED. DOOMED. APPLE ARE DOOMED, I TELL YOU Free Playbooks and Android Tablets will KILL THE IPAD , Mark my words DOOMED. DOOMED. APPLE ARE DOOMED, I TELL YOU"
  • Reply 12 of 51
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    A software update for the 7-inch tablet, dubbed PlayBook 2.0, is expected to be announced in the coming weeks and will bring much needed e-mail and calendar apps as well as the ability to type on the device using a BlackBerry handset's physical keyboard.



    This just tells me they don't give a crap at all about anything.



    When was it that this first became common knowledge? Eight months ago or something? Eight months they've gone without an update to allow native e-mail on their device. Eight months where the thing has been absolutely worthless to everyone in its intended market.



    The fact they didn't slave night and day for an entire month to push an e-mail client to the device right after it launched tells me they just don't care.
  • Reply 13 of 51
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Macky the Macky View Post


    Canada must have a hella small market for RIM to have enough of these on hand to to affect market share. No igloo is complete without a RIM heating pad.



    1/3 of the inventory was sold to construction companies for cheap fill, 1/3 of them were sold to the Brick for giveaways and only 1/3 of them went into consumers hands, of which half of those were bought as executive giveaways at Xmas.
  • Reply 14 of 51
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    I wonder if RiM is counting the PlayBooks stolen from the truck.





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    This just tells me they don't give a crap at all about anything.



    When was it that this first became common knowledge? Eight months ago or something? Eight months they've gone without an update to allow native e-mail on their device. Eight months where the thing has been absolutely worthless to everyone in its intended market.



    The fact they didn't slave night and day for an entire month to push an e-mail client to the device right after it launched tells me they just don't care.



    Here is a video about the upcoming update.
  • Reply 15 of 51
    tnsftnsf Posts: 203member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    The data, taken from a survey of 1,000 Canadians...



    So in other words, this is not real data.
  • Reply 16 of 51
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by TNSF View Post


    So in other words, this is not real data.



    Why not... because it's only 1000 or because it's Canadians?
  • Reply 17 of 51
    tnsftnsf Posts: 203member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by island hermit View Post


    Why not... because it's only 1000 or because it's Canadians?



    Haha true true.



    What people say is very different than what people do. Sales figures shouldn't be confused with survey results.
  • Reply 18 of 51
    I'm Canadian and I've never seen it a PlayBook in anyone's hands. I saw one once at a stand in a mall... but it did not work.
  • Reply 19 of 51
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post


    It looks like slapppy was right¡ Apple can only get more than half the market unit share when companies sell at a loss. Apple must be sweating bullets knowing they only take in 100% of the profits.



    If Slappy were feeling Slaphappy, he might pull out something like this:



    Survey Puts Android in Clear Lead



    http://blogs.wsj.com/tech-europe/201...tphone-market/
  • Reply 20 of 51
    So if I were a dealership selling 86 percent of all the cars in my county, and the radio station gave away a dozen cars in a promotion, my "market share" would be down?



    Also, "percentage of change" is not the same as "percentage points of change," AI.
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