Apple picker The analytical company IDC published its tablet sales estimates for the Christmas quarter. The numbers are relatively accurate, but for some manufacturers they are added up using questionnaires, demand and financial results. There may be a slight deviation, but the overall impression will remain unchanged.
To begin with, it would be good to state that a year ago the tablet market was relatively new. Although Apple dominated with the iPad 2 model, the competition was still in its infancy. So the impact of her efforts was only seen in 2012. When Apple lost some of its market share, but the drop was not big. It fell from 51,7% to 43,6%.
Of course, the success of the product is not only about sales, but also important are the statistics of use, access to the Internet, deployment in the work environment, etc. An example can be asymconf, running entirely on iPads, including creating most of the content, controlling sound, lights, etc. In this area, the iPad still dominates. Thanks to the vast ecosystem that iOS provides. The catch is that the majority is mainly in the USA and some countries of the Western world. In Asia, the numbers are not so famous anymore, mainly thanks to cheap Android tablets. Their numbers and use are currently largely unknown.
Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), he holds his position. Sales could probably have been higher as demand for the iPad mini could not be met. Which could lead someone to switch to a competitor or postpone a purchase.
Another successful company this year was Samsung. Which, after the first embarrassing models, began to increasingly unify the connection of phones and tablets and thus managed to find customers. Samsung's huge marketing investments certainly have an effect. It probably sold most of the tablets in Asia and Europe. Samsung tablets include devices with Windows 8, there won't be many of them yet, but their number will grow this year.
Asus has shown tremendous year-on-year growth, but growing from nothing is relatively easy. The total was not overwhelming: 3,1 million devices. Because Windows PCs and Android tablets count, including the Nexus 7. Before Christmas, there were a number of reports about how the Nexus 7 was crushing the iPad. Let's say he did 80% of Asus' sales, which is 2,48 million.
Amazon was doing well a year ago, thanks to the cheap Kindle Fire. This time, the situation on the market was more difficult, and the expansion of the portfolio did not help the growth. The question is whether the business model he uses is effective. Subsidize tablets from content sales and sell the device itself without a margin. The company shows no or minimal profits for a long time.
He is fifth in the ranking Barnes & Noble, selling multimedia readers. Their sales are falling and I don't think we'll hear about it in a similar order in a year.
He just barely made it to the top sellers Microsoft with your Surface. Its sales are estimated at 750 to 900 thousand devices. Indeed, these are only estimates, the real number has not been revealed by the company.
The tablet market is developing rapidly, as evidenced by year-on-year growth of more than 75%. This year will be even more dynamic, due to the arrival of Windows 8, hybrid devices between PCs and tablets and the expected Android 5.0, which is expected to be introduced in the spring. So far, Apple dominates, both in sales and in the quality of devices and the availability of applications. This situation will persist, but the company's lead will decrease. We will see a battle between Android and Windows 8 for the second place. Will the market develop like in smartphones, or will Microsoft succeed here?
