Honza Dvorsky Amazon is failing to hold long-term customer interest with their Kindle Fire tablet. According to IDC (International Data Corporation), the fast start that gave it a share of 16,4% of all tablets sold in the last quarter of 2011 is coming to a swift end by falling to just 4% in the first quarter of this year. At the same time, the Apple iPad reasserted its dominance, once again reaching 68% of the market share.
Like Amazon, other Android tablet manufacturers had a good Christmas quarter when they managed to pull the iPad share down to 54,7%. However, after the new year and the release of the new iPad, everything points to Apple returning to its original safe lead over the competition. The decision to still produce and sell the older iPad 2, which was significantly reduced to $399 for the cheapest version, may have contributed to this, putting it in a lower price category, so far dominated by cheap Android tablets.
Another reason for the short duration of Fire's high sales is probably its limited functionality. The iPad has long since transformed from a purely consumer tablet to a creative tool, capable of most tasks required of computers. But Fire is mostly just a window into Amazon's multimedia center — and nothing more. Choosing and locking your own version of Android also greatly limits the accessibility of apps that the user can only purchase from Amazon. And developers don't seem to be making any effort to adapt their apps for the Fire as well, so the lack of native software is definitely a weakness.
IDC adds that the fall of the Kindle Fire even pushed it to third place in sales, with Samsung pushing past it with its collection of tablets of all sizes and prices. Fourth place was taken by Lenovo, and the maker of the Nook series, Barnes & Noble, ranked fifth. According to IDC, however, sales of Android tablets should not remain low for long, as their market position can reportedly be seen improving. We will have to wait a few more months for the numbers that would prove these claims. It is almost certain, however, that these companies will choose a strategy of reducing prices significantly below the level of the iPad, as no other tablet has a chance in its price category.
However, the short-term success of the seven-inch Kindle Fire most likely motivated Amazon to try the larger-diagonal market, as according to AppleInsider.com, a ten-inch version of the Fire is already being prepared in Amazon's laboratories. It should be presented in the coming months.
"The iPad has long since transformed from a purely consumer tablet to a creative tool, capable of most tasks required of computers."
yo-yo, creating a presentation, processing Excel tables, generating statistical reports, editing graphics (even bitmap or vector), video editing, creating a 3D model, working in autocad and the latest CADs, writing long texts, creating music, processing textbooks, software development or websites, IT network and device administration, mathematical modelling, ... yes, it's just great on the iPad, I personally can't praise it enough, and PCs are already used today in the post-PC era only by people who don't have the money for an iPad
or it's all different and the iPad is just a toy for children... (and a few people who need email and a browser to work)
I think the author wanted to convey that, compared to the Kindle Fire, the iPad (similar to the competition) can do much more than look at the Amazon store. You can't deny that, can you?
I grab a tablet, like
primary: devices for consuming content (movies/magazines/viewing photos)
secondary: email/web/games (there are better alternatives for all three things (mobile for small messages and small browsing/ PC for larger emails and longer browsing/ console or PC for playing games) therefore secondary these
(I'm not even talking about the fact that I prefer to watch movies on TV or in the cinema on records, I prefer to read magazines on paper and look at photos fresh from the photo lab (yes, I'm old-fashioned) - which means I can move everything to a secondary category for myself;]
so if the iPad has any great applications... that I won't use on a device like a tablet... I personally like them, in any case the fact that there are tons of them for the iPad cannot be denied
You certainly have the right to hold the tablet however you want, but in the article I compared the ability of individual tablets, not all devices, to create content and replace computer functions.
Regarding your first contribution, I would like to clarify what you can really master on the iPad:
"creating a presentation" - Keynote, "processing tables in Excel" - Numbers, "generating statistical reports" - Numbers, "editing graphics (at least bitmap or vector)" - Skitch, Procreate, Adobe apps, "editing videos" - iMovie, "creating a 3d model" - 3DVedia Mobile, "working in autocad and other CADs" - AutoCAD WS, "writing long texts" - Pages, iA Writer, "creating music" - Garage Band, "processing academics" - Money For iPhone, " software development" - RubyMotion, Codea "or websites" - Zapd, "IT network and device administration" - any ssh client, "mathematical modeling" - WolframAlpha app... And I only listed one or two applications, there are already dozens of them hundreds for each such teacher.
I'm definitely not saying that all these things would be done better on the iPad, definitely not. I myself still use Mac for software development and work in Matlab and Mathematica, but these are the possibilities that the iPad already brings but other tablets do not.
And the article was not intended as a promotion of the tablet, the writing was about disseminating information about the state of the tablet market and reflecting on the fact why the Kindle Fire is losing so much to the iPad.
Well, I wanted to indicate that it doesn't matter how many millions of iPad applications there are, if those applications are the same, because working on an iPad is for desperate people who don't value their time...
on the iPad, the vast majority of tasks simply take much longer to finish than on the computer, even if it were only 2x longer, I would rather work 4 hours on the computer than 8 on the iPad... not to mention things like autocad/photoshop/programming where it is impossible to complete the task at all... and it is also necessary for apprenticeships, do you think that money for ipad can be used as an accounting software for processing double apprenticeships according to the valid CR curriculum? or are you just an alibi and wanted to show me how many useless apps the iPad has?
and that assessment of the state of the market could have been more objective... of course, a few months after the release of the iPad, its share will increase, and the share of the Kindle will decrease, when they released the only model XX a month ago and nothing since then... then their devices become outdated and less competitive
So if it doesn't matter the number or quality of the applications that exist on the iPad and you still have this opinion, then I think you have experience with tablets. I have my first tablet - an iPad for a month and I can't praise it enough, I use a computer myself and I can't say that I don't value my time. For example, I read two e-books in two weeks during my daily commute. However, I probably wouldn't take the Mac out on the subway. (And I've been waiting two weeks for paper books from Amazon).
I was just trying to say that maybe your negative view of tablets stems from ignorance of what is already possible on them today, that's why I tried to mention specific applications.
Otherwise, the Kindle Fire, so it was released in November 2011, was followed by a rocket success, and then there was a big crash. The iPad sells a lot more even a year after its release, so it probably won't be the case. Of course, if you find a factual error in my article and provide proof of the source, I will be happy to correct it. Then, however, I describe the facts on the market and the numbers are objective.
I had the iPad 1 available for a few weeks, and the iPad 2 relatively recently. I know what is possible with them and what they are good for, but I don't want to drag an iPhone and 2 devices for that alone (and I have to drag an iPhone because the iPad can't make calls (and I would feel like a coot with it in my ear)
for reading books, if you want them immediately, I recommend the kindle, it's better to read on it than on the ipad (or order books from amazon while you still have something to read :]
you are right about the old kindle, but I assume that the sales will be largely cannibalized by the last kindles (of which there are about 3-4?) and people consider the kindle fire mainly as a product of Amazon as a bookstore (ie primarily for reading books), and the sales figures You don't have a number of books with eInk in the statistics...
Well, I have to say for myself that I am in a stage of contradiction :-) – I have almost all Apple toys, but I don't use the iPad. But I notice in my family that I am the last user of a laptop (I mean macbook air :-)). Others, on the other hand, turn on the computer very rarely... Apparently the iPad won't be such a useless device :-)
more important info would be what to do with it..
You're just a biased scumbag who can't stand the iPad and drops it everywhere. Rest assured that I edit video (homemade) on the iPad, and it's better and faster than on a PC. This is how I edit photos (not only at home from vacation) taken with a 15MP SLR, which I used to do in Photoshop. I won't even name other things that are easier, faster and right at hand thanks to the iPad. Just because you can't use an iPad doesn't give you the right to do such nonsense. On the contrary, I can say that you are desperate in your strange efforts that lead nowhere. Competitors' tablets are far worse with applications, and I would agree with you there, but not completely.
so of course I understand that you are an "amateur user" who does not know the difference between the functionality of the desktop software and the iPad application, and that is why you are saying these things
but we can start the discussion on the topic of the efficiency of working on the iPad again after editing the first full-length film on the iPad..
You can't be serious! Or you know nothing about the matter. If you edit your 15 MPx photos with automatic contrast, automatic color balance, sharpen and throw some cool retro effect on it, then yes. Then it doesn't matter if you do it right away on a tablet (and in this case it doesn't even matter if it's from Apple or some Android), or if you turn on the stolen Photoshop and screw it up there. But if you know at least the basic minimum about editing photos, you will find that the tablet will not do it. And this is how I notice it. Today's tablets enable quick fixes, ideas, sketches - call it what you want - it's still the basis of anything serious. And tablets are truly unbeatable in this regard. But the final product requires squatting behind a computer and doing it right there.