
Research: Android taking over the tablet market from iOS - cwoods
http://www.phonearena.com/news/ABI-Research-Android-taking-over-the-tablet-market-from-iOS_id47802
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devx
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.

~~~
Touche
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.

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Zigurd
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.

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

It really depends what people mean by "post".

If it's post as in "will replace", then it's nonsense: laptops and desktops
are going to be around for a very long time.

If it's "will complement the laptop/desktop market", then I completely agree.

~~~
smtddr
Nah, the only people who actually need a laptop/desktop instead of a
tablet+bluetoothKeyboard are people who need a lot more power than tablets can
provide today. So that's digital artists, developers with their
VMware/VirtualBox/etc and servers. I look to my non-techie dad(though he use
to do those punch-card stuff) as an example; got him an iPad and the _only_
thing he misses from his previous laptops is the keyboard.

I'm very interested in what other people think about this. Does the general
public need anything more than a high-end tablet + bluetooth keyboard? Or
maybe, just because some people enjoy a big screen, a tablet with a docking-
station providing the keyboard, mouse and big screen?(which is basically a PC,
I guess). Some of my coworkers predict a day where smartphones are so
powerful, that you'll just put them in a docking-station at work and it'll be
just as powerful as a high-end notebook today.

Today's consumer laptops/desktop are like Adobe Flash. They're both dead and
the tech to replace them exists, we just haven't completely agreed on how to
go about it - but they are both definitely dead.

~~~
dualogy
> the only people who actually need a laptop/desktop instead of a
> tablet+bluetoothKeyboard are people who need a lot more power than tablets
> can provide today

So anyone developing mobile apps then ;)

~~~
smtddr
Yeah, exac- ..wait,
[http://i.imgur.com/j74SykU.gif](http://i.imgur.com/j74SykU.gif)

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adrianlmm
I own an Asus TS300 tablet, and one thing comes to my mind, Android is
mediocre, I've tried the iPad and the Surface and their quality is 10 times
better, so I presume this numbers are due the cheap $59 tablets that have
become popular, but just for the price.

~~~
ZeroGravitas
The article claims the average selling price of non-iPad tablets (which must
be 99% Android) increased by 17%, while the iPad mini pulled the iPad ASP down
by the same amount, so your theory is at odds with the facts.

~~~
clarky07
You have to know the real numbers to make that determination. Increased 17%
from 100 is 117. iPad decreasing from 550 to 450 (pulled out of my ...) would
mean the parent is still right.

~~~
ZeroGravitas
That's not how averages work. More $59 tablets will only increase the ASP if
it's below $59.

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Touche
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](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-...](http://www.marco.org/2010/12/31/there-really-isnt-much-of-a-
> tablet-market)

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badman_ting
Also relevant: the dates of those posts.

~~~
Touche
Those posts were making statements about the future, and both were
unequivocally wrong.

~~~
mamcx
that the tablet market doesn’t _______today_ __ __* look anything like the
smartphone market ever did.

That was correct back then. Also the smartphone market is defined by several
competing platforms, form-factors, tech and capabilities.

The tablet market is defined by the iPad, and the android trying to be the
iPad.

~~~
ZeroGravitas
That claim was only correct in the US, and while Gruber thinks the US system
has unfairly aided Android, it's fairly clear the opposite is true.

~~~
mamcx
Back them truckloads of tablets worldwide was shipped. But all of them were
market failures. Only iPad have traction + mindshare.

BTW: "it's fairly clear the opposite is true." The opposite of what?

~~~
ZeroGravitas
No, they were market failures in the US, they've been doing well in Asia
especially (as have big Android phones), see my link elsewhere in this thread.
This is not particularly unusual, e.g. Xbox vs Playstation sales mix varies by
region. And South Korea, Japan and China are now important markets for Android
games companies.

The "opposite is true" means that it's fairly clear now that the US
subsidization model hides the cost differences between phones, and puts an
effective floor on prices for handsets, which favors iPhones because they are
designed around the American price system.

This effect is much less strong or non-existant elsewhere on the planet and
Android benefits from the ability to compete fairly on price. Android tablets
have followed the same pattern that Android phones followed in these less
distorted markets, though slightly faster since Android phones have already
created a beachhead.

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alexeisadeski3
How do I square these numbers with the fact that I've only seen two Android
tablets in the field?

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halostatue
I've seen a lot more than that here in Toronto as I'm on transit—but far more
often I see either eInk readers (Kobo, Kindle, rarely Sony) or iPads (mini or
full-size). In the last few weeks, I think I've actually seen more Playbooks
than Android tablets, but that's unusual.

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programminggeek
Minor point, but from a business perspective, this isn't helping hardware
vendors. They are selling a nearly zero margin product. Apple's taking the
profits, everyone else is fighting for the leftovers, the unprofitable part of
the market.

This is to be expected from the flood of $100 Android tablets, but to be
honest this isn't hurting Apple, this is hurting Microsoft.

Apple has their very profitable segment of the market, Android is taking the
low end, and there just isn't much of a place for Windows tablets.

~~~
wybo
It may not be from a business perspective. But in terms of whether the market
is working its wonders, I'd say it is perfect. Consumers benefit because there
is a lot of fierce competition.

Exactly the way it should be for a hardware product like this.

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selectodude
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

~~~
danmaz74
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.

~~~
aroch
I don't think anyone of note has said Apple will dominate the tablet market
forever.

~~~
scholia
"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](http://daringfireball.net/2011/07/ipad_dominance)

It was a popular meme among Apple fanboys a couple of years ago....

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benihana
Stories like this are interesting me because while sales numbers show Android
doing well, usage numbers from all over the internet seem to indicate that not
many people are actually using their Android tablets, at least not in the
numbers people are using iPads.

And then you read the last paragraph and wonder why you just wasted your time
with this linkbait article.

> _And while Android appears to be making headway against Apple and the iPad,
> the truth is that Apple remains the top selling tablet brand by a huge
> margin. While Apple sold the aforementioned 14.5 million tablets from April
> through June, Samsung was the closest competitor to the Cupertino based
> manufacturer with 8.1 million tablets sold. in the period._

~~~
ZeroGravitas
> usage numbers from all over the internet seem to indicate that not many
> people are actually using their Android tablets

That's not true. US usage figures don't match up with _global_ sales and
people forget there's a big non-US world out there:

[http://www.tech-thoughts.net/2013/08/reality-android-
tablet-...](http://www.tech-thoughts.net/2013/08/reality-android-tablet-usage-
browsing-share-region.html)

Also note that usage is a trailing indicator of sales since previously sold
devices are still in use.

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melange
This makes the front page whereas google being tried for wiretapping does not.
No pro google bias here. Move along.

~~~
alexeisadeski3
It's an obvious bum wrap...

