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Apple's iPad reclaimed a larger share of the global tablet marketlast month, in part because of a more-serious-than-expected slumpin sales of the hot Kindle Fire in the first quarter, IDC analystssaid today. The iPad's share of the tablet business shot up to 68% in the firstquarter of 2012, climbing more than 13 percentage points from2011's fourth-quarter share of 54.7%, said IDC's Bob O'Donnell,program vice president for clients and displays. At the same time, Amazon's share plummeted from about 17% in thefourth quarter of last year to just 4% in this year's openingquarter. O'Donnell attributed the spike in Apple's share and the drop inAmazon's to several factors, including the U.S.-only sales of theFire -- which tightly tied it to the U.S. holidays -- and theiPad's international reach, including in China, where the tabletwas a hot ticket in that country's January holiday gift-givingspree. "We expected to see a significant drop in Amazon Fire [in the firstquarter]," O'Donnell said in an interview Thursday. "But honestly,the drop was a little bit more than we expected." The dramatic shifts in share show that tablets remain a seasonalproduct, said O'Donnell. That includes the iPad, which saw itssales fall off -- even with the Chinese New Year at its disposal --some 3.6 million units in the first quarter compared to theprevious three-month period. But IDC also argued that the iPad has legs the rival tablets donot. "Apple's move to position the iPad as an all-purpose tablet,instead of just a content consumption device, is resonating withconsumers as well as educational and commercial buyers," TomMainelli, IDC's research director for mobile connected devices,said in a statement earlier today. According to Mainelli -- and O'Donnell echoed his colleague --Apple's positioning of the iPad as more than a consumer product,one appropriate and salable to major markets like education andenterprise, sets it apart from the competition. Apple has regularly beaten that drum. Last month, Apple's chieffinancial officer touted a 10,000-iPad deal with the San DiegoSchool District, and said the district planned to buy another15,000 iPads in the second quarter. In the same April earnings call with Wall Street analysts, AppleCEO Tim Cook called iPad sales to businesses "off the charts." "But it's too early to say that the battle is over and done with,"cautioned O'Donnell, referring to Apple's current dominance of thetablet market. "That would be an incorrect assumption." IDC expects that Amazon will introduce a larger-screen device "at atypically aggressive price point," and that Google will move intothe market with an Android tablet co-branded with Asian computermaker Asus that will "compete directly on price with Amazon'sKindle Fire." Lurking in the wings are devices powered by Microsoft's Windows 8and Windows RT -- the latter formerly called WOA, for Windows onARM, by the Redmond, Wash. developer. IDC hasn't taken a firm stance on Windows 8/Windows RT, becausedevices, and more importantly, their prices, have yet to bedisclosed. And pricing seemed to be foremost on O'Donnell's mind. "Imagine this scenario," he said. "The Kindle Fire and Nook are at$199 with 7-in. tablets. Each will probably do a larger-screeneddevice -- 9- or 10-in. -- at $299. Apple may do a 7-in. iPad at$299. It already has the iPad 2 at $399 and the new iPad at $499.That leaves very little room for the other guys." Those "other guys" include Google and hardware partners creatingwhat the IDC analysts called "pure-play Android tablets," in otherwords those that use a standard edition of Google's operatingsystem rather than one that's heavily customized, as in the case ofthe Fire or Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet. "They're going to face some pretty serious competition on price,"said O'Donnell. Mainelli echoed that. "To compete in the media tablet market withApple, they must offer their products at notably lower pricepoints," Mainelli said. I am an expert from rfid-smart-cards.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Rfid Wristband Manufacturer , China Rfid Smart Cards, Rfid Smart Cards,and more.
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