Tablet Sales: Will Samsung Galaxy Leapfrog Apple iPads?
As Google (GOOG) Android tablet sales overtake Apple (AAPL) iPads, the big winner is Samsung Galaxy and its mobile channel partners.
Tablets running Google (GOOG) Android now outsell Apple’s (AAPL) iPad, according to IDC’s Q2 2013 research. But the bigger story involves Samsung Galaxy’s exponential growth in the tablet market. It’s the latest indication that Samsung could emerge as a modern-day Compaq or Dell for hardware- and mobile-focused channel partners.
Consider these Q2 2013 tablet sales stats from IDC:
- Tablet OS Market Share: Android represented 62.6 percent of tablet sales vs. 32.5 percent for Apple’s iOS. Windows (4.0 percent), Windows RT (only 0.2 percent) and other options like BlackBerry OS trailed the market leaders by a huge margin.
- Hardware Market Share: Apple had 14.6 percent of the market, and sales fell about 14.1 percent during the quarter. Samsung had 8.1 percent of the market, and sales skyrocketed 277 percent during the quarter. No other tablet maker had 5 percent of the market, IDC reported.
This is more than a consumer and BYOD story. Samsung in May 2013 launched a business-centric marketing push. The company is also hosting its own developers conference in October 2013.
All signs point to Samsung continuing its business push. And the data from IDC suggests Samsung is a serious contender in the mobile hardware market.
And what if Samsung does leap
And what if Samsung does leap past Apple’s iPad? Does it really mean all that much? I think any company that has a halfway decent product decides to undercut every other company in price it can readily gain massive amounts of market share. It’s called product dumping for the sake of market share. I’m not sure why any investor interested in solid financial metrics would be jumping for glee to hear that. Wall Street has become somewhat of a puzzle. They seem to love companies that don’t make profits in the present, but will possibly make profits in the future. Let Samsung keep dumping its tablets to take Apple down and we’ll see how long Samsung can afford to do it. In the end Samsung will grab ever higher amounts of market share and Apple will continue to sell a very decent amount of iPads every year no matter what Samsung does. There will likely be a fairly high demand for any Apple products for years to come as long as the products’ quality remains high and customer service remains good.
Constable Odo: But what if
Constable Odo: But what if the tablet and smart phone markets turn into the low-cost PC market of the 1990s? That reality nearly nearly put Apple of business.
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