Apple iPad 4 and iPad Mini (Click Image To Enlarge)
While iPad shipments fell year over year in the June quarter, competing Android tablets saw huge gains, reducing Apple's share of worldwide tablet shipments to less than a third.
Apple remains the largest tablet maker in the world, according to the latest estimates published Monday by IDC. But it accounted for 32.4 percent of shipments in the second quarter of calendar 2013 — well off from the 60.3 percent the company held in the same quarter a year ago.
Tom Mainelli, research director for tablets at IDC, said.
"A new iPad launch always piques consumer interest in the tablet category and traditionally that has helped both Apple and its competitors. With no new iPads, the market slowed for many vendors, and that's likely to continue into the third quarter. However, by the fourth quarter we expect new products from Apple, Amazon, and others to drive impressive growth in the market."
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Top 5 Tablet Vendors During Q2 2013
- #1 Apple - Apple's shipments slid 14.1 percent year over year, competing tablet makers who use Google's Android mobile platform all saw significant gains.
- #2 Samsung - The second-largest tablet maker, Samsung, posted a 277 percent year over year gain to 8.1 million units, good for 18 percent of the market.
- #3 Asus - In third was Asus, which grew 120 percent to 2 million units, taking a 4.5 percent slice of shipments.
- #4 Lenovo - Lenovo came in fourth with 313.9 percent growth, hitting 1.5 million units and 3.3 percent share.
- #5 Acer - Finally, in fifth place was Acer, which shipped 1.4 million units, or 3.1 percent of the total market, on 136.6 percent growth.
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In terms of platform, Android was found on 62.6 percent of tablets shipped in the second quarter, or 28.2 million units. iOS carried the same share of 32.5 percent in both software and hardware, as the platform is only available on Apple's iPad.
The platform that saw the largest growth during the quarter was unsurprisingly Microsoft's Windows, which surged 527 percent year over year. Tablets running Windows RT and Windows 8 weren't available until late 2012, meaning last year's June quarter saw virtually no Windows-based tablet sales.
Ryan Reith, program manager for IDC's Mobility Tracker programs, said.
"The tablet market is still evolving and vendors can rise and fall quickly as a result. Apple aside, the remaining vendors are still very much figuring out which platform strategy will be successful over the long run. To date, Android has been far more successful than the Windows 8 platform. However, Microsoft-fueled products are starting to make notable progress into the market."
Of course, shipments and market share are only part of the story, as actual sales to customers are unknown, and Apple is still the undisputed leader in collecting the lion's share of profits from tablets. Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook noted in his company's most recent quarterly earnings report that the latest Web browsing share data shows that the iPad accounts for 84 percent of tablet traffic.
Cook said.
"If there are other tablets being sold, I don't know what they're being used for."
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Top Tablet Brands Comparison Chart (Click Image To Enlarge)
According to Apple Insider, Apple's much rumored iOS 7 tablet, the iPad 5, promises to deliver better productivity and provide highly efficient navigational features thanks to a newly approved patent and the very popular Google Map.
Approved Apple iPad 5 patent drawing according to Apple Insider (Click Image To Enlarge)
Apple's rumored iPad 5 will have vastly improved Google Map app (Click Image To Enlarge)
U.S. authorities gave its nod this week on an Apple invention that would enable iPad users to access 'virtual drafting tools' like ruler, protractor, compass, stencil tools and in the near future - a stylus, Patently Apple said in a report.
Seen as one of the new applications that Apple will lump with the fully-revamped iOS 7, this CAD-based designing tool involves advanced multi-touch screen manipulation, bringing computer-aided tasks from desktop to mobile devices.
The most suitable platform, of course, would be the 9.7-inch iPad though Apple does not discount the possibility of adding CAD-like features to the iPad Mini model, which sports a 7.9-inch profile.
According to Apple, CAD and other drafting programs and functions would be easily ported to iPads through multi-touch display screen implementation.
When in use, the tool will allow users to "resize, scale, or make other adjustments (on a specific design project) with full gesture support," Apple Insider said on its report.
The beauty of the soon-to-be-introduced Apple app is it fully supports the use of numerous virtual tools, allowing users to "invoke a ruler, protractor and t-square, interacting with each simultaneously." Additionally, these tools can be customised depending on users' preferences or actual project requirements.
Adding to this likely iPad 5 application is another tool, coming this time from another tech titan - Google.
The company's version 2.0 of the Google Maps is released this week for the iOS crowd, specifically supporting the screen size of the iPad and iPad Mini.
In the new serving, Google highlighted the application's "enhanced navigation with incident reports and live traffic updates," 9to5Mac said in a report.
Apple Insider added.
"The update also includes indoor mapping functionality for malls, transit stations and airports."
And the best part is, global rollout of Google Maps has already commence so those in the iOS system can try out the navigational tool prior to its optimal deployment for the iOS 7-powered fifth-generation iPad.
Analysts pegged the iPad 5 release date this fall or shortly after the iPhone 5S issuance, placing the now slimmed down and lighter Apple tablet's debut between late September and early October.
Courtesy of an article dated August 5, 2013 appearing in Apple Insider and an article dated July 17, 2013 appearing in International Business Times
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