Android Could Overtake Apple in Tablet Market
A few months ago, it was common knowledge that Apple owned the tablet market. And there was data to back that up. A year ago, according to a report from the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, Apple enjoyed 81% of the tablet market, but that lead has been reduced to 52%. Now, says the report, “Nearly half, 48%, now own an Android-based device; about half of them, 21%, Kindle Fires.” The Kindle Fire uses Google’s Android operating system with a different user interface and access to Amazon’s app marketplace rather than the Google Play app store. This is bad news for Apple and the news could get worse as lower cost Android tablets start to flood the market. Already, Amazon has reduced the price for a slightly updated version of its original Kindle Fire to $159 as it starts to ship higher-end models including a $199 7-inch version and a nearly iPad-size 8.9 inch model starting at $299. Apple does have a chance at keeping some of its market-share if it introduces a 7-inch tablet (dubbed “iPad Mini”) at an aggressive price but it’s likely to see the same kind of erosion in tablets that it’s already seen in smartphones. Android phones, according to IDC, have 68.1% market share compared to 16.9% for Apple and 4.8% for Blackberry. The Pew report, Future of Mobile News, pointed out that 22% of U.S. adults own a tablet and 64% of tablet owners get news on the device. Nearly a quarter of people who don’t yet have a tablet plan to get one in the next six month.
Apple was first to market with a modern tablet, but it now has serious competition. While early adapters flocked to Apple devices, that won’t necessarily be the case as lower-cost and — in some cases — more feature rich alternatives become available. The success of the Kindle Fire is certainly an indication that Apple’s dominance can be challenged and it remains to be seen whether the soon-to-arrive tsunami of Windows 8 tablets will make a difference.
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