iPads to fall behind Android tablets
2013-03-12 21:46
San Francisco - Shipments of Apple's
iPads will fall behind the growing variety of tablets
running Google's Android platform for the first
time this year as smaller-sized devices catch on with more
consumers, research firm International Data Corp (IDC) said on
Tuesday.
iPad shipments are expected to account for 46% of the
market in 2013, down from 51% last year, IDC said.
Devices running Android are expected to grow their market share
to 49% this year from 42% last year.
IDC also raised its 2013 tablet shipment forecast to 190.9
million units, up from its previous forecast of 172.4 million
units. It did not say how many tablets shipped last year.
Google's Nexus 7 tablet and Amazon.com's
Kindle, which uses its own customization of Android, made major
inroads with consumers last year. In November, Apple launched
its own foray into smaller-sized tablets with the iPad mini.
"One in every two tablets shipped this quarter was below 8
inches in screen size. And in terms of shipments, we expect
smaller tablets to continue growing in 2013 and beyond," IDC
said in a press release.
Last month, Hewlett-Packard announced the launch
of the Slate 7 tablet powered by Android, a centerpiece of that
company's effort to expand in mobile devices and reduce its
dependence on the shrinking personal computer market.
IDC said tablets running Microsoft's Windows 8
platform would grow their market share from 1% last year
to 7.4% in 2017.
Tablets running the Windows RT operating system, which is
not compatible with older software that runs on Windows, will
see their market share stay below 3 percent through 2017, IDC
said.
"Consumers aren't buying Windows RT's value proposition, and
long term we think Microsoft and its partners would be better
served by focusing their attention on improving Windows 8," IDC
said.
