If the performance of the iPhone as the largest selling smartphone was not impressive then the sales of the iPad will definitely blow your mind away! The iPad is proving to be very popular and a recent survey revealed that Apple now dominates the tablet market with a share of nearly 70%. Research was conducted by iSuppli which revealed that the iPad accounts for 69.6% of all tablets in the world in the second quarter of 2012 with sales amounting to 17 million. Samsung takes the second place with a far smaller figure of 9% of the market and selling 2.3 million devices.
Apple’s signals to the tablet market are very clear. It is intent on maintaining its dominance in the segment and continues to push the boundaries of quality and performance. With the new iPad, Apple offers the best display available but at the same time continues to sell the iPad 2 at a lower price to attract customers in the lower segment of the market. Meanwhile, there is speculation that a smaller iPad is going to be released. If this is the case, then Apple would have virtually monopolized the tablet market.
In other figures released by iSuppli, Amazon and Asus are the companies in third and fourth places respectively with a 4.2% and 2.8% market share. iSuppli has not included the Google Nexus 7 tablet in its findings as the device was launched only recently. The 7” tablet from Google seems to be very popular as it was sold out on the day of its launch. Though the Nexus 7 appears to be quite popular, analysts are of the opinion that the iPad will be too hard to compete with. Similarly, the Microsoft Surface might grab a lot of attention initially but it will fail to cause any dent to the iPad in the long run.
The tablet market is looking good and has a promising future. In the second quarter, 24.4 million units were shipped and this number is expected to rise in the future. As long as Apple continues to maintain its aggressive strategy when it comes to the iPad, it will remain the global leader. Second quarter sales of the iPad exceeded estimates because of the inclusion of various features like the retina display and 4G in the new version.
