“The most under-covered story in technology is the sorry state of the Google (GOOG) Android tablet market,” Michael Comeau writes for Minyanville. “In the wake of Apple’s (AAPL) new iPad, it’s time to take a deeper look at the tablet market — especially since the research firm IHS-iSuppli just filled us in with key piece of Android tablet pricing data.”
“In a very short time span, 40% of the Android [tablet] market was taken by money-losing products specifically designed to promote Amazon’s and Barnes & Noble’s content ecosystems,” Comeau writes. “The Android tablet market is increasingly dominated by cut-price products that are a full 60% cheaper than the entry-level iPad… Android’s progress in taking tablet market share has come almost entirely as a result of cheap pricing rather than superior user experience or other serious, profit-generating advantages.”
Comeau writes, “It’s safe to say that Apple’s position in tablets is far, far stronger than the market-share data would indicate. After all, IHS-Suppli estimates that Apple’s revenue share of 74% is much greater than its unit share of 57%. I would assume Apple’s profit share is even greater than that revenue share, simply because at least 40% of the Android market loses money!”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Scratch
tablets. Let’s call it what it really is: The iPad market. – MacDailyNews Take, July 21, 2011
Related articles:
Tim Bajarin: Apple’s new iPad sets the stage for innovation – March 8, 2012
Apple sells out of multiple AT&T iPad models – March 8, 2012
Analysts see Apple iPad (Early 2012) lapping the competition yet again – March 8, 2012
Apple unveils new iPad featuring Retina display, A5X chip, 5-megapixel iSight camera and ultrafast 4G LTE – March 7, 2012
There is no tablet market, only an iPad market – August 24, 2011
People don’t want fake iPads, they want real Apple iPads – August 12, 2011
And just wait for the wailing and gnashing of teeth when AAPL surpasses GOOG share price.
don’t forget sackcloth and ashes!
Shareprice?!?!?! Who cares about the relative share price of GOOG vs AAPL … it means nothing other than AAPL share price is continuing to rise. GOOG may continue to rise too.
Apple share price v. Google’s share price is irrelevant. Share price doesn’t factor in number of shares issued anyway. Apple as a company is already worth far, far more than Google.
it’s just the psychological and perceptual comparison of the two prices. That’s all. The CNBC wags’ll be chattering up a storm at that point. How about: entertainment value?!
The absolute share price is a completely abstract number and, unless CNBC wags are all housewives with no clue about markets, nobody will infer anything, real, psychological or perceptual from those arbitrary numbers.
I don’t doubt that someone, somewhere, will try and make a curiosity out of those numbers intersecting at some point, but it is highly unlikely that anybody would infer any real meaning out of it.
Not to mention that if either of the two companies decides to split their stock (as unlikely as it may seem today), that ratio goes out of whack right away.
CNBC wags have no clue about the market. They really are that stupid.
within 6 months AAPL’s share price will be higher then GOOG!!!
IHS-iSuppli says 57%
Am I the only one who thinks this is complete and utter bullshit?
agreed
I agree, iPads market share has got to be way more than 57%
They’re probably comparing Apple units sold to consumers to Android units “sold”, i.e. shipped, to retail stores.
“After all, IHS-Suppli estimates that Apple’s revenue share of 74% is much greater than its unit share of 57%. I would assume Apple’s profit share is even greater than that revenue share”
Okay, I’ll play, even if Apple’s tablet share is only 57%, I would wager their revenue share is 90%, and their profit share is 99%.
This is probably one of those Androids shipped, vs iOS iPads sold. They forgot you can’t count sitting in the warehouse or in-stock-still-unsold-in store tablets. They also didn’t subtract the returns to store. Then there is the I-don’t -want-this-so-I’m-passing-it-on-to-someone-else; never really gets used, just passed to someone else tablet. There is a tablet killer, it is the iPad. The iPad is its own market. Tablets are cheap wannabe imitation, faux, fake, iPads. 🙂
MDN, you took the words right out of my mouth.
Personally, I’ve still never seen an Android tablet in the wild.
Caught sight of one December 26th. Just as the garbage truck ram compressed the load.
Funny that Greenpeace goes after Apple, when the iPad is almost 100 percent recyclable, not to mention an iPad is likely to be handed down and used for years.
A craptastic Android tablet will see the dumpster in hardly any time – but please, do the right thing and send it to an electronics recycler.
I saw my 2nd one on a plane the other day. Not sure which one it was — much like the 1st one I saw last year, all I could tell was that it wasn’t an iPad.
Both were with tech geeks — thick tablets in thick cases.
“Competing to be the lowest price is a miserable business.”
You’ve got two “successful” tablets sold at cost with a future hope of increased product sales (Kindle/Nook) completely independent of Google.
You’ve got two other “successful” tablets sold at a major loss (HP/RIM).
And you’ve get the only other “successful” OEM (Samsung) saying that their tablet market “sucks!”
What’s not to like about the Android tablet market?
I think that’s the major point missed. The B&N and Amazon cut-rate tablets do not ship with Google’s money-making hooks baked into them, so while they may flood the Android ecosystem, they make GOOG very little money.
Tim Cook burps more money after breakfast than Amazon and B&N are gonna make on their tablets.
Of course, Apple’s position will only remain this strong as long as people keep buying their products. As always, Apple would have to mess up big time in order for people to stop (not even a poorly designed antenna stopped iPhone 4 sales).
Apple profit share is probably closer to 120% considering Amazon is selling their tablet at a pretty good loss. I think Amazons strategy of sell the hardware at a loss and making it up with sales of apps, movies, tv and books is going to be a huge failure. The main advantage android has over iOS is the ease at which one can load pirated content and apps and statistics bare the out just look at how much more the average iOS owner spends on legitimate media and apps it’s one of the main reasons dev’s love iOS.
Amazon is making .01 on the dollar right now.
The only thing KIndle is doing is making life miserable for the Android OEMs.
Land fill operators are the biggest Android consumers by far.
I have to fault the source article for bothering to cram the Color Nook and Kindle Fire into the Android ‘competition’ with the iPad. That is ridiculous.
There continues to be zero data indicating that the Nook/Fire market has anything at all to do with the iPad market. They reside in an entirely separate market of cheap, low quality hardware, color eReaders.
Result:
The Google Android market is even WEAKER than the source article indicates.
Apples biggest issue is they try to force you to not jailbreak. Use to I could jailbreak and use everything. Now I can’t use iBooks if I jailbreak and some other apps. Look I bought the phone or iPad I have the right to do what I want with it. Keeping me from using iBooks just forces me to look elsewhere for books and such. Stupid move