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Tablet sales rising, Android dominating

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New Nexus 7 hand wm

The tablet market was struggling during its early stages, but momentum has picked up as we move into a mobile world. PC sales are plummeting while tablets are on the rise. Many of you may think this is thanks to Apple’s iPad, but such is not the case. In fact, Android is dominating the market according to this year’s Q2 results.

tim-cook-ipad-miniStrategy Analytics’ latest research shows a significant increase in Android tablet shipments, while iOS continues to decline. iOS tablets account for 28.3% of Q2’s (2013) shipments, which is a significant drop from last year’s 47.2% marketshare in the same quarter.

Meanwhile, Android has gone up to 67% from last year’s 51.4%. This accounts for 34.6 million Android tablets shipped during the quarter, which is a lot when you consider Apple’s 14.6 million shipments. Android was close to doubling it’s Q2 2012 shipments, which accounted for just 18.5 million shipments.

Android took the smartphone market by surprise when it started rising out of control. No one believed Android could really take on iOS, but the numbers quickly piled up. Could it be the same is happening with tablets?

Android-Rocketpack

Android has been able to beat Apple, even with less tablet apps and the iPad’s insane popularity. It seems fame is not enough when you have Google and Android manufacturers giving you deals you can’t refuse.

The most popular Android tablets are much more affordable than Apple’s cheapest alternatives (iPad Mini). Not to mention they have equal or similar performance. And Android tablets that match the full-sized iPad’s price tend to have much higher specs and trending/new features.

What will Apple do to get back in the game? We aren’t sure, but popularity and their “it just works” mentality doesn’t seem to be enough. Is it?

[Strategy Analytics]

Edgar Cervantes

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97 Comments

  1. HA!!! You’re day has come Apple! FIRST!!!!

  2. I want to buy a tablet so SO badly, but I can’t. A new Transformer tab would be awesome for college in every way – portability, typing, writing papers, etc… But I need video editing. I make videos on Youtube. And there’s no Android apps that even come CLOSE to the functionality of Premiere, or some of the other Windows programs.

    1. Well, maybe you just need an ultrabook after all ? :) Tablets are great devices, but if you want to WORK with portability, nothing beat an ultrabook (Macbook Air or Asus Zenbook)

      1. This is true. I recently read about the differences between laptops and ultrabooks. They’re pretty much the portable versions of laptops (from my understanding). I know what I just said is like saying the portable version of the 3DS. LoL!!

    2. I know what you mean. My only other option would be to have a desktop and remoting into that to use it. I was thinking about doing that actually.

      That way I can have the portability. Also, I don’t travel so data wouldn’t be an issue since Tmo is good here in Houston.

      I tried that out when I had the Transformer and needed Visual Studios. It was pretty cool actually. I didn’t mind it. Mainly because the Transformer had a touchpad. LoL!! But now I remember that Android has built in Mouse and Keyboard support so any tablet with a keyboard dock will do now.

      Hmm…

  3. So long Crapple

    1. You’re joking right? There’s 100+ android tablets on the market and only a few iPads. The iPad is still the best selling tablet on the market, just not the best selling OS.

      1. more choice + Good OS = WIN WIN

      2. Best selling tablet, but nor best selling tablet ecosystem anymore. Apple needs to change, adapt, or they will be left behind. True of all companies in all industries.

        1. They have been the ones leading the tablet revolution from the beginning, they aren’t the ones needing to adapt.

          1. Remember Blackberry? They tought the same.

          2. Just because they are leading from the beginning does not mean they can sit on their butts and rest, if they do that, the others will catch up and pass them. Innovation drives progress, fail to innovate, fall behind, it has always been that way. Since they are not innovating muvh anymore, their market share drops. Only a matter of time unless they change and adapt (which I hope they do, competition breeds innovation).

          3. sit back and watch. Nobody thought Android OEMs could make competition when the original iPhone was released. Look at the market now. Same thing is going to happen to tablets.

      3. That’s where ur wrong as one company it makes the most profit by as while overall sales, all the different android based tablet manufactures got em beat… Use to just in number per units but that saturation on the market by companies like Samsung, asus and google has paid off especially since ur getting more bang for ur buck at me affordable prices. Consumers back in the day were buying just one android tablet but with technology getting cheaper to produce, and the prices were seeing these puppies are going for (google nexus 7 as an example), people are buying 3 to 4 at a time which makes more sense if ur gonna fork over $600 bucks.. I know where my money would go. Poor Steve Jobs would roll over in his grave if he knew what some is becoming.

    2. And thanks for all the fish?

  4. I had bad experiences with android tablets, but hopefully buying the new nexus 7 will change all that. Don’t get me wrong, I love android. :D

    1. Trust me I know how you feel about that experience. I Bought the acer A500 with tegra 2 back in the day…. And pretty reluctant to buy another. I thought about the original Nexus 7, but there just wasn’t enough there for me. I bought the Nexus 7 2013 just the other day, and I have to say I’m in love!

      1. Yeah , my first experience I had to admit it was pretty bad, but it was my fault, I was in a convention in Las Vegas called CES 2011, and I was eagered to buy an android tablet… i was on a chinese booth were they had this display tablets and I asked them if they sold them.. and bought one.. i dropped it for about 3″ in my room and the screen was useless… and my other great mistake was the Huawei Ideos 7… didn’t last me not even a year… I Know I made bad choices and that was because I wasn’t aware of what kind of tablet I needed really..

        1. Ouch those are pretty bad. My acer a500 is still kicking, its been submerged, dropped, and ripped apart. (my house flooded) It was a good tablet that had a full sized USB port which back then was huge to me. The bad part was just the internals, tegra 2 just can’t hang. Its running 4.2.2 and I have it overclocked to 1.5Ghz. Most apps just crash and overall its just too slow to handle the modern tablet ecosystem.

          For me thats been the biggest change, the android tablet ecosystem is just so much better!

          1. yup, And I still feel bad I paid 270 dollars for that Huawei when the Nexus 7 looks so awesom… and with the price tag of 230 dollars..

          2. Do yourself a favor… Drool over the $269 one.

          3. why???? the Huawei Ideos 7 wasnt that good of a tablet.. and worse yet.. resistive… :/

        2. I bought a Motorola Xoom shortly after release which was the first android tablet and it still works great :D

          1. But that thing is running honeycomb,,, even upgradable to jellybean which is way better than a android tablet running 2.1 and 2.2… Android 2.1 and 2.2 has some issues but not that is bad.. as I said.. it was more of a “hardware” issue, maybe the build quality of both the tablets i bought were terrible..

          2. Oh I see. One of the Asus transformers has a metal back. Build quality seems solid. And most of the back of the Xoom is metal and the build quality is great. The price is pretty cheap now but it has a tegra 2 and a 720p screen so its a little outdated

    2. ipad experience isn’t really any better. I bought an ipad2 the day of launch and it is laggy, I get frequent crashes and compatibility/sharing between file types and apps Apple doesn’t like is ridiculous. I suspect when the next iOS software release is dropped in a couple months, it will brick my “old” ipad2, as is customary with Apple. Thank god for my nexus 10

      1. Yeah , pretty much I made bad choices with tablets, my first one was a chinese android 2.1( no label) display tablet and my second one that I don’t use no more was a Huawei Ideos 7… the Huawei Ideos was great and the chinese one was also great.. but it was never a software issue.. it was hardware… screen would not respond on the chinese tablet and the Huawei there was no possible way to charge it anymore..

      2. I have an iPad 2 and an iPad 3, none lag by any means. Since you chose an apple product you can easily walk in and get it exchanged if its hardware faults.

  5. This is probably going to get me a lot of a down votes but its simply my honest opinion on the matter. I went to my local Best Buy dead set on picking up the new Nexus 7. Once I got there, the sales floor associate pointed me into the direction of the N7 they had on display, even said they had plenty in stock. I was pretty excited and decided to play with it before the buy.

    Upon looking at it and actually holding it I really felt how small the device was. I mean I knew 7inches wasn’t going to be huge anyway but this was really small for me, granted I have larger hands, but didn’t make sense for me to get it at that point. I felt like I was just holding a stretched smartphone. Granted I was in the market for a new Tablet since my iPad 2 died randomly. But ultimately after standing at that booth for near 15mins I knew it wasn’t for me. In all honesty I wanted a full sized tablet, and holding the N7 helped me realize that. I then considered maybe ordering an N10, but then realized I wouldn’t get all the apps I was use to w/ iOS. And yes, I’m a huge Android fan, and it will more than likely be my preferred Smartphone choice. But I realized right there and then, for the full tablet experience you can’t go wrong w/ an iPad.

    I say this because if you think about it, iOS has nearly all of the core Google apps anyway that you’d use, Google Now, G+, Maps, Drive etc… It can damn near be turned into an Android tablet if u wanted it to, but you get all the high quality apps along with it. I will ultimately be selling my broken iPad 2 (resale value for it is still great) and pick up an iPad 3rd Gen. My intent wasn’t to rile up anyone with my post, just speaking honesty. I love all tablets :)

    1. You seem like you are promoting iOS and such, but I guess thats your opinion. xD

      1. You’re a bully XD

        1. not being a bully. It just seems like you praise iOS so much. :p I love the experience on both devices, for me both ipad and nexus arent that bad . is just a matter of choice :p

          1. I’m not praising iOS per say… I’m just giving my insight to the superior tablet experience FOR ME. To each his own folks… I just realized I have most of that experience on my my HTC One. The question I asked myself was why would I buy a slightly bigger Android device to get roughly the same experience I already have on my smartphone.

    2. I think it’s because you’ve used iOS long enough to build your app ecosystem. When I got into tablets, I was already building my Android app collection. So I was able to easily adjust.

      My 1st Android phone was the Nexus 1. I didn’t want to give up my iTouch 2nd Gen because of the apps. I only used my phone for tethering and communicating via texts, calling and social networks.

      Eventually Android started to build and I was finally able to sit my iTouch down after 2 years of being on Android. LoL!!

      I don’t feel like I would NEED an iOS device. I haven’t seen or heard of any apps that make an iOS tablet a better overall experience. But like I stated, it’s because I’ve already have my Android app ecosystem, and you have yours. I think that’s the main reason people prefer iOS tablets. They’re not ready to give up those few apps on the device. Just like with my iTouch.

      *patiently waiting for LightBike to migrate from iOS-only after 3+ years*

    3. I can’t find any app that I *must* have from my ipad that I can either find a better replacement or simply live without on the nexus 10. I don’t miss the ipad one bit. Ipad wasn’t smooth as Apple people said it was. I had the light leak issue. Playing movies would occasionally reboot the ipad. itunez is horrible.

      it’s interesting you made this assumption AFTER your ipad2 died “randomly” which is the whole reason you were looking in the first place. Why would you buy a device that died on you before? That’s a true sheep.

      I think you’re one of those closet apple fans who comes into forums like this and says “guys, tell me why I should buy this…” Sorry dude.. if you need outside help figuring out what to do with your money, then you have other issues. Don’t worry, I’m not apologizing for my response as there are too many inconsistencies in your “opinion” for it to be believable.

      1. Android’s user experience used to be HORRIBLE, yet people still kept using it. I guess they were sheep too, right?

        1. Early android users who stayed with android were doing what they could to create a competitor for Apple.

          You can do the same thing in the world of open-source and statndardized versus closed and proprietary now. Open source is a few years behind closed in some areas, but if more of us decided to stay on the slightly slower train, we’d all have a lot more freedom as a result. And then the open-source train will speed up due to scale. Proprietary charging ports and heavy UI skins wouldn’t even exist, except on Apple, if more people bought this way.

          The sacrifices people made are what has made android the competitor that it is today — and it is a large contributing factor to the freedom that Steve Jobs was forced to put into the App Store’s content policy as well. You still have that terrible bastardized micro-USB lightning/thunder connector, though. Apple is incestuous that way . . .

          Nexus still has no micro-SD, so things aren’t perfect on google’s side either, but we can choose non-Nexus devices. Try that with iOS.

          1. Huh…? The dude I commented on called the other person a sheep because they’re going to buy an upgraded version of their device even though that previous device died.

            I’m saying Android used to be pretty bad, yet people still kept it. No different than sticking with a company even though their device broke on you.

            I was sarcastically disagreeing with his comment. =.P

            I feel your post is a little off from what I was talking about. I think you were commenting with the thought that I was wondering why people stayed with Android. LoL!!

        2. As “bad” as it was, it was still better than iOS in ways that really mattered to me. And I had a Samsung Moment. :p

      2. LOL sheep?? You are the true essence of a fanboy. I’d probably let you get away with that if I had everything Apple (iPhone, iPad, Mac etc). But I have Windows machine, an HTC One (near all the major Android devices dating back to my HTC Here), a Windows RT tablet (is my bros but I use it from time to time) and what was my iPad 2. And yes it quit working on me yesterday, screen with black with lines in it. Random? Very much so but it did indeed happen. It died on me after a year and a half of use… I say it did OK on everything I threw at it. And you know whats great about a dead iPad in mint physical condition? I can still get a few hundred bucks for it on parts alone. You tell me what you can get for an N10 when the screen no longer operates.

        And the app which I did like using was GarageBand. Android STILL offers no decent music creation apps, if it did I would consider the switch. And no I’m not so serious into music where I need to be working on an actual machine, but what GarageBand on the iPad offers is good enough and all I need. And lets just face it, Androids tablet apps aren’t where it should be STILL. Has it improved? Sure. Even though your content with the application offering doesnt mean a richer experience isn’t offered on the iPad. And againnnnn… I love Android, I argue with folks all the time at work and home on how superior a smartphone it is. But tablet wise the story changes.

        And I don’t need anyones opinion on my purchases… nor do I need you to “believe” in my opinion… no please go away, your drunk ;-)

        1. As someone who has had Android phones since the G1 and been sure to try my hand at every possible avenue of the platform from Google TV to tablets and even had interest in the Nexus Q… I can understand your position. I personally have an iPod just for a handfull of apps that are only available on the ios platform. What I don’t understand is why stick with the iPad? In all of my experience with them (sold them in a retail setting for over 2 years) they have a lot of issues. And not just, reboot and it will be fine issues, but, can’t back it up and you need to take it to Apple to be replaced issues. Also I noticed that Apple updates the bare minimum to keep people at bay. They rarely take a position that is risky or innovative. When they do it turns into an Apple Maps fiasco. What apps are there that you cannot simply live without? Often times the major apps have alternatives that are present on Android anyhow. I used to have your approach on devices, get an Android phone and an iPad because they are the better product in the tablet category. But things changed and Google made tablets cheaper and better than any competitor, even their allies.

          To be clear I am not trying to start a flame war but I would like to see your response as it interests me.

    4. You first say you were going to buy a nexus 7 but decided not to once you saw the size. Then you say you didn’t want a nexus 10 BC of the ecosystem. That is something you knew about before going to the store before even looking at the 7. You never had any intention of buying an android tablet. The app ecosystems always catch up. Its the thought process like this that makes it take longer than it should.

      1. I agree. I also find it to be a lot of bs in terms of the ecosystem. There are a lot of good tablet apps for android. The problem is that Google doesn’t do a good job pushing them. The ones people focus on seem to be twitter and facebook but the alternatives are much better apps anyways. Friendcaster for facebook, carbon for twitter. Other than that, with the exception of some games like infinity blade, I can’t think of any app I am missing.

    5. Size is also what’s keeping me from buying a nexus 7. I got my girlfriend a galaxy note 8.0, it’s great, but I got a feeling the 1 inch difference in screen size is gonna make a difference. I gotta get one in my hand to see, I guess.

      1. I truly don’t understand the size issue being a problem. You get an amazing screen on said size, displaying what you want clearly. I’m 6’5″ 270lbs and obviously have huge hands, but this tablet and the og are wonderful for me. I love being able to put it in my back/suit pocket, playing games on it, and palming it to read books and webpages. The size, and functionality definitely, is what made me get it on launch day 2012 and will be one of the reasons I get the new one.

      2. Honestly, don’t get the note. It is not the same. I have a first gen Nexus 7 and when it arrived I remember thinking it was tiny. After having it for a week I realized it was perfect. Unlike the iPad, you can hold it for extended periods without your arm getting tired for reading and such. The biggest thing though was that I could throw it in the inside pocket of a suit or the back pocket of my jeans when I needed free hands. The new one is even narrower due to smaller bezels.

        When you go to the store, try throwing it in your back pocket and you will realize how handy that is. After a week of use, you won’t even notice that the screen is smaller.

      3. If you can live without the GPS and camera, grab a Nook HD+. Hard to beat at the price they’re selling them at. ($149) ANd an 8.9″ screen, I believe. You can put Nova Launcher on it, and it has the Play Store, so you’re pretty well covered.

    6. please please, people seem to think that they can compare IOS and Android tablets by the apps. It’s a totally different experience on an Android tablet. Widgets, keyboard settings, total control of the file system (organize movies amongst other things), endless customizations everywhere are different on phones as well. But it’s on the tablet format they really shine. You can set the launcher “desktop” grid to be like 10X10 items and fit all sorts of things onto the big screen that you have. On an Ipad you cant to jack….shit….about the big screen. Apple tells you what you can do.

    7. For my curiosity, what apps do you think you would miss? You would be surprised how many tablet apps google has now. As I said in a post below, Google blows at promoting them.

  6. I imagine that Steve Jobs grand vision depended on his iOS/iTunes
    ecosystem being the only viable choice in his new
    digital home life, a portable life that we could carry around with us.
    AppleTV, iWatch, everything would have been linked by Apple.

    Competition
    from android came too soon and began making demands on his vision that
    he could not ignore. Apple couldn’t ban porn and everything Jobs
    considered bad taste because consumers were beginning to have a choice.
    This is why Jobs tried so hard to kill android with litigation. He
    didn’t mind copying as he had publicly stated it was in his DNA (“Great
    artists steal…”)

    Now google is creating an
    ecosystem that rivals and is beginning to extend past what Jobs had
    envisioned — and google is keeping it more open as evidenced by iOS
    devices working with Chromecast. iOS devices have been relegated to the
    bit player they always should have been.

    We do need to make sure there continues to be choice in this new system. I love Chrome, but I use Firefox often just to support alternatives, and it even now has some features google won’t allow for Chrome (the videodownloader extensions being one example). I’ll embrace Firefox OS devices when they come out too.

    I’m happy for google to lead the way, but I’m going to be sure to bring along a few of their competitors every step of the way.

    1. I was about to ask for you to add a “TL;DR”, but it’s slow at work, so I’ll goin’ head and read it.

  7. But I thought Apple Insider said that Android was failing at tablets [ROFL] https://plus.google.com/u/0/105051985738280261832/posts/LnnmHRnZh79

    1. Really ? Apple Insider?
      EDIT: saw this comment : “Funny stuff. It’s like an atheist listening to a christian explain why they should believe in god.” xD

    2. The level of delusion, narcissism, and presumption on that post is frightening.

  8. “No one believed Android could really take on iOS” This is simply not true, I have been on the Android bandwagon since the Samsung Moment and HTC Hero days, back when they had 1% market share or less and I told everyone Android would take over everything..

    1. So true, I’ve been with Android since the G1. I was always showing it off and saying stuff like you won’t want that iPhone soon enough.

    2. I remember buying my G1 when it released and loving it. I downloaded all of the apps that were available and was showing it off all the time. I had the metal detector which surprisingly worked… even though it was pretty useless because by the time you got a reading you were practically touching the phone to the metal. I had about 18 apps the first month. I didn’t even have a facebook app… I just went to the browser to view that.

      1. Ahh yes, the metal detector app (Among some of the other “detector apps”) I remember that, there was not a whole lot of fun on Android back then. Often iPhone people would show off games that got a little pang of jealousy out of me but no longer, we have everything I care to play and more now especially with add ons like the Moga Pro.

      2. Back in the days when you could browse the entire market in a few hours, or less. All my iPhone toting friends ragged on my G1, only to later buy Androids themselves because I was always showing them what my phone could do that theirs couldn’t.

    3. exactly….it was obvious like fall of Symbian, WebOS, Firefox OS, Chrome OS, Tizen, Bada etc….

      in compare to Android is iOS just a iToy for kids, not for a proper work:

      bit.ly/17CPlOn

    4. could not agree more… i had the Samsung moment and thought it was a complete game changer… still kinda wish i had kept it lmao

      1. I still have mine in a dresser drawer… I almost gave it away at the Big Android BBQ last year, but couldn’t bring myself to part with the little painstick. Man that was a love-hate relationship.

  9. It was going to happen, its always been he Windows 2.0. There are multiple choices instead of a monopolistic single source.

  10. It’s time for Apple to lose it’s premium status and lower it’s cost for like EVERYTHING. Oh my gosh!! I heard about Apple insurance and I was like “what tha fudge!? Those insane cost!!” LoL!!

  11. Where is KK “Downing” and his doom and gloom for Android tablets after he jumped ship?

  12. This was to be expected, there’s a lot of people out there who just buy cheap android tablets from china just to own a tablet. The top android tablet I’m sure is nowhere near beating out the top iPad.

    1. 1> The largest percentage by far is name brand tablets. You really should do some research before spouting ignorant trash.
      2> Who cares if there are 4 or 5 top Android models totaling up to outsell Apple or if it’s just 1 device? The device is somewhat immaterial. It’s the OS that really matters. More tablets being sold with a certain OS help secure developers, accessories, and a future for the OS. You’re just posturing. More of your ignorance, I’m sure. Trying to justify your purchase, perhaps?

      Hey, if you like Apple, knock yourself out. Just stop trying to pretend that you’re somehow better than people who buy Android tablets. (Your tone in your post was very condescending. If you didn’t mean it to be, feel free to retract your snide statements that were, of course, spouting ignorance in the 1st place.)

  13. Was only a matter of time till the kinks in android tablets were ironed out to the point where this would occur. Apple is going to lose ground like they are in the phone arena.

  14. I talked poop about tablets when they first released, didn’t see the need. Decided on impulse buying a tf101. I’m glad I did. Now I have a nexus 10. Tablets won’t replace computers, they will replace laptops.

    1. I used to think the same thing, thinking that you got what you needed with a netbook, but it’s a great replacement to netbooks and laptops, with more functionality. The big thing I washaving trouble with on my netbook was reading online and PDF text books, which these high definition screens work perfectly for, and with so much more battery life. I even write/dictate papers on my nexus 7.

    2. In my opinion, tablets will replace netbooks. I had a Windows laptop, then switch to an Android tablet, then back to a laptop because I couldn’t do as much on an Android tablet. Mobile browsers are still quite laggy, and I like to have a lot of tabs open at school while taking notes. So I got a touchscreen Windows 8 Ultrabook and it’s my favorite laptop ever haha. I like tablets, but I prefer a real, full fledged laptop more.

  15. OG g1 user…that’s right…Original android device user…

    And I must say, while I like the ipad, android tablets are waaaay more useful. Its about making sure you purchase the right one. The one good device mainstream device available right now is the note 8..but the price is just unacceptable. Still beating a ipad mini…but just waaay to high.

    My next purchase will be some incarnation of the nexus tablet (7 or 10)…as for right now…my note ii serves too many purposes (desktop with the dock and my main computing device)…so I really dont see a need….yet…

  16. I love this even more because a few years ago Apple fanboys said that Google could never (ever) topple the Tablet market. In your face, Apple!

  17. Sqrew apple

  18. Hey apple!, not bad for a ui originally based for cameras right? Am i right folks lol

  19. Oh my god I can’t believe some of the comments on here. Do people genuinely think Apple are on the verge of keeling over? Take of your blinkers – they just made $6.9 billion in profit! They’ve got by all estimates 70 – 80% of all web traffic from tablets – the next top one is the Kindle Fire. And they are doing this on 2 current models – against the hundreds and hundreds of Android tablets.

    Try and be realistic and not make daft comments. What will happen is probably the same as happened in phones – Apple will level out at 20-30% Android will scoop up 50-60% and the others will take the rest. Meanwhile Apple and Samsung will carry on taking 95% of all mobile profits and the others will struggle on on the dregs.

    1. Plus I wonder how many of these are those $50 Walgreens android tablets
      That sit on the shelves only occasionally picked up for some whiny kid who wants to
      Play angry birds, my uncle brought me one to set up that didn’t work out of the box. No joke.

      1. I think I’ve got this right but my basic math shows that out of the 57m tablets shipped 15m were the unbranded “Whitebox” tablets – these are pretty much all running Android – unfortunatley it doesn’t show if these are running Google play services or not.

        These figures also include the Kindle fire in the Android column. Why any Android Fan would crow about the kindle fire sales being high is beyond me – it’s a fork of android and does nothing to help Google or Android.

        How many tablets shipped – because this are units shipped not sold – should not be how you judge who is “winning”. I think we should first start by looking to see if the company selling them is actually making any money.

          1. that is the dumbest article I have ever read…

          2. It is. Compare the study’s network size to either Facebook or google. Now laugh at them and their claim their tiny, tiny network can represent the whole Internet

        1. I am an Android fan but that doesn’t mean I am a Google fan. In fact, if I were, I’d want Google to make higher profits, which means they may need to charge higher prices for their devices, which means I as a consumer lose more money. This is why it makes no sense for an Apple fan to like the fact that Apple takes 80% of smartphone profits when the outcome of this massive pricegouging is that massive amounts of cash is stripped from consumers wallets to be stored in offshore tax havens where the funds are never repatriated to avoid American company taxes. The fact that Google devices make no profits and other Android manufacturers make small profits means that more money is leftover in consumers’ pockets to spend on other necessities rather than sit in an offshore tax haven. Consumers are dumb, but in the long run, they learn from their mistakes, and that explains why Android marketshare increases relentlessly.

    2. I think you forget the cyclical nature of the industry. Apple will not settle into 20-30%. They will continue to decline. I bet back in 04′ nobody thought Motorola would tank with the amount of Razr’s they were selling but it happened. This is Googles time and it is showing more and more. Both Apple and Microsoft are on a decline although it hasn’t started showing for Apple yet but they are falling further and further behind with an oversimplified OS that used to be a good idea. The problem is, people now are more tech savvy and demand more from their devices.

      1. But Apple is not declining – their sales are up. Just because one operating system is rising doesn’t mean the other is declining. They are both going up. Just the share is changing – which is not a surprise when there a dozens of branded Android tablets against 2 iPads.

        Finally I’m not sure it’s Google’s time when the top Android tablet in all web usage numbers is the Kindle Fire

          1. They dropped that quarter compared to last year. What that article doesn’t mention is that in the same quarter last year they released the 3rd Gen iPad.

  20. I was a tablet sceptic back when the first ipad came out. I thought it was just an oversized iphone and way overpriced for what you could do with it.
    Even the early android tabs didn’t impress me, only really the Xoom looked some what decent but it was way too expensive.

    I now own an Asus transformer t300t which I bought for €279 and haven’t looked back… It’s almost replaced my PC.

    Still think ipads, iphones and anything apple are subpar for the huge prices they command.

    Never owned or bought anything apple and never will.

    1. I own a 5th gen Nano. It was a gift. Nice little device except for it’s one fatal flaw: iTunes.

      I would have never purchased an Apple product either, but it IS a decent little player. Damned expensive though.

  21. Apple doesn’t need to be the number one seller. With the exception of the iphone that was a popular success even they expected (yes, they expected to sell a lot, but not to sell to everybody).

    Apple feels fine (better) being an exotic quality (expensive) product made for a few (million). It’s easier/better that way.

    To many “no true apple fanboys” toying with his toys might lead to discover that God is not perfect, and they don’t want that.

    I fill apple will do better in the following years selling less than others (but still a lot) but to a more faithful flock.

    1. For sure. They definitely are content not making lower cost version of their product to try to grab more market share. Nope! Don’t see anything like that coming.

      1. What about the rumored iphone 5C? Wouldnt that count as a lower cost version and the Ipad Mini itself?

        1. This is the problem. Apple making a cheap iPhone runs counter to their current strategy, which is to sell fewer devices but sell them at a massive markup. Currently only 20% of smartphones are iPhones, yet Apple takes in 80% of smartphone profits. How are customers willing to pay $700 for a product that costs only $200 to produce? It is the feeling of brand snobbery and elitism that comes from knowing you spent $500 on an Apple logo. A cheap iPhone will trash the brand. Poor people will buy it in the multitudes and having an Apple device will mean nothing. In order to signal your wealth, you may have to play the hardware spec game, i.e. more pixel density, RAM, memory, CPU and GPU cores, clock speeds, Antutu benchmarks, and so forth. Android wins when it comes to the hardware specs game. The relentless competition among Android manufacturers guarantees that a high-end Android device will always be faster, more powerful, with clearer displays, and more RAM, and memory. The Galaxy S4 is the same price as the iPhone 5 but is more than two times more powerful.

  22. Why do people always HAVE to mention how much money Apple makes? Yes, Apple has huge margins because there will always be hipsters who will pay top dollar for an iPhone 5 with just 16GB of internal storage, no MicroSD slot and mid-range hardware. What does this have to do with how iOS stacks up against Android? Are they implying Android development is underfunded compared to iOS? (haha, yeah right)

    As long as Google and the Android OEMs have enough money to do R&D for Android and Android devices respectively, why do we have to care how much money Google or Apple makes? Apple fanbots are funny.

    1. Android and iOS aren’t even in the same league anymore. Android has surpassed it in every way. We need to stop comparing the two. Its not even a contest anymore. Android has won.

  23. Well I love Android but do not discount WP.If Nokia continue to make awesome Lumia devices across all points at attractive prices then i see WP quickly gaining market share and engaging in a fierce battle with iOS and Android.Phones like Lumia 520 and 620 are better than any android phones(unlocked) at the respective price points and i hate that the only devices competing against these cheap Lumias is single core with adreno 200 based Android devices which are way too slow and laggy.

    1. When Nokia’s contract is up, I bet they will move to multiple platform support. MS has failed with HTC and Samsung. Only a binding contract and infiltration of MS management has kept Nokia from Android — and success.

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