What about the iPad? IDC research suggests the iPad will be overtaken this year, with cheaper Android tablets siphoning off sales. Again, market share isn’t necessarily what matters most.
Chitika research suggests Apple’s iPad accounts for 81.9 per cent of web tra ffic, and this is on the increase. Everyone else in the tablet space is miles behind, in second place Amazon’s Kindle Fire has 7.1 per cent and Samsung’s Galaxy Tablets produce 4.3 percent of tra ffic. Similarly, an NPD Group study indicates iOS users download more content: iPhone owners downloaded 1.12GB per month, while Android users downloaded 0.92GB.
iPad and iPhone owners don’t just view more web pages and download more, they also spend more: while the number of apps available on the App Store is now comparable to Android apps on Google Play, Apple’s App Store makes four times as much money, according to Distino.
Another reason why the iPad is so important to Apple is its cannibalisation of another Apple product category, the Mac, and with it the PC. Crucially the PC is su ffering a far sharper decline than the Mac. IDC and Gartner have both published reports recently indicating PC sales are down worldwide. However, Gartner suggests shipments of Macs are growing by 7.4 per cent. This view is backed up by NPD Group, who suggest Mac sales could jump 14 percent.
While Macs have a tiny percentage of market share in comparison to Windows PCs, it’s worth noting that Apple makes 45 percent of the profit from its 5 per cent worldwide market share, according to Asymco analyst Horace Dediu. More than any Apple product, the Mac demonstrates that market share isn’t necessarily the best indicator of success.
Source : MacWorldUK.2013.06
