There is no doubt about the fact that Apple continues to dominate the tablets market by a fair margin. However, what is also undeniable is the fact that the Cupertino based gadgets maker is fast losing its hold over this market. A report by market intelligence firm ABI Research reveals that Apple is losing market share in the competitive tablets arena much faster than expected.
As of today, ABI Research puts Apple’s market share in the tablets market at a healthy sounding 55% in Q3, 2012. This however is a huge drop of 14% over the second quarter of 2012. Apple’s 14% loss in market share was lapped up by players like Samsung, Asus and Amazon – all of which have a decent line-up of Android based tablets across a wide price spectrum.
“With the introduction of a smaller, lower-cost iPad mini, Apple has acknowledged Android’s beachhead of 7-inch-class tablets, though at the same time, it has failed to deliver a knock-out punch through innovation, pricing, and availability during the most critical selling period of the year,” says senior practice director Jeff Orr.
There are also voices being heard about how Apple lost an opportunity to claw right back in to the tablets market with the iPad Mini by deciding to price it almost $100 more than its competitors. At a base price of $329, the iPad Mini is closer in price to the full-fledged iPad than other similarly priced tablets based on Android.
Another bit of bad news for Apple and the iOS platform in general is the prediction that Android would continue to narrow the gap and eventually overtake the former. How long do you think would it take for that to happen?