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IDC: Apple extends lead in tablet market
In a bit of news that should surprise almost nobody, IDC & Macworld reported on Thursday that Apple has increased its market share of units shipped in the tablet market to almost 70 percent worldwide. By the numbers, Apple shipped a total of 17 million iPads in the April to June quarter of 2012, boosting its market share from 61.5 percent for the same quarter of 2011 to 68.2 percent this year. In that quarter of 2011, Apple shipped 9.24 million iPads, so a year over year comparison shows a growth of 84.3 percent. According to IDC, the majority of consumers favor the iPad over competing tablets, and Apple also gets the nod in vertical markets like education. Shipments of iPads do appear to be slowing in mature markets, but sales growth for the iPad in other regions is robust. In the number two spot of the tablet market for the quarter was Samsung, with 2.4 million units shipped and an almost 10 percent market share. Amazon's Kindle Fire has surged from a slow first quarter of 2012 to ship 1.25 million units for a 5 percent share of the market. Asus and Acer came in at fourth and fifth place, with Asus seeing a year-over-year increase in shipments of 115.5 percent (885,000 tablets shipped). Acer, on the other hand, had a drop of about 40 percent in sales from the same quarter in 2011, shipping only 385,000 tablets. While Apple's currently at the top of the heap, analysts expect more competition in the tablet space beginning in the second half of 2012, with new Kindle Fire models from Amazon and a number of new devices running Windows 8 and Windows RT. #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
IDC: Apple's still king of the tablet hill with 68 percent of the market
IDC's cabal of statisticians, nerds and people who just love spreadsheets have handed down their latest document about the state of the tablet market. Of the 25 million slates shipped in the second quarter, 17 million of them were iPads -- giving Apple 68.2 percent of the market. Samsung came second with 2.4 million devices and Amazon third, although since the Kindle Fire maker doesn't reveal numbers, there's probably some guesswork involved there. Rounding out the top five are ASUS and Acer, although the former should expect to move up a place (or two), depending on the success of the Nexus 7 when Q3's results are released in a few months time.
IDC: Samsung and Apple ship almost half of all smartphones, but Korean manufacturer maintains lead
IDC's latest figures offer some predictable reading. More phones are being sold than ever before; 406 million units were sold in Q2, against 401.8 million in the same period last year -- with a 42 percent increase in smartphone sales. The winners? Perennial court antagonists, Samsung and Apple, with the duo doubling their combined market share over the last two years. Samsung maintains its lead, reaching over 50 million phones sold -- and a new quarterly sales record -- while Apple saw a quarter-over-quarter decline, as buyers presumably wait for Cupertino's latest iteration, or go elsewhere. Nokia, meanwhile, had another "transitional" quarter, with sales of both Symbian and MeeGo devices shrinking, although its Windows Phones proved stronger. According to IDC's figures, Nokia and Microsoft's team-up handset sales have doubled since last quarter. HTC misses out on a top three spot, but its fortunes appear to have improved over the last two quarters, with the IDC pointing the finger at a more streamlined product range from the Taiwan manufacturer. ZTE continues to nip at its heels, reaching the top five thanks to strong entry-level smartphone sales in China, while continuing to inch onto US shores. If you're looking for a full breakdown of all phones sold, dumb and otherwise, read up at the source below.
IDC and Gartner: PC market flattened out in Q2 while Apple, ASUS and Lenovo remain the stars
Microsoft's Steve Ballmer might be working overtime to keep Apple at bay, but the PC market that his company largely built is hurting, if you ask researchers at Gartner and IDC. Both estimate that shipments of traditional computers dropped by a tenth of a point in the second quarter of 2012 -- not a good sign when Intel's Ivy Bridge processors and a wave of Ultrabooks were supposed to usher in a PC renaissance. While the exact numbers vary, the two paint a partly familiar picture of the world stage: HP and Dell are taking a bruising, while ASUS and Lenovo are making huge leaps forward. Depending on who you ask, though, Acer is either kicking Dell down to fourth place or occupying that all too comfortable spot itself. The economy and tablets are once again blamed for making would-be PC upgraders jittery, although this time it may also be the wait for Windows 8 leading some to hold off. If there's a point of contention, it's the US figures. Gartner and IDC alike agree that Acer, Dell and HP all took a drubbing. The two analyst groups are at odds with each other when it comes to everyone else, though. Apple will have gained market share to as much as 12 percent, but either increased or shrank its shipments; it's Lenovo or Toshiba completing the top five outside of the usual suspects. Accordingly, take results with a grain of salt until all the PC builders have reported in. Nonetheless, if the groups have the same reasonable level of precision as they've had in the past, Microsoft may have to defer its ambitions for a little while longer.
IDC: Nokia moved just 2.2 million Lumias this winter, but stay tuned
Although we know that Nokia had a wince-inducing first quarter, the company was hush hush on how many of its Windows Phone-packing Lumias had shipped out. We still don't have official word, but IDC estimates that Nokia delivered 2.2 million of the devices to shops (not necessarily to customers) between January and March. If the total is accurate, Lumias would represent less than a fifth of the 11.9 million smartphones shipped by Espoo over the season and wouldn't have Apple or Samsung quaking in their boots just yet. The research team is careful to warn that the spring and summer will be the real litmus tests: a healthy Lumia 900 launch in the US could easily spike that number. Our one certainty is that Nokia will still have to sell a lot of 808 PureViews if it wants to keep its smartphone sales humming in the short term.
IDC: Android has a heady 59 percent of world smartphone share, iPhone still on the way up
We've been jonesing for a more international look at smartphone market share for the start of 2012, and IDC is now more than willing to oblige. In case you'd thought Android's relentless march upwards was just an American fling, Google's OS has jumped from 36.1 percent of the world's share a year ago to exactly 59 percent in the first quarter of this year. That's nearly two thirds of all smartphones, folks. As we've seen in the past, Android is siphoning off legacy users looking for something fresher: Symbian and the BlackBerry have both lost more than half of their share in one year's time, while Linux (led mostly by Bada) and Windows Mobile / Phone together lost small pieces of the pie despite raw shipment numbers going up. As for Apple? Even with all the heat in the kitchen, the iPhone's share grew to 23 percent, leading to a staggering 82 percent of smartphone buyers siding with either the Cupertino or Mountain View camps.
IDC: Apple makes big gains in tablet market, Android stumbles
Research firm IDC predicted there would be a steep drop off in tablet shipments during Q1 of 2012. Following the surge of sales during the holiday season, a fall of 34 percent, while certainly staggering, is hardly surprising. But there's bad news: shipments failed to meet even those bleak predictions. Shipments fell by 38.4 percent, thanks in large part to Android slates stumbling dramatically. After a reasonably impressive holiday season, IDC expected Android would continue to make inroads in the market. Instead, the number of units moved dropped drastically, allowing Apple to not just maintain its position at the top of the heap, but assert an unquestionable dominance not seen since the early days of Honeycomb. After accounting for 54.7 percent of all tablet shipments in Q4 of 2011, the iPad opened up an impressive lead, claiming 68 percent of the market in Q1 of 2012. What's more, after catapulting to the number two spot by shipping 4.8 million units at the end of last year, Amazon fell to number three -- accounting for only 4 percent of tablets shipped, a precipitous fall from 16.8 percent last quarter. That's good news for Samsung, however, which reclaimed its place as first runner up slate wars. For more, check out the PR after the break.
IDC crowns Samsung the biggest phone maker by shipments for Q1 2012
Research firm IDC is reporting that Nokia has been dethroned as the world's biggest phone maker by Samsung. In the first quarter of the year, Samsung shipped 98.3 million mobile phones, with Nokia and Apple in second and third place. In the smartphone-only charts, the Korean company shipped 42.2 million of its Android and Windows Phone handsets, while Cupertino shipped 35.1 million and Nokia shipped a paltry-by-comparison 11.9 million. Samsung, Apple and companies outside the top 5 all made big gains in the smartphone space, while Nokia, RIM and HTC all felt their numbers drop. Unsurprisingly, companies with big stakes in dumb phones suffered, with Nokia and LG losing big chunks of their market share to the big two and stalking horse ZTE, which has bested LG for fourth place. After the break, we've got the official tallies that you can pore over.
IDC: nearly 1 billion 'smart connected devices' shipped last year
Know that gadget you're currently using to read this article? It may be one of 916 million "smart connected devices" that shipped in 2011, with global revenue totaling some $489 billion last year. But the IDC expects that figure to jump to 1.1 billion for 2012, with a total of 1.84 billion new web-connected gadgets hitting the market in 2016. Those numbers include most devices that connect to the internet, such as tablets, smartphones and x86-compatible PCs -- the latter of which now represent 36.9 percent of the market, but will slip to a 25.1-percent share in 2016. Android's piece of the pie will grow from 29.4 percent to 31.1 percent by 2016, while iOS will make the jump from 14.6 to 17.3 percent in the same timeframe. IDC reps say that Asia will be partially responsible for increased smartphone sales, where mobile operators in China are subsidizing purchases to make devices more accessible to consumers. Do you plan to take possession of one of the 1.1 billion gadgets that IDC expects will ship this year? Jump past the break and let us know in the comments.
Apple iPhone edges out BlackBerry in Canada
Apple surpassed RIM as the top mobile phone manufacturer in Canada said Bloomberg on Thursday. Data from IDC and Bloomberg suggests Apple shipped 2.85 million handsets in 2011, while RIM shipped 2.08 million. This is down from 2008 when RIM out shipped Apple almost five to one.
China may ship more smartphones than the US this year
The rapid modernization of China shouldn't really come as a shock anymore. But, you might be a bit surprised to hear that the venerable IDC is predicting the world's most populous country will soon surpass the US in smartphone shipments. The research agency is predicting the People's Republic will account for 20.7 percent of the global smartphone market by the end of 2012, narrowly edging out the US by 0.1 percent. That gap is only expected to grow over the next several years as mobile broadband becomes more prevalent in the country and it continues to urbanize. Check out the PR after the break for more details.
iOS still holds edge in worldwide tablet shipments, despite Kindle Fire launch
The tablet market heated up in the last quarter of 2011 when Amazon went head-to-head against Apple with its Kindle Fire. Many expected the Fire to make a dent in the sales of the Apple iPad and the latest IDC numbers suggest their expectations were correct. Though overall iPad shipments increased, the iPad's market share fell in the final quarter of 2011 due to the Kindle Fire. IDC says Apple shipped 15.4 million units in Q4 2011, up from 11.1 million units in Q3 2011. This increase was offset by shipments of the Kindle Fire which climbed to 4.7 million units. In the end, Apple grabbed a 54.7 percent market share, down from 61.5 percent in Q3 2011. Amazon grabbed 16.8 percent and became the number one Android tablet maker. Behind the two market leaders are Samsung with a 5.5 percent market share and Barnes & Noble with 3.5 percent. Pandigital, which makes inexpensive Android tablets, rounds out the top five. [Via The Verge]
IDC: Android tablets will overtake iPad by 2015, despite everything
They're not center-stage right now, but Android tablets are still predicted to overtake the iPad within the next three years, according to IDC. The forecasters noted that Apple's worldwide share of the tablet market is shrinking with each new lower-priced Android competitor. Even as iPad sales continued to grow in 2011, surging 50 percent between Q3 and Q4, its market share fell during the same period, from 61.5 to 54.7 percent. That gives the iOS slate a weaker lead going into 2012 than suggested by earlier figures. Of course, the iPad remains an individual starlet in front of a troupe of Google dancers, so Apple's position as the upper-most vendor isn't under threat. In fact, IDC predicts it will remain the market leader in terms of revenue beyond 2016, which ought to put some fire in Amazon's belly.
Daily Update for February 2, 2012
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen.
Apple becomes world's third largest mobile phone manufacturer
In just five short years, Apple has become the third largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world. International Data Corporation (IDC), as part of the continuing Worldwide Mobile Phone Tracker survey, noted that the overall mobile phone market is still growing despite a major decline in numbers for low-priced "feature phones." Despite fierce competition from both Apple and Samsung, Nokia retained its spot as the leader in mobile phone shipments. The company is transitioning from the Symbian OS for smartphones, having recently launched the Lumia line of Windows Phone-powered smartphones. IDC notes that Nokia's worldwide distribution and manufacturing presence will make it difficult for other companies to knock the Finnish company from its perch on the mobile phone throne. Not surprisingly, Samsung was the number two manufacturer, selling more than 300 million phones in 2011. The company's Android smartphone line and new Windows Phone smartphones, along with a growing line of feature phones, inched Samsung even closer to Nokia's coveted number one spot. Apple jumped from third position after being in fifth place in the previous quarter. The third-place finish is the highest ever for Apple, and the strong launch of the iPhone 4S was listed as the primary reason that the company leapfrogged over competitors LG and ZTE in the fourth quarter of 2011. Rounding out the top five were Korean manufacturer LG, which has seen a drop in sales for the last year. Chinese vendor ZTE almost took over the fourth place position, moving from low-cost feature phones to increasingly powerful smartphones. ZTE has recently entered the North American market with Android and Windows Phone-powered smartphones. The most fascinating number, however, was the year-over-year change in shipments. While arch-rival Samsung saw a 17.6 percent change in sales volume over the previous year, Apple saw a whopping 96.2 percent increase. Apple now has 6 percent of the total mobile phone market based on 2011 unit shipments; recall that Steve Jobs noted during the 2007 introduction of the iPhone that he'd be happy with a 1 percent share.
IDC: Nokia, Samsung, Apple are the new top 3 handset makers
The latest figures are in from IDC: the top three global smartphone makers are Nokia, Samsung and Apple, in that order. Drilling down into the figures finds some surprises: Cupertino's third-place with only 8.7 percent of the market, while the giants of Korea and Finland are duking it out with 22.8 percent and 26.6 respectively. LG and ZTE are tied for fourth, but that's hardly good news for Goldstar, given that it's lost a staggering 42.2 percent of its market share in the last twelve months (Nokia was the other loser, eating 8.2 percent). The cause for the drop is in part the world's rejection of feature-phones (dropped faster than fashionistas rightly abandoned Ugg Boots and Jeggings) as millions upgraded to smartphones. After the break we've got the tables in full for anyone who wants to have their mind blown at the sheer quantity of handsets shipped in the last year, both financial and calendar.
Samsung battles Apple in Australia/NZ phone market as patent fight expands
There's rarely a day anymore that TUAW doesn't report on the status of one or more patent infringement lawsuits. The latest from the battle between Apple and Samsung is that the Cupertino company has now issued a notice of infringement to Samsung in Australia, noting that Samsung's case design for its phones and Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet are infringing on Apple's patents. Apple's notice of infringement, as reported by Bloomberg, identifies 10 patents that the company believes Samsung is violating. At this point, the new claims will be piled onto more than 30 other lawsuits the companies have filed against each other. Samsung can point to hopeful signs Down Under, though. IDC today reported that Samsung has overtaken Apple in the combined Australia and New Zealand mobile phone market, where 65% of all phones sold qualify as smartphones. The numbers are a bit confusing in the IDC press release, so we are reaching out to them for clarification from the main research report; it's not clear whether it's Samsung specifically or Android-based phones overall that have overtaken Apple's 36% market share in Australia. In New Zealand, iPhone shipments slowed in preparation for the launch of the iPhone 4S, allowing Samsung to capture the lead for smartphone shipments in that country by pushing the Galaxy S II and Galaxy 5. Other manufacturers, including Huawei, are making inroads as well by selling low-cost smartphones. Apple holds third place in the NZ market with 13% overall share, but most likely the reason for a poor quarter there is all in the timing -- the iPhone 4S didn't launch in New Zealand until well after the Australian version went on sale, starting shipments on November 11. Pricing and carrier subsidies in NZ are also a bit more stringent than elsewhere; Vodafone requires an NZ$85/month plan for 2 years to discount the 16GB iPhone 4S from an eyepopping NZ$1049 down to a manageable NZ$149 purchase cost. IDC's Yee-Kuan Lau reported that for 2011, Android will win "by a hair in the Australian smartphones tussle," while in New Zealand, "Android is expected to widen the gap and maintain the lead in the smartphones market." [via The Next Web and The Verge]
IDC: iPad maintains tablet dominance, HP's TouchPad fire sale burned brightly
While the Android tablets continue to roll in, Apple can still lay claim to the lion's share of the tablet market according to IDC's latest report. Its research suggests that the iPad holds onto 61.5 percent of the worldwide market share, down from 63.3 percent last quarter. Android devices in total also saw a slight contraction, down from 33.2 percent to 32.4 percent. This is partly explained by the HP TouchPad's final hurrah, which rocketed the ill-fated webOS tablet up to third place with a 5 percent of share of tablet sales and an estimated 903,354 devices sold. Samsung maintained its Honeycomb tablet crown, nabbing 5.6 percent of all tablet sales. The Korean manufacturer was closely tailed by Barnes and Noble's Nook Color with 4.5 percent and Asus, arriving at fifth place with a four percent share. Tablets in total sold less than the analysts had predicted, although growth has still exploded 264 percent compared to this time last year. Meanwhile, E-readers outperformed estimates, with 6.5 million E-readers sold in the third quarter, up 165.9 percent from last year. IDC expects some disruptive new tablets will spice up the fourth quarter results and you can take a look at its findings and predictions at the full press release below.
Appcelerator developers warm to Windows Phone, give BlackBerry the cold shoulder
As the year winds to a close, it seems that developer sentiments have shifted since we last checked in with Appcelerator and its opinionated community of coders. In a survey performed in conjunction with IDC, the results suggest a steady interest to develop for smartphones and tablets of the iOS and Android variety, but also reveal a punctuated surge in enthusiasm for Windows Phone. The platform experienced an eight percent uptick since last quarter, with developers citing Nokia's involvement as a primary motivating factor. While Microsoft's OS still lags significantly behind the front-runners, it has significantly separated itself from other competitors. For instance, interest in BlackBerry smartphones fell by seven percent, to roughly half that of Windows Phone. It should be noted that this survey doesn't reflect the development community as a whole, but merely of Appcelerator Titanium users -- if you're curious, the product is a cross-platform development environment for mobile apps. While the 2,160 respondents may not perfectly represent reality, we wouldn't be surprised if they were darn close.
IDC: Samsung, ZTE see jump in mobile shipments, Apple slides to fifth place
Q3 earnings reports have been pouring in over the past few days, which means it's time to check in with IDC on the state of the mobile market. The research firm's latest report, released today, is something of a mixed bag. On the one hand, Q3 global shipments increased by 12.8 percent year-over-year -- higher than the 9.3 percent that IDC had predicted for the quarter and the 9.8 percent growth observed last quarter. At the same time, however, the market grew at the second slowest pace in two years and shipments to Western Europe and the US actually declined over the year, something the company attributes to more restrained consumer spending and more widespread economic uncertainty. On the company level, both Samsung and ZTE came away as the biggest winners this quarter; Sammy's shipments increased by 23 percent over the year, good for second place, while ZTE's shot up by a whopping 57.9 percent, launching the company into fourth place. Apple, meanwhile, saw 26.2 percent growth in its shipments and a slight bump in market share, but still couldn't avoid getting leapfrogged by ZTE and dropping down to fifth place. And then there's LG, which had by far the worst quarter, relative to Q3 2010. The manufacturer saw shipments decline by nearly 26 percent over the year, while its market share slipped to 5.4 percent. All these horses, however, are still chasing Nokia, which saw a small drop in shipments, but managed to hang on to the top spot, with over 106 million shipments during the quarter -- good for 27 percent of the market. For more numbers and insight, check out the full PR after the break.
