Android tablets hack away at iPad dominance
By Jessica Van Sack
Monday, February 7, 2011 - Updated 3 hours ago
bostonherald.com
Sales of Android tablets are skyrocketing, threatening to usurp the Apple iPad’s dominance over the emerging market, analysts say.
“It’s definitely possible that Android could overtake Apple,” said Alex Spektor of Boston’s Strategy Analytics. “More device vendors will support that platform, and there may be a situation where consumers can choose from 10 tablets and only one of them is Apple.”
Indeed, tablets powered by the Android operating system made up 22 percent of global market share in the fourth quarter of 2010, up from 2.3 percent the quarter before.
The uptick will likely continue, with more than 80 manufacturers having announced the launch of Android tablets for this year.
Still the far-ahead industry leader, Apple’s iPad dominance over the market was 75 percent in the fourth quarter — but it fell from 96 percent in the third quarter due to rising Android competition.
“The Samsung Galaxy Tab was the main driver of Android’s success, as the model was launched in dozens of countries and promoted heavily by Samsung,” said Neil Mawston, director at Strategy Analytics. “Tablet makers like Android because of its perceived low cost and an accompanying range of compelling media services such as YouTube and Google Maps.”
A Jan. 4 report by Cambridge-based Forrester Research predicts the tablet market will grow rapidly, from 10.3 million U.S. consumers in 2010 to 82 million in 2015, when the touch-screen devices will become a mainstream computing device.
Apple’s dominance of the market is driven largely by consumers who find their mobile applications the most varied and useful.
But analysts say Android could catch up. Purchased by Google in 2005, the operating system allows for open-source development of applications.
If tablets follow the market trend of smartphones, Apple should be worried: Android became the leading global smartphone platform in the fourth quarter of 2010, with 32.9 million worldwide shipments of Android-operating smartphones.
But Apple says it’s confident that its applications are superior to the Android — because of their tight monitoring of all apps designed by outside developers and a strict approval process, which has been met with controversy.
In a Jan. 18 earnings call with investors, Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook dismissed an Android-based tablet as “a bizarre device” operating on a platform that was never meant for a tablet.
“So, basically, you wind up with a scaled-up smartphone,” he said. “We’re very, very confident with entering into a fight with anyone.” |
