IPad Big Loser in 2014 Tablets, Strategy Analytics Says
Lenovo and white box suppliers were the big winners and Apple a big loser in the 2014 tablets market, which saw overall global unit shipments rise 6.6 percent to 242.2 million, Strategy Analytics said Monday in two Tablet and Touchscreen…
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Strategies reports. Lenovo’s market share last year climbed more than 1.1 percentage points to 4.7 percent on the strength of a 41 percent increase in shipments to 11.5 million tablets, Strategy Analytics said. IPad shipments fell 14.6 percent to 63.4 million, and Apple’s market share declined to 26.1 percent from 32.6 percent, it said. Shipments from Samsung, the No. 2 brand, fell 0.7 percent to 41.4 million, causing its share to drop to 17.1 percent from 18.3 percent, it said. Apple and Samsung no longer had a majority of the tablets market in 2014 as they did in 2013, it said. Their combined share for 2014 fell to 43.2 percent, and that “trajectory” is likely to continue, Strategy Analytics said. “Leading tablet vendors cannot rely on inertia alone to hold market share while smaller players compete on price on the low end and innovative new form factors on the high end.” The report singled out Lenovo as riding “innovative form factor designs” to score market share gains in tablets. It predicted Windows 10 “could be a game changer” for Windows-based tablets from Dell, Lenovo, Microsoft and others as they “attempt to break into the enterprise market and gain market share” at the expense of iPads and Android-based tablets. To “reverse the recent downward trend, Samsung needs to strengthen its position in the enterprise and vertical markets, where considerable growth will be seen in coming years, while new products such as the iPad 12.9-inch Pro version cannot come quickly enough for Apple as it needs to re-ignite growth and demand” in its tablet products, said Peter King, Strategy Analytics service director-Tablet and Touchscreen Strategies. As the tablets market continues to mature, “it is also fragmenting further on price tiers and use case,” said Eric Smith, senior analyst-Tablet and Touchscreen Strategies. Smith sees “an opening” for vendors of Windows-based tablets “to more aggressively target” the enterprise business with the launch of Windows 10 later this year, as corporate chief information officers “value the control and familiarity that Windows could bring to a landscape largely ruled by the bring-your-own-device trend,” he said.