Tag: Tablet

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Apple Increases PC Marketshare with iPad

iPad mini
Apple’s iPad mini

According to a report released by the research firm Canalys on February 6th, one in six PCs shipped in Q4 2012 was an iPad. iPads make up a third of worldwide PC shipments in Q4 2012. The worldwide PC shipments also increased to 134 million units, a 12% year-to-year increase.

Apple, like before, continued to lead the PC market, shipping 27 million units and holding a 20% share of the PC market. Apple is followed by HP, which shipped 15 million PCs and took an 11% share of the PC market. Lenovo also shipped about 15 million PCs and also took an 11% share as well. Samsung shipped 11.7 million PCs and took a 9% share. Dell is in fifth place, shipping only 9.7 million PCs. Dell is declining but the potential buyout may change things.

Apple showed strong demand for the iPad mini, but Apple’s pad share dipped to 49% in Q4. Amazon’s worldwide pad shipments grew 18% to 4.6 million along with Samsung’s shipment increasing 226% to 7.6 million pads. With Amazon and Samsung’s increase in popularity, 46% of the pad share is Android-based pads.

With Android increasing it’s tablet market share, Apple has more to worry about in terms of competitors. Nonetheless, Apple’s iPad mini has helped Apple remain competitive and not lose its popularity in the tablet market.

Feel free to leave questions or comments!

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The iPad mini

On October 23, 2012, Apple released the new iPad mini. It is said to be 23% thinner and 53% lighter than the previous iPad. It starts at $329 for a 16 GB Wi-Fi model. It is also available in 32GB and 64GB and in Wi-Fi + Cellular models. There are two color choices: Black & Slate and White & Silver. The iPad mini is very similar to the iPad, except that it is a lot lighter and can easily be held in the palm of your hand, like other tablets in the market, mostly those running Android OS. Can the iPad mini compete?

Some of the features of the iPad mini are nothing new to those who have seen or used an iPad before. It has the standard built-in apps such as FaceTime, Email, and Message, and it also has access to the App Store, which houses over 275,000 iPad apps. In terms of tech specs, it uses the fast A5 chip that provides speed and fluidity to the tablet screen. It is stated to have a 10-hour battery life as well.

One feature specific to Apple products is FaceTime. It is a built-in app and can be used over Wi-Fi or cellular data. While using the iPad mini, you can take advantage of the front-facing FaceTime HD camera or the iSight camera on the rear. The iSight camera even lets you capture videos in 1080p HD and takes full advantage of the 5-megapixels to capture photos.

The iPad mini features dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi, which means faster Internet connection with download speeds up to 150 Mbps. If you do get the Wi-Fi + Cellular model, you also have access to LTE, HSPA, HSPA+, DC-HSPDA, and cellular and wireless networks.

The iPad mini also comes with Siri: the intelligent assistant, iCloud: Apple’s cloud service, and iOS 6: the most recent and advanced of Apple’s operating systems. However, the most recent iPad contains these features, so the iPad mini is essentially only a miniature third generation iPad. It has the same resolution as the previous iPad, 1024×768, but has a smaller screen to pack all those pixels. On the downside, it doesn’t have the Retina Display that most iPads have. It does have the same front and rear camera as the iPad with Retina Display, but lacks the Dual-core A6X with quad-core graphics, meaning slightly slower performance.

For approximately $170 cheaper, you can get a miniature version of the newest iPad with slightly less advanced tech specs. Whether it can compete against the iPad with Retina Display or other similar tablets, has yet to be determined. Your best bet is to go to the nearest Apple Store and try it out yourself. Who knows, you may end up walking out with a brand new iPad mini.

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Competition Among Pads

Tablet computer “pads,” that is. Yes, other tech giants, along with some start-ups, are once again following Apple in an attempt to gain a portion of the market that Apple created.  The WeePad, JooJoo Tablet, and HP Slate are among the competitors that announced or released tablet computers within the past month.

Clearly, there is a pretty good market for tablet computers, as Apple announced Monday news that it has sold 1 million iPads in the first month!  But will other companies be able to capture the same appeal that Apple has with the iPad?

Analysts think not.  The International Data Corporation says that “Anybody can make a tablet. I could go to Taiwan, hire a contract manufacturer, and make ‘Bob’s tablet,’ but the hard part is doing the software and getting the applications.”  If any company CAN do that though, it would be HP.

Though it is perhaps possible for HP to take some of the market away from Apple, in the long run I don’t think it will make much of a difference for Apple.  All of these other companies are followers. But the leader remains the leader.