In Other iOS News, iPad Loses Market Share

[Jeff Campbell]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.cultofmac.com/as-android-tablets-arrives-ipads-marketshare-shrinks-from-95-to-77/79755?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+cultofmac/bFow+(Cult+of+Mac)' target='_blank'>http://www.cultofmac.com/as-android...w+(Cult+of+Mac)</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"With competing products like the Samsung Galaxy Tab finally making their way onto store shelves, the iPad's no longer the only tablet in town... and consequently iOS is starting to lose some of its dominance."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/lpt/auto/1285246658.usr105634.jpg" /></p><p>I don't think anyone should be shocked at this, since it's common sense that with more options out there the market share for one particular product will take a hit, at least initially. If this continues then there may be cause for concern I would imagine. Quality over quantity has worked pretty well so far for Apple, let's see if that continues.&nbsp;</p>

[Vincent Ferrari]

The big buzz over the weekend was a term that most of us never talk about outside of the cellular industry: sell-through.

Samsung admitted that though they had shipped tons of Tabs (2 million), that number was the number sent to distributors (ie: carriers), not to customers, and that the number sold to actual customers is, in their words, "quite small" meaning these marketshare numbers are, as the saying goes, cow pies, seeing as they're extrapolated from the distribution data, not the sell-through data.

Considering Apple sold (yes, sold) 7 million + iPads last quarter, I'd say this story is probably not true. When Apple reports its numbers, they report sales to customers, not wholesale purchases from distributors.

That's not marketshare, that's shelf-storage.

[Brad Adrian]

Besides that, when you own 100% of the market, there's only one way the numbers can go!

[Vincent Ferrari]

Besides that, when you own 100% of the market, there's only one way the numbers can go!

True.

And then this (http://www.cultofmac.com/report-16-percent-of-purchased-galaxy-tabs-returned/79912?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+cultofmac/bFow+(Cult+of+Mac)) came out today:

Samsung may have helped Android attain the top spot in smartphone sales, but the open-source operating system from Google hasn’t done the same for the handset maker’s attempt to rival Apple’s iPad tablet. According to one analyst firm, 16 percent of Samsung Tab devices are being returned.

“Consumers aren’t in love with the device,” ITG Investment Research analyst Tony Berkman told the New York Post recently. ITG tracked sales of the Tab between its November debut through Jan. 15. By comparison, the iPad sold through Verizon, reportedly has a 2 percent return rate.

Some iPad killer this thing is.

To clarify, I really like the Galaxy Tab. A lot. I've had extensive use time with one and think it's a great device, but let's call it what it is. An iPad knockoff that isn't catching on. Funny thing is, this is the same Samsung who told the world back in the iPod days that they were going to flood the market with knockoffs to unseat Apple (http://www.insignificantthoughts.com/2006/01/10/samsung-well-kill-the-ipod-too/). That didn't work out either.

Companies need to just make good devices, not make "alsos." It seems like everyone is making a tablet because Apple is. In a few years, Apple will be on to something else and everyone will make tablets for two years after that, then they'll catch up to Apple and Apple will move onto something else.

That whole Wayne Gretzky "where the puck is going" thing comes to mind.