Android Tablets To Surpass iPad Market Share By Mid-2013

A project analyst has hinted at the possibility that the market share of the iPad may be surpassed by the Android tablets in the middle of 2013.

For the past few years, the tablet market has been dominated by the iPad of Apple however the deluge of Android-powered devices has slowly taken a part of its share of the market. Based on the data from IDC, the 87 percent of the market was held by the iPad in third quarter of 2010. However, this market share has gone down to around 50.4 percent in the third quarter of this year.

According Sameer Singh, a mergers and acquisition analyst from Finvista Advisors, Android tablets will likely surpass the market share of the iPad if the current trend continues.

Singh reportedly discovered that the deliveries of Android tablets has better compared to the iPad in six of the past eight quarters. Singh indicated that the third quarter shipments of the iPad suffered a significant drop amidst reports of the iPad Mini. Deliveries of the iPad were expected to increase by at least ten percent in the last quarter, however, it decreased by around eighteen percent.

In comparison shipments for Android tablet has gone up from the first up to the third quarter. This growth is expected to continue in the coming year since a good number of Android manufacturers will likely follow the lead of the inexpensive Amazon Kindle, the analyst indicated. A number of original equipment manufacturers or OEMs have used the Amazon model that expanded its price points, which will increase its market and affect the share of the iPad.

Despite the possible reduction in the market share of the iPad, it is still expected to increase its overall sales in the coming year. Together with the iPhone, the iPad has provided Apple with a net profit of around $8.2 billion for the quarter that ended last September 29.

In addition, sales of the iPad have reached three million units ever since the company launched the iPad Mini recently. Although no specific details were provided, a number of analysts think that the iPad Mini accounted for most of the sales.

But the cost of production of the iPad has affected the profit margin of the company. The iPad Mini reportedly gives a lower than normal profit margin for the company. However, the cost of production is expected to go down after some time, which will increase the profit margin of the company.

Singh also indicted that the Windows RT and the Windows 8 tablet will hardly put a dent on the share of the iPad and Android tablets in the market.