The statistics-mongers at IDC have some interesting news about the last quarter of 2011. It seems that the company that redefined the tablet market and made it something people actually want dove down to a mere 54.7 percent of shipped tablets. IDC claims Apple’s dip is largely due to the debut of last holiday’s hot gift item, the Kindle Fire. At 16.8 of shipped devices, the Fire fared fairly well for a debut device.
IDC doesn’t exactly tell the whole story though. For example, Apple’s shipments for the quarter were also up by 4.3 million units. Plus, let’s not forget that the Kindle Fire is a loss-leader, meaning Amazon actually loses a few bucks on each sale, hoping to earn it back on digital content.
Come for the buffet, stay for the slots.
Where Amazon is losing money upfront, Apple is gaining on every end of the deal and that’s reflected in their profits. Values keep going up and up and up. Will those number stay strong forever? Well no, nothing is forever. But this data is the grain of salt one needs when reading IDC’s numbers.
IDC is also a bit disingenuous when they say that the Fire raises Android’s Marketshare to 44.6 percent. Tablets like the Kindle Fire and the Nook Tablet are so severely tweaked and locked down that I have a hard time considering them real Android tablets. The target audience isn’t likely to care, but it’s not entirely the same animal. Additionally, it’s also important to note that the Kindle is a 7″ tablet and the iPad is a 10″ tablet, and those products actually have very different target audiences. Because the tablet audience is so young it’s hard to differentiate, but it would be like comparing netbook and ultrabook sales — the types appeal to different sorts.
As the industry matures, it will be fascinating to watch how the high-end iPads of the world keep differentiated from the middle of the road types like the Kindle Fire. However, one thing Apple simply doesn’t need to watch at this point is the rear-view mirror.
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