Last year, when Kindle Fire was launched, a lot of us wondered that perhaps Apple had finally found a worthy contender. While that is not too wrong, Apple has now jumped back in the game. According to IDC’s report detailing quarterly tablet sales, Apple has been able to ship a whooping 67.8% of the total tablets sold during the first quarter of 2012.
This is a significant improvement in the performance of iPad on the quarter-to-quarter basis. During the last quarter of 2011, Apple’s iPad accounted for 54.7% of the total tablet sold. While that was a significantly huge number, Amazon had been able to trim it down with its Kindle Fire, which was literally on fire during the holiday season.
However, it seems that Apple is back in the game with its new iPad. Apple was able to sell three million new iPad tablets within three days of launch! That speaks volume about the popularity and demand for the new tablet from Apple. A total of 17.4 million tablets were sold this quarter, out of which 11.8 million units were iPad, or so Apple claimed.
Kindle Fire has been able to find a fair sized market due to its low price point. And in fact, it has proved that perhaps the only way Android tablet vendors can compete with Apple’s iPad is to offer very low priced tablets. However, the popularity of Kindle Fire has declined and a number of retailers are already stating that they would no longer be selling the tablet.
According to the mobile research director at IDC, Tom Manelli, ‘It seems some of the mainstream Android vendors are finally beginning to grasp a fact that Amazon, B&N, and Pandigital figured out early on. Namely, to compete in the media tablet market with Apple, they must offer their products at notably lower price points.’
The tablet market will get into an even fiercer battle one Windows 8 tablets are launched, which hold a lot of promise and potential. What remains to be seen is that will these tablets be able to challenge Apple’s hegemony.
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