Apple leads tablet market in Q2 2012: IHS iSuppli

As per latest figures released by research firm IHS iSuppli, Apple has managed to maintain its lead in the media tablets space, with its global market share rising to nearly 70 percent in the second quarter of this year. Its share was 58.1 percent in the first quarter.

Apple shipped 17 million units of its iPad 2 and the new iPad tablets in Q2 2012. This means the Cupertino-based company managed a 44.1 percent jump from the 11.8 million it posted in the previous quarter. Rival company Samsung shipped roughly 13 million tablets in the same duration. The research points out that the company was the first to enter the market after Apple, when it introduced its first Galaxy Tab in Q4 2010. It adds, "However, Samsung hasn’t yet achieved the cumulative unit sales that Apple reached by Christmas of 2010".

As per the report, in July this year, Apple went beyond the 85 million mark for iPad units sold since the product's launch in April 2010.

Rhoda Alexander, Director, Tablet and Monitor Research for IHS added, "Apple is making all the right moves to rebuild its dominant position in the tablet space. The company is pushing visual performance boundaries with the new iPad, while providing value customers with a lower-priced alternative, the iPad 2. With the expected entrance of the 7-inch version of the iPad in September, Apple is sending a clear message that it plans to dominate this market over the long term. Apple’s major media tablet rivals, Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp., hope to challenge Apple in the second half of the year, but will be facing formidable headwinds with no sign that the market leader is backing off of its aggressive strategy in the market”.

As per iSuppli's figures, Samsung comes second with a market share of 9.2 percent in the second quarter of this year. Amazon follows with a market share of 4.2 percent. Asus and Barnes & Noble take the fourth and fifth positions with a market share of 2.8 percent and 1.9 percent respectively.

Alexander adds further, "A major component of Apple’s success to date is the company’s well-developed ecosystem of content and applications it had in place before entering the tablet market, and its absolute control of the hardware, software and operating system. When a customer buys a media tablet, what he or she is really doing is purchasing a key to that ecosystem, not just a piece of hardware".