The analysts at IDC have just published a report saying 49.2 million tablet devices were shipped during the first three months of 2013. Over half of them, 56.5% to be exact, ran Android, whereas iPads made up a 39.6% of the market. Devices running Windows 8 and Windows RT had a market share of less than 4%, which isn’t really a surprise given people’s response to Microsoft’s new operating system.
Now all of this sounds great, right? Android is winning and Apple is losing! But you’re missing out on some key metrics. Do companies who make Android tablets make any money on them? Samsung does, but what about the others? And do developers make any money off Android tablets? I wouldn’t know, but you can count the number of good Android tablet apps on one hand. And also, what about devices like the Galaxy Note? IDC defines a tablet as anything with a screen that’s over 7 inches, which means the 10+ million Note II units that Samsung sold don’t count. I know I repeatedly say that Android tablets are crap and that you should avoid them like the plague, but there’s a reason for that. The tablets that I saw in people’s hands in Thailand, in Taiwan, in Malaysia, when they weren’t iPads they were these sub $200 pieces of garbage with screens that made your eyes want to bleed. I wish the best of luck to HP with the $170 Slate 7 and to Acer with the $150 Iconia B1, but I’d never in a million years recommend either of those products to friends and family.
