The iPad continues to dominate the global tablet market and, according research firm IDC, the iPad is responsible for the strong growth of tablets across the board.
While the numbers announced during Apple’s most recent financials call continued to show strong year-over-year growth for the iPad, they didn’t illustrate how significant the iPad’s growth is compared to the rest of the tablet market.
Apple’s second quarter worldwide iPad shipments reached 17,042,000 units according to IDC while Samsung, Apple’s closest competitor in the tablet space, only managed to ship 2,391,000 Android tablets. Amazon, which placed third for the quarter with its Kindle Fire tablet, managed shipments that about half of Samsung’s at 1,252,000 units. ASUS and Acer rounded out the category with shipments of 855,000 and 385,000 units respectively.
IDC’s research director for Mobile Connected Devices Tom Mainelli noted this was the iPad’s best quarter to date and that a large part of the iPad’s success for the quarter included very strong sales to school districts and other segments of the education market.
Apple built upon its strong March iPad launch and ended the quarter with its best-ever shipment total for the iPad, outrunning even the impressive shipment record it set in the fourth quarter of last year. The vast majority of consumers continue to favor the iPad over competitors, and Apple is seeing increasingly strong interest in the device from vertical markets—especially education. While iPad shipment totals are beginning to slow a bit in mature markets where the device saw early traction, growth in other regions is clearly more than making up the difference.
Apple success in K-12 schools and districts bodes well for the company as it helps Apple establish a relationship with future customers. Provided students have positive iPad experience in school, it’s likely that they’ll choose iPads as tools in college and beyond.
IDC did note, however, that it expect the upcoming quarters to be more competitive as tablets running Windows 8 and Windows RT (including Microsoft’s Surface devices) enter the market.
