Apple continues to gobble up worldwide market share thanks to the popularity of the iPad, but limited content offerings in local languages are a speed bump.
Apple snared a 12.4% share of global mobile PC shipments in Q3’10 – taking the third spot worldwide behind HP and Acer, according to DisplaySearch’s Quarterly Mobile PC Shipment and Forecast Report
Still, early adopters in places like Japan are not snapping up the tablet, in part due to the lack of content in Japanese.
Analysts at DisplaySearch note that while lack of real competition for the iPad drives Apple growth, the lack of content may prove decisive.
“Questions of local language content and language-specific apps have slowed acceptance in this tech savvy region,” noted Chris Connery, Vice President of Large Format Displays at DisplaySearch. “As other players come to market with tablet Pcs, it will be interesting to see if they can move beyond the Western-centric nature of Apple’s product and develop an infrastructure to support local needs, especially with the growth of consumer spending in China on personal computing devices.”
Japan isn’t the only market where Apple may meet challenges.
“Localized content in non-English speaking regions is sparse, ” said Hidetoshi Himuro, Director of IT Market Research at DisplaySearch. “iPad owners must have a PC for downloading content from iTunes. As a result, penetration in developing regions will be slow.”
We suspect that “developing regions” aren’t the only ones who find localized content scarce for the iPad.
If you use the iPad in a language other than English, what’s available for you in your local language?
Are you satisfied with the offerings?
