Andre Yoskowitz
27 Sep 2011 13:16
Despite falling to around 74 percent earlier this year, the iPad has regained its 80 percent tablet market share in the North American region as of July 30th.
During the quarter of April to July, iPads accounted for 6 million of the 7.5 million tablets shipped in the U.S. and Canada.
The figures come from research group Strategy Analytics, who calls Apple a "formidable market leader".
Says one analyst: "Apple remains a long way ahead of its main rivals such as Motorola, Samsung, RIM, Asus and HTC. A combination of cool branding, user-friendly hardware, entertaining services and savvy retail distribution has made Apple a formidable market leader."
Amazon, when it announces its much-hyped tablet/e-reader on Wednesday, will become a strong challenger, says the firm:
Provided the pricing, screen size and hardware design are right, Amazon can be one of the main challengers to Apple's dominance. Like Apple, Amazon has a strong brand, compelling content, sophisticated billing systems and widespread distribution.
In effect, Amazon's new tablet product represents a good opportunity to place an Amazon shopping cart in the hands of American consumers, offering optimised access to purchasing digital content or physical goods from the Amazon online store.