Apple’s tablet market share is going down the drain faster than Greece’s economy these days, with the iPad going from 64% to 57% in the last 3 months, according to iSuppli. Apparently, that drop was caused by Amazon Kindle Fire, supposed to have sold 3.9 million units in the 6 weeks leading to Christmas.
The Amazon tablet was second placed in the tablet segment, with the Galaxy Tab following it at 8% and the Barnes & Noble Nook at 7%. What’s strange about the statistics is that the iPad sales didn’t drop, instead the Kindle Fire had to rise on its own and expand the segment by itself. It seems that people who didn’t buy a tablet before went ahead and tried Amazon’s gadget. Apple posted record sales of 15.4 million units for the iPad in Q4 2011, so it would be weird to say they were affected by the Kindle Fire.
However, the market is shifting and Apple could surely make use of a smaller and cheaper slate, although Steve Jobs didn’t believe in the 7 inch format. We’ll see how the competition heats up once Amazon decides to go big with a 10 inch and maybe quad core tablet, that will once again be priced heavenly… maybe at $250. Only iPad 3 will save the day then…
