Galaxy Tab Takes Chunk of Apple iPad Market Share
The Samsung Galaxy Tab is making its mark in the tablet computing space and just might be in position to challenge Appleâs iPad over the long haul.
After only two months on the market, the Galaxy Tab this week has hit the one million sold plateau worldwide, receiving a likely boost from robust Black Friday and record setting Cyber Monday sales in the United States.
While the larger 9.7-inch screen Apple iPad hit the one million milestone after only one month back in April, the Samsung two month numbers suggest there is room for more than one horse in this intriguing device race.
For starters, Samsung has improved on perceived iPad weaknesses including turning the tablet into an even smaller, more nimble computer capable of greater mobility. The Galaxy features a seven-inch display, Android 2.2 operating system, and something iPad fans have been clamoring for-- a camera for video chats. It also sports an impressive 1,024x600-pixel resolution touch screen, and comes with 16GB of storage that can be expanded to 32GB.
The Galaxy was introduced by three major U.S. wireless phone carriers – T-Mobile, Verizon, and Sprint - and is priced to undercut the iPad, sort of. At $399 the tablet is $100 cheaper than iPad’s entry level 16GB slate, but that price requires users to sign a two year contract with a carrier. The $499 iPad does not. In order to avoid any unwanted carrier contracts, the Galaxy Tab's cost jumps to $600 with cellular capability, but no contract.
Research In Motion (RIM) will so soon launch its PlayBook that has also taken advantage of percieved design issues of the iPad. At the Web 2.0 summit in San Francisco last month, Jim Balsillie, chief executive of RIM, makers of the BlackBerry, told attendees that RIM’s soon to be released tablet computer, the PlayBook, will be “three or four times” faster at browsing the Web than the iPad.
And the competition is only going to get stiffer from here as the market explodes.
Dmitriy Molchanov, an analyst with the Yankee Group, told iPadNewsDaily the market for tablets is expected to hit 60 million units next year and the number of manufactures of new devices will skyrocket, with 35 new prototype tablets being introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show next month.
"Right now the barriers of entry relatively low," said Molchanov. "You can review blueprints for models that are out there. And there is open source opportunities like android that can be pulled off the shelf and installed. Some countries like India are even subsidizing tablets."
Analyst have predicted in order to take a bite out of Apple's 95 percent market share in the burgeoning tablet space, companies are going to have the difficult tasks of undercutting iPad’s already competitive price points, or offer some pretty serious technological advantages.
iPad prices range from $499 to $829.
According to Strategy Analytics, the iPad claimed 95 percent of all sales in the third quarter of 2010. During the same period, Google’s Android tablets slipped to 2.3 percent (down from 2.9 percent), while an assortment of other devices filled in the remaining space.
