Analysts and users alike are more and more referring to “an iPad market” rather than to “a tablet market”. The majority of attempts to dethrone the iPads failed, even though they claim at the release to put up a good fight with the leader.
The latest, Motorola Xoom, advertised as the iPad-killer in March when it was announced managed to reach 100,000 units shipped in the third quarter of this year. Comparatevly, Apple sold 11.12 million iPads in the same quarter, which is over 120,000 daily. Apple proved the market can expand since the numbers show a 166% increase from the third quarter of the previous year.
Motorola hoped to take on Apple with a Wi-Fi only tablet featuring 32GB RAM, a 10.1 inch display and running on Android 3.0. The price of $599 didn’t appeal to the users. There is also available a Motorola Xoom tablet with 3G connectivity more expensive than iPad that hit the market in February with the price tag of $799. The two years carrier agreement dropped the price to $599 but the customers were not impressed.
Another tablet hoping to take some of Apple’s market share is Amazon’s Kindle Fire. Unlike Motorola Xoom, Kindle Fire met some of the users’ expectations. Amazon reported 250,000 pre-orders in about a week after Kindle Fire was announced. However, Amazon’s tablet targets a different user than iPad, specifically the entry-level user, interested in an e-reader for the convenient price of $199. According to rumors, Amazon prefers to sell Kindle Fire at a loss to gain more on a long run with a well established notoriety and consumers’ loyalty.
