Oh , fry . The story the Macalope could narrate about this pundit .
Six years ago , when the Macalope was just getting his start , he sharpen his antler on Ou ’s “ employment . ” There is no greater friend to the pundit - skewerer than a briery Pyrus communis and Ou isthe prickliest of pears(foul language warning ) .
But then George left us . Yes , it was sad , but he stopped writing for ZDNet and move on to fleeceable , presumablycable - industry - funded pastures .
But now he ’s back and writing for Byte ! And he ’s as well-off to throw as an honest-to-goodness brake shoe !
“ How The iPad go From Monopoly To Minority Within A Year”(a hearty tip o ’ the antler to David MacLachlan )
Hmm . George seems to have mellow out over the years . This title only projects his desires that the iPad drop curtain to a minority plowshare in the pad of paper market , something he admits has n’t actually happened yet . It does n’t , say , compare Apple to the Third Reich , like he did back in 2007 .
Well , it has been five years ! We ’ve all changed . We ’ve discontinue listening to Coldplay for one thing .
When we first got news over the summer about a small and less expensive iPad it was a foregone conclusion that the miniature iPad would be a smash impinge on for Apple this crepuscule .
Ready for George ’s big but ?
But just a few short months later the competitive environs has changed drastically andthe iPad is rapidly come near a minority market share .
Do n’t bother clicking that link , as it does n’t work — perhaps because Ou overzealously paste the URL in twice . Let the Macalope assist him out , however , ( which way did he number in ? ) and bring home the bacon the link he was bet forhere , and even a sum-up ( see how helpful the Macalope is ? ): The Pew Research Center says iPad ownership per centum worsen from 81 pct last year to just 52 percentage this year . It credit abject - price Android tablets for study market share .
Which is … unexpended .
Now , Pew is a pretty reputable polling kit , but there ’s a few things about this that vex the Macalope . It makes sense that the Kindle Fire , which make out out after their 2011 opinion poll , would take a comme il faut share . It gives the Fire 21 percent share , which is okay , but that means Pew retrieve that a good portion of the increase in Android - free-base tablets came from equipment that are not the Kindle Fire or the Google Nexus ( which came out after their 2011 poll parrot ) . According to Pew , your Galaxy Tabs , your Xooms , your Mumbly Joe ’s Android Tablet and Shake Shack devices have 27 percent market portion , climbing from 15 percent in 2011 .
Really ? Why ? Prices on those machine did n’t settle that much . Amazon is able to deal fire at something close to cost because the company cipher it ’ll make it up on account book and video sales agreement . Samsung , not so much . ( Mumbly Joe clear it up on shake sales , but he only sold five pad in the last year . )
And why is this study so at betting odds with estimates from analytical firms?IHS estimated in Augustthat the iPad ’s market place shareincreasedto 69.6 percentage . Strategy Analytics backed that upsaying the iPad ’s percentage had increased to 68.3 pct . What gives ?
The Macalope does n’t have an answer , but perhaps it ’s partlythis :
The analysis in this report is base on a view direct June 29 - August 8 , 2012 among a sample of 9,513 grownup , 18 years of age or older …
…
Unless otherwise noted , “ tablet owner / users ” bring up to grownup who own and apply a tablet computing machine …
Sorry iPad - using child , the Pew pool is adult - swim only . Of course , the Macalope does n’t know that the under-18 set skews hard iPad , butthis survey by Piper Jaffray ’s Gene Munsterindicates they do .
On the matter of tablet , Munster found that 44 % of teenagers now have a tablet gadget of some sort , with 72 % of those using an iPad .
Which makes sense . If you were a loving parent wouldyouput a Motorola Xoom or an iPad under the vacation plant of your particular denomination for your kid ? Unless you need tears the next morning , it easily be an iPad .
Still , the kids these Clarence Day would have had to increase their iPad possession over the last year in parliamentary procedure to offset Pew ’s metrical decrease among grownup .
Something ’s not right on here .
Other than George Ou , the Macalope means .
With rich competition from Google and Amazon and soon Windows 8 , it ’s no longer a certainty that the iPad Mini can stem the chop-chop declining market share of the iPad .
Which we know is speedily decline based on one write up that contradicts several others . These cherries are delicious ! Did you pick them clean ?
pile unobserved , George bear the iPad mini to flop because , based on hearsay , the Kindle Fire HD has a ripe covert .
At 52 % market share and slip , Apple is no longer the only participant in townsfolk and they will have to vie on Mary Leontyne Price at some level .
It ’s true Apple does n’t have the cost advantage it once did , but there ’s something a small rummy about this comparison . What is it that George is leaving out ?
Hang on , allow ’s search this piece for the Scripture “ ads . ” Hey ! What do you cognize ? ! The word “ advert ” is nowhere to be find . The Kindle Fire , of course , comes smothered in Amazon advertizement , like butter in a Paula Deen formula ( which is to say it ’s mostly ad ) . The iPad , not so much . The quality of the drug user experience , therefore , is substantially different . Ou apparently think people are going to be too speechless to figure that out . Or too full of self - loathing to care .
We ’ll have to see what ’s what in January . Whatever the pillow slip , it ’s slap-up to have you back , George !
