Report: Even Android Phone Owners Are Buying iPads over Android Tablets

  • Share
  • Read Later

First things first: If you haven’t already read Harry McCracken’s excellent post, “Tablets: Why Should I Buy This Instead of an iPad?” please do so now. The short of it is that when held against a number of criteria—including the availability of apps, hardware specifications and, perhaps most importantly, pricing—other tablets on the market simply fall short or don’t surpass the Apple iPad in enough of a meaningfully significant way to justify a purchase. Apple’s tablet is, at least for now, the best of its kind.

Now, a new report by Canaccord Genuity analysts T. Michael Walkley, Charles John and Matthew D. Ramsay has research to support the claim: Android smartphone owners are also choosing the iPad as their tablet of choice, even over more familiar Android-powered devices.

Per Boy Genius Report:

“Our smartphone and handset checks indicate iPads are selling better to Android smartphone users than the current Android tablets,” Canaccord’s report states. “As a result, we argue consumers purchasing a tablet are more likely to remain in that ecosystem given higher price points for tablet applications. With our checks indicating Android smartphone consumers are choosing the iPad versus Android tablets, we believe this is a powerful trend for Apple’s growing iOS base. Therefore, we anticipate Apple should maintain dominant share of the tablet market in C2011 and C2012.”

However, the report expects Apple’s share of the tablet market to dip significantly over the next two years as Microsoft’s Windows 8 tablets and additional Android devices enter the market: In 2010, Apple owned 81% of the tablet market, while in 2011 that’s dipped to 56%, and in 2012 it’s expected to be 51%. Makes sense, as tablets continue to gain in popularity and price points become more within reach to the average consumer.

(MORE:  The Race to Beat the Macbook Air is On)

It also speaks to the idea of brand loyalty, and, I think, how we’re better able to look beyond the companies themselves (like Apple or Google) and instead at the individual products—if a certain type of device like a tablet doesn’t fit your specific needs, it’s okay that it doesn’t streamline perfectly with your smartphone, or vice versa. Is it the dawn of a golden age for consumer enlightenment? Nah, probably not. But hopefully we’ll be a little less finger point-y before we start throwing the F-word around, the one that always manages to make me cringe.

You know: “Fanboy.”

[via Boy Genius Report]

Chris Gayomali is a writer-reporter at TIME. Find him on Twitter at @chrigz. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.