Strategy Analytics reports that Microsoft has managed to attain only 4.5% of the tablet market for the period Q2 (April-June) of 2013. This means Windows still trails significantly behind both Android and iOS in the tablet market. Apparently consumers have stated that a lack of applications for Windows RT is one of the main reasons for choosing alternative platforms where applications are much more fruitful, such as Android.
Despite this apparently mediocre result for Microsoft it isn’t all bad as analysts are predicting massive shipment growth for Microsoft tablets thanks to their large price cuts across the range of Windows based tablets made by both Microsoft and its partners.
“Microsoft has reduced prices by $150 and other vendors even more; they are still not cheap, but are much more where they should be to compete. The shortage of apps continues to be a problem, with seemingly little incentive for developers to work on the platform,” Strategy Analytics notes.
Out of 51.7 million tablets shipped in Q2 of 2013, which includes “white box” tablets that are unbranded and produced by Chinese OEMs, 2.3 million were powered by a Windows tablet OS. While the numbers seem average they are a significant improvement as in Q2 of 2012 Microsoft had just 0.5% market share and 0.2 million tablets.
Image courtesy of Microsoft
