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IDC: Google needs DEEP tablet price slash to crack Apple

Must collaborate with rivals to stop iPad's dominance - analyst

Google must work closely with the fondleslab makers to slash prices if it is to loosen Apple's strangehold on the market.

Or so says research analyst IDC, armed with data showing that the iPad accounted for three-quarters of the 1 million tablet devices shipped into the UK during Q3.

"Apple has tight control of the platform and locks people into the ecosystem, but Google is not controlling anything," said Eszter Morvay, IDC research manager.

The runaway market leader sold 750,000 shiny slabs into UK channels during Q3 and the next nearest rival was HP, which flogged 65,000 TouchPads to claim just 6 per cent market share.

Of course, the WebOS-based TouchPad was laid to rest permanently by HP during the quarter and won't be competition to Apple or any other vendor.

In Q3, Samsung and Asustek held a 5 and 3 per cent market share after shipping 48,000 and 33,000 units respectively, while Archos, Sony and Acer managed low-double digit sales growth to grab one per cent share.

"The market remains polarised," said Morvay. "We had been quite bullish that Android-based systems would come out with aggressively priced offers and capture market share rapidly.".

"Unless Andorid comes out with new pricing models, expect Apple to remain dominant," she warned.

Part of the problem is that Google does not offer app quality guarantees or automatically issue OS upgrades as it does with smartphones, leaving the tablet vendors to push this out themselves, said IDC.

"Google is attacking on a lot of fronts with the Chrome and Android OS but needs to be more in control and collaborate with the hardware makers," said Morvay. ®

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