RIM, Samsung thrash Apple in UK fondleslab sales growth

Some things in life are certain: death, taxes, Boris Johnson's blond mop top, and the Apple iPad's continued dominance in the tablet sector. But wait, something's changed: not only has BoJo had a neat trim for the Olympics, sales of Cupertino's fondleslab grew less than the UK market average during Q2. Fanbois can rest easy: …

[James 51]

Playbook

Got a 64Gb Playbook bundled with my phone. Only complaint so far is that the video player doesn't handle multiple language tracks and subtitles. Otherwise very happy with it.

[Andy Watt]

Re: Playbook

Bundled with a phone? Holy cow, that's a good deal for a 64GB tablet. Nice play.

[Anonymous Coward 101]

Re: Playbook

"Bundled with a phone? Holy cow, that's a good deal for a 64GB tablet. Nice play."

I think you will find that the 'free' Playbook that came with the phone contract most likely cost more than the same phone contract and Playbook bought separately.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Playbook

Shame it's not much better than being a paperweight. If my daily commute observations are to go by, where are all these Samsung/RIM tablets? Most are still using iPad's.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Playbook

"If my daily commute observations are to go by, where are all these Samsung/RIM tablets? Most are still using iPad's." Shocking isn't it. People still don't know how bad it is to be seen with one. Mind you, the british aren't known for being the sharpest pencils.

[Eddy Ito]

Re: Playbook - @AC's daily commute...

You must commute with the rich hipster kids. On my commute, most don't have an iPad and I've only actually seen one. Lots of clever phones, actual books and newspapers along with a few kindles and laptops but not many tablets at all.

[DrXym]

Re: Playbook

The video player is very good but it'd be better if it supported more formats. It also doesn't do DLNA which is an important consideration too.

[LarsG]

Re: Playbook

If you stick a 50% off sticker on anything it will sell.

[Andy Watt]

"idiot tax"

Aren't you the charmer. Has the crass insult become the humour of choice on El Reg?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "idiot tax"

"Aren't you the charmer. Has the crass insult become the humour of choice on El Reg?"

No, just pointing out the flaming obvious. Sorry if the truth offends.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "idiot tax"

Obviously! you are a troll, run along now and hide back under your rock.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "idiot tax"

Re: Has the crass insult become the humour of choice on El Reg?

Are you new here?

[diodesign]

Re: "idiot tax"

Have you seen how much Apple charges for RAM?!

C.

[Doogie1]

Re: "idiot tax"

You wouldn't think someone with a name like Kunert would get involved in name calling!

[Droid on Droid]

Retarded Maths by the reg as usual

So Apple increases it sales by ~160,000 vs RIMs total sales of ~35,000 and that equals a thrashing? What will you say when MS releases it's tablet "Universe threatened by MS tablet infinite growth"!

[diodesign]

Re: Retarded Maths by the reg as usual

RIM sales up 63pc, Samsung up 50pc, Apple up 36pc. There's the thrashing, in terms of sales growth.

C.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Retarded Maths by the reg as usual

Only if you use percentages, which is retarded for any analysis purpose as the OP said.

[Anonymous Coward 101]

Re: Retarded Maths by the reg as usual

As sales of non Apple tablets was so low, any increase in sales translates to big percentage growth.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Retarded Maths by the reg as usual

"RIM sales up 63pc, Samsung up 50pc, Apple up 36pc. There's the thrashing, in terms of sales growth.

C."

Don't waste your time, they refuse to listen.

[Joe K]

Re: Retarded Maths by the reg as usual

Double nothing is still nothing.

[MikeS]

theres "lies damn lies and statistics"

you can read this whatever you like, to quote the article

you make like to think "Apple is still dominating with a very similar market share to a year ago"

or maybe prefer the "RIM, Samsung thrash Apple in UK fondleslab sales growth" ?

both correct just seemingly telling different stories....

[Steve Todd]

So what this ACTUALY translates as is

Apple continues to hold top market share, sales percentage unchanged. Also ran companies battling each other for second place (best manages to sell one for every 17.5 iPad sales)

[Anonymous Coward]

good grief

This is a lazy and sloppily written article, it reads like something Nick Farrell used to write on The Inquirer, when he was sober enough. Regardless of the subject matter, it's barely journalism, and so far over the "tabloid" line as to be facepalm-inducing.

[Joe Montana]

Percentages

It seems the smaller tablet makers have only beaten apple in percentages, because their previous market share was so low... If i sold 1 tablet this month and 2 next month that's a 100% increase but i won't be challenging apple any time soon.

Add to that the fact RIM had to halve their price in order to spur any demand... It would be interesting to see what percentage increase in sales HP had in during their touchpad firesale.

Apple are also far closer to the market saturation point, that is anyone who wants a tablet already has one...

[Kebablog]

So what will happen to the playbook share once the stock inventory is cleared after the fire sale.

[DrXym]

£200 or less

I think with the Nexus stepping into Europe plus a raft of other cheap tablets, Apple will have a serious problem maintaining its market share. While Android has been "tablet ready" since 3.x I think 4.x, especially 4.1 will turn a corner for the experience people expect of such devices and for £200 or less for a 7" the price is very attractive too.

[Azzy]

This comparison is so silly...

Apple is growing a dominant position by 36% - and they need a bulldozer to push the piles of cash away from the door so their employees can get into the office. The others aren't making any profit worth talking about on tablets.

Plus - this is year on year growth for Q2.

Do you remember what products Samsung had last year during Q2?

They had the Galaxy Tab in 2 sizes, one of which was released halfway through Q2 - and they wouldn't admit it needed a major price cut for months.

How about RIM? They released the playbook in Q2 as well, and didn't halve it's prices until Q4.

So in Q2 of last year, they were both trying to sell undesirable (because they're not iPads) tablets for iPad prices.

Their sales numbers in Q2 last year must have been utter crap! And they're only up 50% and 63% respectively, despite really aggressive discounting to the point that they're barely squeaking a profit out of it? That looks horrible for RIM/Samsung.

[b166er]

I remember a long time ago, a corporation called Apple who charged a lot of money for a stylish personal computer, refused to lower the price when IBM with Microsoft, stepped in with an equivalent for half the price.

A 1988 lawsuit followed, in which Apple accused Microsoft's operating system of copying the 'look and feel' of the Macintosh operating system.

Currently, manufacturers with Google, are commoditising tablets and the price will naturally fall (to about half the cost of a shiny Apple tablet).

Apple has filed a lawsuit accusing Samsung of copying the 'look and feel' (read:rectangular shape and rounded corners) of its popular tablet device.

Is history about to repeat itself?

Is this Steve Jobs' legacy? That would be a shame.

[Anonymous Coward]

Nice attention getting headline, and the reaction was no doubt spot on as well !

When it comes to copying, just on the face of it that's exactly what Samsung did with its early smart phones, the resemblance to the iPhone was kind of staggering, and they are rather justly (IMHO) being pinged. Their latest stuff though is not derivative and they're hewing out their own space in the market, which one can only encourage.

[BlackBolt]

Agreement on the sensationalist headline

I was pulled in by the sensationalist headline, only to be disappointed by poor facts and a tenuous case. Sure the other manufacturers are growing faster than Apple but it is still spanking them (sad to say coming from a G-Tab owner)

[Ommerson]

meanwhile...

... Apple thrashes all competition on sales volumes.