How Apple’s Market Share Will Fare in 2013
There is not doubt Apple is one of the world’s technological giants, but this giant is not alone. There are other companies like it out there with similar products and going after the same market. How this giant will fare against others in market supremacy this year is open to a lot of speculation.
How will Apple’s market share fare in 2013? First up let’s review how Apple did last year. For the last quarter of 2012 Apple itself announced a record quarterly revenue of $54.5 billion and a record quarterly net profit of $13.1 billion. The average weekly revenue was $4.2 billion compared to $3.3 billion for the same quarter in 2011.
In products Apple reported selling 47.8 million iPhones in the quarter, compared to 37 million for the same quarter in 2011. They also sold a record 22.9 million iPads compared to last year’s 15.4 million and a disappointing 4.1 million Macs sold as opposed to 5.2 million.
Their signature product, the iPod, also posted only 12.7 million sales compared to 15.4 million for the same quarter last year.
“We’re thrilled with record revenue of over $54 billion and sales of over 75 million iOS devices in a single quarter…We’re very confident in our product pipeline as we continue to focus on innovation and making the best products in the world.” said Apple’s CEO Tim Cook.
For the next quarter Apple is projecting a revenue of between $41 billion and $43 billion.
While Apple does not provide for the projected market share of its products there is no dearth of speculation online.
Apple to hog tablet apps market but Android to have most smartphone apps downloads
The biggest prediction is that Apple is set to dominate the global apps economy this year.
But while Apple is set to hog the global app share it will only take the lion’s share of the tablet apps. Android is seen to be getting most of the downloads for smartphone apps.
Just how much is the global app market for 2013? It is estimated at a whopping $25 billion. Smartphone apps are predicted to account for 65 percent or $16.4 billion of that amount while Tablet apps will account for 35 percent or $8.8 billion.
According to ABI Research Apple will have a 65 percent combined share of this $25 billion followed by Android at 27 percent. Other mobile systems like the Blackberry and Windows the Phone will share the remaining eight percent.
It remains to be a fluid situation where the global apps market dominance is concerned. Last year it was Android that dominated the global apps economy with an almost 70 percent market share.
But Android has other things to look up to this year as well. Researchers said it will dominate the smartphone apps share for this year.
ABI market forecasts say that the volume of smartphone app downloads this year is expected to reach 56 billion. Android is seen to take 58 percent of the total with Apple taking 33 percent followed by the Windows Phone and the Blackberry.
Tablet users are also seen to download around 14 billion apps this year. Apple is projected to take a huge 75 percent of the share while Android only a modest 17 percent. The other tablets like Amazon and Windows will split the remaining figure.
Smartphone sales in 2013
It was a good year for Apple last year with Apple becoming the top seller of phones in the US for the first time. But in global smartphone sales Samsung Electronics still ruled with 63.7 million smartphones shipped compared to only 47.8 million by Apple for the last quarter of 2012.
How are their projected smartphone global figures going to be for this year? Experts say it will pretty much be the same trend.
According to Strategy Analytics, Samsung is expected to further widen its lead over Apple in smartphone sales by as much as 35 percent.
The research firm said this will be aided by Samsung’s varied lineup of products.
“We expect Samsung to slightly extend its lead over Apple this year because of its larger multi-tier product portfolio,” said Strategy Analytics executive director Neil Mawston.
What can Apple to do reverse this development? Mawston and Topeka Capital Markets researcher Brian J. White, agree that Apple may launch a smaller and cheaper iPhone to penetrate more markets.
But while White said he believes Apple will launch the smaller iPhone in May or June Mawston said the model is not expected to be released until 2014
Tablet sales in 2013
The news can also be better for Apple’s global tablet sales. Researchers are making predictions that Apple’s tablets will go below 50 percent as more and more people go for smaller mobile devices.
The research firm International Data Corporation said iPad shipments are only expected to make up 46 percent of the expected 190.9 million tablets to be shipped out this year. Last year Apple had 51 percent.
Android tablets are expected to increase from 42 percent to 49 percent this year.
Tablets to beat out smartphones?
It should be mentioned that ABI further said tablet app monetizing is overtaking smartphone apps, as far as the current economic trend goes.
ABI Research senior analyst Aapo Markkanen said the larger screen size of tablets as compared to iPhones could be one factor.
“The larger screen makes apps and content look and feel better, so there are more lucrative opportunities,” he said.
The mobile app market will be different for 2017. By this time it is estimated that revenues from tablet apps will have caught up with revenues from smartphone apps. By 2018 tablet app revenues will surpass smartphone app revenues.
If you think mobile device owners are spending too much for apps now wait until you see how experts project they will be by 2018, that’s between $92 billion to $98 billion.
Mac sales
There is some good news for Apple here. Remember that Apples posted a drop in Mac sales for the last quarter of 2012 compared to the same quarter last year?
For January so far, the Mac sales seem to be rising, said Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster. Basing on numbers Munster said US sales of Mac desktops for January 2013 was 31 percent higher compared the same month last year.
Fortune also said Mac sales for the first quarter of this year could also reach 5.3 million. But their studies also show that since 2009 Mac sales do have a trend of soaring in the first quarter, then dipping in the second only to pick up steadily during the remaining quarters of the year.
It also shows that sales for the Macs has doubled since 2009.