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Report: New iPads help Apple's competitors

Fewer iPads were shipped during the second fiscal quarter of 2013, than in the previous year, reflecting an overall slump in tablet shipments  

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Jeff Chiu/ AP Photo/ File
A reporter demonstrates Apple's iPad 2 in San Francisco. Apple usually releases a new iPad in the spring, but the company has moved to fall launches.

Apple is losing its corner on the tablet market. Apple's iPad made up 60 percent of all tablet sales in the second financial quarter of 2012 – now, it's just 32 percent, according to a study released by the International Data Corporation (IDC) on Monday.

But, while the number of iPads sold might be on the decline, this does not mean that Apple carries any less clout in the tablet market than before. 

“A new iPad launch always piques consumer interest in the tablet category, and traditionally that has helped both Apple, and its competitors,” says Tom Mainelli, research director for tablets at IDC in a press release. “With no new iPads, the market slowed for many vendors, and that’s likely to continue into the third quarter.”

Apple is expected to release the 5th generation of the iPad just before the holiday shopping season, which will likely increase consumer interest in tablets, creating a greater demand for both Apple and its competitors’ tablets, says Mr. Mainelli.

Worldwide, tablet shipments fell by 9.7 percent from the first quarter of 2013, according to the IDC report. During the second quarter of 2013, Apple shipped 14.6 million tablets, with Samsung in second place at 8.1 million tablets, trailed by ASUS at 2 million, Lenovo at 1.5 million, and Acer at 1.4 million. While Apple is still ahead in the number of shipments made, the Android operating system has become the dominate OS for tablets, a reversal from last year’s statistics when Apple's iOS was the most widely used tablet interface.

In July, Microsoft lowered the price of its Surface tablet by a substantial percentage to encourage sales, as the Monitor reported earlier.  

An April report from Strategy Analytics showed that Apple is still maintaining dominance in the tablet market, but is facing increasingly robust competition from its Android competitors. Though there was some controversy around the study – Apple Insider claimed that Samsung and Strategy Analytics were in cahoots – it seems like the general trend of Android encroaching on Apple's territory holds true. 

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