# Blackberry Playbook outsells nexus 7 & iPad



## fractionMan (Jan 29, 2013)

Now there's a bit of a surprise. Myself aside, you never hear it mentioned on here without derision. Seems some disagree.  Numbers are probably fudged, but hey, they always are.



> RIM shifted 160,000 of the devices in the last two months of 2012


 
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2013/01/29/playbook_lead_blighty_slabs/


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## editor (Jan 29, 2013)

Can't see those figures right now but there seems to be a fair head of steam building up over the new Blackberry phone too.


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## RaverDrew (Jan 29, 2013)

Because they discounted it so much in the run up to Christmas, and it was being heavily promoted by Dixons/Currys/PC World. I know a couple of people who were convinced by their salespeople to go for it over the Kindle and Nexus, and they ended up disappointed and returning them.


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## beesonthewhatnow (Jan 29, 2013)

Yep, ask anyone in the street to name a tablet computer and they'll definitely say Blackberry Playbook


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## fractionMan (Jan 29, 2013)

They're definitely good value for money imo and fit the needs of the majority of casual users.  Web, email, facebook, games, books, films, music.


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## editor (Jan 29, 2013)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> Yep, ask anyone in the street to name a tablet computer and they'll definitely say Blackberry Playbook


Ask someone to name a smartphone and they'll probably say 'iPhone' but that's being totally outsold by the Galaxy phones, so I'm not entirely sure what your point is here.


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## Firky (Jan 29, 2013)

People bought them to have as a kind of museum piece 

They'd probably do most people more than adequately but nah not for me, the brand snob in me is there. I won't deny it


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## fractionMan (Jan 29, 2013)

I'm not a brand snob but it made more sense to have an android tablet to go with my android phone - share the apps.  

That said, I wish I could get pacemaker for android or that the nexus 7 supported two line outs properly like the playbook does via HDMI.


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## ruffneck23 (Jan 29, 2013)

the hardware on the playbook is excellent for the price, however hardly anyone is writing apps for it so its always going to fail


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## beesonthewhatnow (Jan 29, 2013)

editor said:


> Ask someone to name a smartphone and they'll probably say 'iPhone' but that's being totally outsold by the Galaxy phones, so I'm not entirely sure what your point is here.


The latest Ford car will always outsell Jaguars offering. All the people that own the Ford will be perfectly happy with it.

But given the choice they'd all take the Jag. And other people would rather look at a Jag. And talk about it. And want a go in it themselves.


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## editor (Jan 29, 2013)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> The latest Ford car will always outsell Jaguars offering. All the people that own the Ford will be perfectly happy with it.
> 
> But given the choice they'd all take the Jag. And other people would rather look at a Jag. And talk about it. And want a go in it themselves.


You're deep in fanboy Reality Distortion Field territory with all that nonsense. 

It may be beyond your comprehension but some people actually *prefer* non iPad tablets and don't sit there all day wishing they had one.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Jan 29, 2013)

They've had the price slashed very very heavily...I guess if all you want it for is to access the internet then it's going to be better then the bargain basement android jobs.

RIM can't hope to survive selling them at that price though.


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## GarfieldLeChat (Jan 29, 2013)

editor said:


> You're deep in fanboy Reality Distortion Field territory with all that nonsense.
> 
> It may be beyond your comprehension but some people actually *prefer* non iPad tablets and don't sit there all day wishing they had one.


I'd like to see your statistical evidence for this claim.

How exactly have you measured the preference? and by what ratio?  What was your sample data size?  What specific non leading questions did you put to the respondents to confirm this 'preference'?

Did you perhaps mean chose instead.

Else I'll need to see your working to take on face value this claimed preference.


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## editor (Jan 29, 2013)

GarfieldLeChat said:


> I'd like to see your statistical evidence for this claim.
> 
> How exactly have you measured the preference? and by what ratio?  What was your sample data size?  What specific non leading questions did you put to the respondents to confirm this 'preference'?
> 
> ...


It's not me making a claim what "all" the people want. 

Do I want an iPad? No, I don't, so there goes that claim.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Jan 29, 2013)

I see you can get the 64gb flavour for £120...if you just wanted something to watch media on, that's got to be quite compelling!


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## editor (Jan 29, 2013)

Global Stoner said:


> I see you can get the 64gb flavour for £120...if you just wanted something to watch media on, that's got to be quite compelling!


Yeah, they're great value and I imagine absolutely fine for a lot of people's needs.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Jan 29, 2013)

Have they sorted out the problem of not being able to use an email client unless it's tethered to a blackberry?


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## mrs quoad (Jan 29, 2013)

It looks as if the figures are comparing _specific_ variations rather than overall models. So it sold more than the iPad 4; it sold less than all iPads.



> RIM shifted 160,000 of the devices in the last two months of 2012...
> 
> Nestled behind the PlayBook was, according to Context, Apple's fourth-generation iPad which sold 113,000 units, followed by the Nexus 7 (105,000), the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 inch (85,000), and the seven-inch Galaxy Tab (60,000), as well plenty of other Android kit. Meanwhile, distributors sold a total of 203,000 Apple slabs including the fourth iteration of the iPad.


 
Erm. I think that data is also suggesting that it's focusing on a subset of outlets that doesn't include Apple stores / premium resellers / online sales?



> Chaudhry said distributors were handed just 19,000 iPad Minis as Apple hogged the supply, prioritising stock for its stores and for then for Premium Resellers. ®


 
If so, I'm guessing there'd be similar implications for that data's reporting of Samsung / Nexus / other tablet sales.

That doesn't mean that RIM isn't performing well; but the data doesn't seem particularly clear / provenanced? I might be mistaken on that (but - within that article - couldn't identify the sources / limits of the sources).


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Jan 29, 2013)

mrs quoad said:


> That doesn't mean that RIM isn't performing well; but the data doesn't seem particularly clear / provenanced? I might be mistaken on that (but - within that article - couldn't identify the sources / limits of the sources).


 
RIM blatantly aren't performing well. The Playbook was never designed to compete with no name android tablets, heavy discounting is the only way to get rid of the things.


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## editor (Jan 29, 2013)

I don't know a single soul in the universe who owns a BlackBerry Playbook.


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## Lazy Llama (Jan 29, 2013)

This is sales through IT distribution channels, not total numbers sold.

So that immediately excludes every Nexus 7 sold through Google Play, every iPad sold in a physical or online Apple Store . And probably most other retail sales.

It's going to be mostly sales to IT groups within business, and those generally have an ongoing willingness to push RIM gear as they think it leaves them "in control".


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## Kid_Eternity (Jan 29, 2013)

RaverDrew said:


> Because they discounted it so much in the run up to Christmas, and it was being heavily promoted by Dixons/Currys/PC World. I know a couple of people who were convinced by their salespeople to go for it over the Kindle and Nexus, and they ended up disappointed and returning them.


 
Probably, still aint cheap enough for me to waste time with that piece of shit tho...


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## pesh (Jan 29, 2013)

they seem to give a lot of them away, we've got a friend who works as an app developer and stays at ours whenever theres an Android app hackathon type event on. not sure what goes on at them but he never fails to come back without at least one Playbook hes won for something or other. i think he got 2 last time.


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## ruffneck23 (Jan 29, 2013)

I





Kid_Eternity said:


> Probably, still aint cheap enough for me to waste time with that piece of shit tho...


It's not a piece of shit tho , the os is


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Jan 29, 2013)

ruffneck23 said:


> I
> It's not a piece of shit tho , the os is


 
Indeed, the hardware itself is nice, which is why it will never have been in RIMs gameplan to sell them this cheap!


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## elbows (Jan 30, 2013)

There is nothing wrong with pointing out the other good tablets that exist or that some of them sell quite well, or specific trends in certain countries like our own. But some of the attempts to talk up sales of non-ipad tablets are just bloody ridiculous and more of a distortion than anything Apple & its fans have come out with.

Globally Apple sold 22.9 million ipads in the quarter ending December 29th, so lets keep things in perspective. A shift to cheaper and smaller tablets may eventually paint a picture of momentum moving well away from the ipad but I have no intention of making premature declarations in this regard, especially when we are often comparing solid official sales figures with crap, misleading 'analysis' based on poor methodology.


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## editor (Jan 30, 2013)

Apple's days of total domination in the tablet market are fading very fast though.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Jan 30, 2013)

editor said:


> Apple's days of total domination in the tablet market are fading very fast though.


 
Well of course. Like the PC market why would they want to compete with bargain basement stuff with tiny profit margins?

They sure as hell have popularised the market though.


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## FridgeMagnet (Jan 30, 2013)

editor said:


> Apple's days of total domination in the tablet market are fading very fast though.


They may gradually diminish; that's about as far as I'd go.

Nobody in their right minds will be writing apps for the Playbook. It's a dead platform and developers can completely ignore it.


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## elbows (Jan 30, 2013)

editor said:


> Apple's days of total domination in the tablet market are fading very fast though.


 
I'm sure you made that claim months ago and really the devil is in the detail as to what extent I call you out on it. I think it should be obvious to most observers that there is no end of hyperbole and wishful thinking in your analysis of tablet sales realities.

Apples tablet domination remains intact. What has changed is the extent of the domination - they used to utterly own the space with a simply overwhelming market share, but these days there are other tablets which can fairly be called a success. So yes you can fairly state that they dont have a monopoly on tablets anymore, but I've not really seen any decent sales figures which show it 'fading very fast', not at all.

For example the Nexus 7 has been a great success. After 4 months it had sold about 3 million, and its thought that total sales may now be up to 6 million. Thats very good, but it doesnt exactly devastate ipads share of the market that much if Apple can still flog over 20 million per quarter. It doesnt lead to google catching up and overtaking Apple relatively quickly like they have done with smartphones in many countries.

This year Google should follow up the success of the Nexus 7 with a well-spec'd successor, and ipad mini sales should eventually stop being constrained by supply issues. There are several signs that Apple have eroded their sales of the larger ipads with the ipad mini, but if its staved off the nexus 7 etc threat then I'm sure they think its been worth it.

I actually got caught up in some of the shit myself once or twice and though the iPad might sink a little quicker than it has done, but actual solid sales figures force me not to get carried away. So nothing less than proper numbers will shift the stance I'm taking in this post, I dont care how many surveys are done or piecharts are made or how many people on u74 get a Nexus 7 or whatever.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Jan 30, 2013)

elbows said:


> I'm sure you made that claim months ago and really the devil is in the detail as to what extent I call you out on it. I think it should be obvious to most observers that there is no end of hyperbole and wishful thinking in your analysis of tablet sales realities.
> 
> Apples tablet domination remains intact. What has changed is the extent of the domination - they used to utterly own the space with a simply overwhelming market share, but these days there are other tablets which can fairly be called a success. So yes you can fairly state that they dont have a monopoly on tablets anymore, but I've not really seen any decent sales figures which show it 'fading very fast', not at all.
> 
> ...


 
Wouldn't a more relevant comparison compare all android tablets?

Of course for people like you how many of them buy apps is probably more to the point.


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## elbows (Jan 30, 2013)

Global Stoner said:


> Wouldn't a more relevant comparison compare all android tablets?
> 
> Of course for people like you how many of them buy apps is probably more to the point.


 
How many apps the users buy is only one of my interests. I am interested in tablets in a way that goes well beyond being an app developer and I consider any success or failure of my android app to be utterly irrelevant to my view of the tablet market.

I thought the Nexus 7 might sell better than it has based on how well received it was on u75. Although its been a success that has sold millions of units, its not been such a phenomenon that it comes close to challenging the ipads overall dominance, not at all. Attempts to pretend otherwise annoy me because they are misleading. Whats happened to the nexus 10, is it a total flop?

I would love to compare a much broader range of android tablets but its so bloody hard to get decent sales figures. But I think its safe to say that there either need to be lots of models that do quite well, or a few models that do phenomenally well in order to add up to anything that really challenges the ipad.

Never mind, bottom line is that I'm just glad we do have some choice and that the tablet form factors in general have caught on. And its been to consumers benefit that android tablets had a lacklustre start because they were forced to cut prices way quicker than I'm sure they would have ideally liked in order to find some way to shift a fair quantity of them.


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## elbows (Jan 30, 2013)

And on that last point about tablets in general being a winner, I think it says it all that HMV management tried to blame their collapse in part on an inability to get enough stock of the 'two most popular tablets' for Christmas.


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## editor (Jan 30, 2013)

FridgeMagnet said:


> They may gradually diminish; that's about as far as I'd go.
> 
> Nobody in their right minds will be writing apps for the Playbook. It's a dead platform and developers can completely ignore it.


Just about every report I've read reveals Apple seeing a rapidly shrinking tablet market share. They're always going to be big players of course, but like I said, their days of total domination in the tablet market are fading very fast though


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## mwgdrwg (Jan 30, 2013)

I bought a 64GB PlayBook last week for just over a ton. It's fucking brilliant


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## editor (Jan 30, 2013)

mwgdrwg said:


> I bought a 64GB PlayBook last week for just over a ton. It's fucking brilliant


That's cheap as chips! Nice one.


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## mwgdrwg (Jan 30, 2013)

editor said:


> That's cheap as chips! Nice one.


 
Yes, a proper bargain! Highlights so far include...plays all my avi's, superb front-facing speakers, fast browser, has Flash so iPlayer etc works, links with my phone so I can send sms and bbms from it, PaceMaker DJ app is awesome.


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## fractionMan (Jan 30, 2013)

oooh. by weird co-incidence I'll have a blackberry phone in my possession soon, and guess what? Pacemaker is coming to BB10!

*wonders if the new phone will have bb10*

damn, just looked it up.  Really doubt the phone will have it.


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## mwgdrwg (Jan 30, 2013)

I'm sure the 64GB ones are only about 130 at Currys at the mo. Proper bargain.


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## editor (Jan 30, 2013)

mwgdrwg said:


> Yes, a proper bargain! Highlights so far include...plays all my avi's, superb front-facing speakers, fast browser, has Flash so iPlayer etc works, links with my phone so I can send sms and bbms from it, PaceMaker DJ app is awesome.


If only you could have spent four times as much for an iPad, eh?


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## fractionMan (Jan 30, 2013)

mwgdrwg said:


> I'm sure the 64GB ones are only about 130 at Currys at the mo. Proper bargain.


 
Can't justify it now I've got the nexus :/


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## elbows (Jan 30, 2013)

editor said:


> Just about every report I've read reveals Apple seeing a rapidly shrinking tablet market share. They're always going to be big players of course, but like I said, their days of total domination in the tablet market are fading very fast though


 
Well if you mean total domination in the strongest sense then those days already ended, probably over a year ago now when Amazon stuck its toe into the tablet waters in a big way, especially if we place importance on the US market.

The two reasons I react strongly to stuff about 'fading fast' is the lack of other companies shouting about their sales figures, which inevitably makes me cautious, and the fact that some did not seem to want to acknowledge just how badly android tablets were selling in the pre-amazon and pre-nexus 7 era. Without those moves Apple were maintaining a simply stupid tablet market share, one that should surely only last so long as the competition offered inferior products at similar prices. I do not deny that that era ended, and at the time of the Nexus 7 announcement I droned on about why Google felt they had to make that move, to get some momentum going against the ipad without also finding their infrastructure & service dreams totally soiled by amazons fork.

It goes without saying that cheaper tablets should be popular. Despite the lack of solid sales numbers I would guess that amazon has been something of a phenomenon in the US, and the Nexus 7 certainly captured the hearts of a fair chunk of the UK tablet buyers market.  That Apple felt the need to do an ipad mini tells us that they were aware of the 'threat', although the price of their response is not intended to maintain the stupidly high market share at the expense of profits per unit. But they did feel the need to somewhat reduce their profits by sacrificing normal ipad sales to mini sales.


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## elbows (Jan 30, 2013)

And the reason I say the Nexus 7 sales look like they havent quite met my expectations is that the amount of praise the device received in the IT press doesnt seem to have directly translated into sales, especially in the US. Take this article for example, which as usual is not based on solid numbers so may have a somewhat dodgy methodology, but certainly suggests the Nexus 7 hasnt been as much of a phenomenon in the US market as its price & spec suggested it could have been.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/01/kindle-fire-nabs-33-of-android-tablet-market-nexus-7-just-8/

As for the Playbooks, I dont know what to think really. Tablets are a funny thing in that heavily discounted ones that lack zillions of apps can still be bloody useful devices simply for their core features such as browsing and watching movies. But whether such sales actually give the platform legs is open to question.


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## editor (Jan 30, 2013)

Don't forget the impact of (ahem) 'phablets' too. I'm seeing loads of Galaxy Notes around now. That was a smart move from Samsung, despite much ridiculing at launch time.


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## editor (Jan 30, 2013)

elbows said:


> And the reason I say the Nexus 7 sales look like they havent quite met my expectations is that the amount of praise the device received in the IT press doesnt seem to have directly translated into sales, especially in the US.


Looks like it's doing OK elsewhere though:

Nexus 7 Tops iPad in Japan Sales Report, Google Finally Catching Up to Apple?


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## elbows (Jan 30, 2013)

Yeah I was glad to see the note do well. I was hoping it would do well and was so close to getting one myself. There is room for all sorts of sizes of device but one side effect of this is that it makes misleading analysis more probable, since we are frequently comparing devices that shouldnt really be seen as the same class of device.

Yay for fun & useful mobile computing in all its forms, so much better than a decade ago where people were laughing at me for having a chunky Windows CE phone/ pocket pc.


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## elbows (Jan 30, 2013)

editor said:


> Looks like it's doing OK elsewhere though:
> 
> Nexus 7 Tops iPad in Japan Sales Report, Google Finally Catching Up to Apple?


 
I saw that one last night and had some doubts about its methodology. I dont know the sales setup in Japan, but if there are Apple stores and direct online apple sales, these wont be included in those figures at all?

They also note that lack of ipad mini stock probably affected the results.

The original article upon which the short one you linked to is based is here:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57564407-37/google-nexus-7-tops-ipad-in-japan-is-this-a-trend/

Anyway price matters, I dont deny that, and the size of the Nexus 7 isnt exactly comparable to the ipad mini which really isnt that mini when seen in the flesh.


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## elbows (Jan 30, 2013)

Plus Im not trying to claim the Nexus 7 isnt doing OK, especially outside the US. Its just a question of OK versus phenomenal, I thought they might have sold perhaps twice as many so far than they have done, but as I keep complaining the lack of real sales data makes it hard for me to form solid conclusios.


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## elbows (Jan 30, 2013)

Another thing that makes me wary about perceptions is that the other Samsung tablets seem to do ok as well, and yet they are mostly of the radar when we talk about this stuff. Someone must be buying them but I've yet to actually meet an owner (Im not talking about their phablets).


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## GarfieldLeChat (Jan 30, 2013)

editor said:


> It's not me making a claim what "all" the people want.
> 
> Do I want an iPad? No, I don't, so there goes that claim.


So why the use of the inclusive some then.

why not say it as you see it.  YOU specifically don't want an ipad or indeed apple products in general.  That's not some that's 1; singular; you.


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## editor (Jan 30, 2013)

It seems someone is buying them:


> *Samsung and Amazon benefit from tablet sales growth in Q3 Europe*
> 
> Sales of Samsung and Amazon tablet devices dominated the European market during the holidays. In their latest interim management statement for the December 2012 quarter, retailer Carphone Warehouse reported a 16% growth that is largely caused by a strong demand for the Kindle Fire and Samsung Galaxy smartphones and tablets. In fact, weekly sales of the devices reached 40,000 at its highest point, up from a measly 5,000 during the same period of the previous year.
> 
> ...


http://www.androidauthority.com/samsung-amazon-benefit-tablet-sales-growth-q3-europe-151069/


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## editor (Jan 30, 2013)

GarfieldLeChat said:


> So why the use of the inclusive some then.
> 
> why not say it as you see it. YOU specifically don't want an ipad or indeed apple products in general. That's not some that's 1; singular; you.


Bees claimed that, given the choice, _*everyone*_ would go for an iPad. If only one person when given the choice decided not to go for an iPad, his post would then be demonstrably bollocks. Which it is.


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## mrs quoad (Jan 30, 2013)

Does "the December quarter" include Christmas?

What were their benchmarks for growth? What was their point zero (or their comparator quarter / month), what growth might they have reasonably expected, and for what reasons?

If that *is* a comparison of December with other months / quarters, is that remotely justifiable / meaningful? On what basis?

E2a: tbf just seen that's only carphone warehouse, with data relating to other sellers presented in other paras. Very unconvinced it's possible to take much away from that (as there are no solid benchmarks / comparators), though the message is clearly meant to be that a lot of units are shifting. Tbf, I still don't know whether it IS "a lot," though, bc I don't know what comparatively little might look like (and not do they provide any idea / suggestions).


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## editor (Jan 30, 2013)

mrs quoad said:


> Does "the December quarter" include Christmas?
> 
> What were their benchmarks for growth? What was their point zero, what growth might they have reasonably expected, and for what reasons?
> 
> If that *is* a comparison of December with other months / quarters, is that remotely justifiable / meaningful? On what basis?


Why don't you research this further or ask them directly yourself?


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## mrs quoad (Jan 30, 2013)

editor said:


> Why don't you research this further or ask them directly yourself?


You never seem to ask these questions yourself, do you? Of have any queries or hesitations about the slews of numbers or pretty pictures you attach to various statements?

Why don't I find out if the data you post is at all meaningful for you? Bc you cba? Can you understand my  about that?


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## GarfieldLeChat (Jan 30, 2013)

editor said:


> Bees claimed that, given the choice, _*everyone*_ would go for an iPad. If only one person when given the choice decided not to go for an iPad, his post would then be demonstrably bollocks. Which it is.


Dedicated and hard working contrarians like yourself are hardly everyone dear hard...


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## beesonthewhatnow (Jan 30, 2013)

editor said:


> Bees claimed that, given the choice, _*everyone*_ would go for an iPad. If only one person when given the choice decided not to go for an iPad, his post would then be demonstrably bollocks. Which it is.


Are we really at the stage where we have to type stuff like:



> Everyone* would go for the iPad
> 
> _*by which I mean a large enough percentage as to make the remainder statistically insignificant or not really very interesting to talk about. Either way we can assume that given a free choice the vast majority of people would go for the cool, shiny gadget, rather than the less glamorous (yet arguably superior in certain areas depending on your technical requirements) rival product._


 

I can do if you want.


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## editor (Jan 30, 2013)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> Are we really at the stage where we have to type stuff like:
> I can do if you want.


If you want to back up your claim that only a "statistically insignificant" amount of people would prefer another tablet over an iPad, I'd simply love to see your research to back that one up.


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## editor (Jan 30, 2013)

mrs quoad said:


> You never seem to ask these questions yourself, do you? Of have any queries or hesitations about the slews of numbers or pretty pictures you attach to various statements?
> 
> Why don't I find out if the data you post is at all meaningful for you? Bc you cba? Can you understand my  about that?


I'm just taking part in tech chat and banter and talking about current news stories. 
I'm not filing my dissertation.


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## beesonthewhatnow (Jan 30, 2013)

editor said:


> If you want to back up your claim that only a "statistically insignificant" amount of people would prefer another tablet over an iPad, I'd simply love to see your research to back that one up.


OK, next time I'm down your way we'll go out into the street and do a survey of 100 people*. I'll bet you the cost of an evenings drinking that I'm right.


*the advantage being of course that we could sell the results to Vernon Kaye


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## editor (Jan 30, 2013)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> OK, next time I'm down your way we'll go out into the street and do a survey of 100 people*. I'll bet you the cost of an evenings drinking that I'm right.


You've really got lost in fanboyism here. While I'm never going to deny that the iPad is a hugely popular device with consumers, to assert that everyone else who has a different brand of tablet is wistfully wishing that they really had an iPad is plain bonkers.

If - as you insist - non iPad owners are all wishing they could have an iPad just like lucky you, how do you explain customer satisfaction levels with the Kindle Fire being almost exactly the same as the iPad? And why do you think people have been buying the similarly priced like the Asus Transformer? Any ideas?


> Even so, the J.D. Power survey is the second survey in recent months to find that the Kindle Fire is right behind the iPad for customer satisfaction. ComScore last month found that iPad owners scored their overall satisfaction with their tablet an 8.8 on a scale of one to ten, while Kindle Fire owners scored their overall satisfaction at 8.7.
> http://news.yahoo.com/ipad-tops-tablet-customer-satisfaction-ratings-kindle-fire-020057765.html


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## editor (Jan 31, 2013)

As I was saying 
Apple iPad market share falls as tablet market booms - their share is now down to 43.6 per cent of tablet shipments.


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## editor (Jan 31, 2013)

More detail:



> Is the tablet market shaping up to follow the smartphone market? Research firm IDC on Thursday reported that Apple’s (AAPL) share of global tablet shipments sank to 43.6% in the fourth quarter last year from 51.7% in the same quarter a year earlier, while Samsung’s (005930) share grew to 15.1% from 7.3% in the year-ago quarter. Both companies showed year-over-year growth, with Apple’s iPad shipments jumping 48.1% to 22.9 million units from 15.1 million, and Samsung’s channel sales spiking 263% to 7.9 million tablets from 2.2 million.


 





http://bgr.com/2013/01/31/tablet-market-share-q4-2012-ipad-312851/


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## elbows (Jan 31, 2013)

You know I don't like estimates, but since you want to use these numbers to paint a picture I took the time to check out the freely available parts of IDC's tablet tracker data product. The picture does not resemble the smartphone market, and neither do their projections forward to the year 2016.










Compare to smartphone:


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## elbows (Jan 31, 2013)

And poor old Microsoft eh. The analysis says they need to take account of smaller screens & lower prices, but I really don't know how MS are going to manage that given the resolutions, screen size etc that they've setup with new 'windows store apps' and the variety of windows tablet devices.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Jan 31, 2013)

elbows said:


> And poor old Microsoft eh. The analysis says they need to take account of smaller screens & lower prices, but I really don't know how MS are going to manage that given the resolutions, screen size etc that they've setup with new 'windows store apps' and the variety of windows tablet devices.


 
Use windows phone?


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## elbows (Jan 31, 2013)

There are things they could do, but the lack of momentum with both windows phone and windows RT makes it harder, and they way they charge manufacturers for the OS doesn't help either.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Jan 31, 2013)

I think windows RT is a massive mistake...they should have followed Apple's lead and kept to two OS's.


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## elbows (Jan 31, 2013)

That's what Windows RT is, mostly. But as they failed to educate consumers about this and as most people want anything with the name Windows in it to run the Windows apps they are used to, its a mess. This is the dilemma I keep harping on about, Microsofts only strength was their traditional windows OS domination and they tried to leverage that but botched it.


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## editor (Jan 31, 2013)

Global Stoner said:


> I think windows RT is a massive mistake...they should have followed Apple's lead and kept to two OS's.


Apple will soon be following Microsoft's lead and first offering touchscreen laptops, and then eventually offering one unified OS. That's what I think, anyway.


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## UnderAnOpenSky (Jan 31, 2013)

editor said:


> Apple will soon be following Microsoft's lead and first offering touchscreen laptops, and then eventually offering one unified OS. That's what I think, anyway.


 
That's not quite MS's lead though is it? Right now they have 3 OS's on the go!


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## Sunray (Feb 2, 2013)

All the stats in the world can't hide the simple fact that while Android is passable as a tablet OS, it's not a patch on iOS on the App Store.  The quality of the apps on android is lacking as is the ux. I just ended up pressing buttons randomly on the n7 to see what they did.  Figured it out but it wasn't exactly a breeze. 

Flash is irrelevant on mobile now.


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## editor (Feb 2, 2013)

Sunray said:


> All the stats in the world can't hide the simple fact that while Android is passable as a tablet OS, it's not a patch on iOS on the App Store. The quality of the apps on android is lacking as is the ux. I just ended up pressing buttons randomly on the n7 to see what they did. Figured it out but it wasn't exactly a breeze.
> 
> Flash is irrelevant on mobile now.


That may or may not be true, but it's gloriously irrelevant to users who have registered very high satisfaction ratings with their Anrdoid tablets.


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