iPad Competitors, Android Struggling?
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For months, experts have claimed that Apple could not possibly keep up what it has been doing for the past few years. Apple has reached new heights with iOS but some still consider Android to be the star of the mobile OS business. Android has a lot of potential and has grown exponentially. But there are signs that Android’s momentum may be slowing down. Needham & Co. s Charlie Wolf suggests Android will continue losing marketshare in the U.S. (using IDC numbers):
In our opinion, this is just the beginning of Androids share loss in the U.S….The migration of subscribers to the iPhone on the Verizon network should accelerate this fall when Apple coordinates the launch of iPhone 5 on the GSM and CDMA networks. The iPhone could also launch on the Sprint and T-Mobile networks.
Verizon iPhone did not get as much love in the tech world as the previous iPhones. iPhone 4 technology was a few months old by the time Verizon brought its own version of iPhone to the market. Apple won’t be making the same mistake twice with iPhone 5. It will release both CDMA and GSM versions of it at the same time. It could even reach out to other carriers such as Sprint.
iPad competitors have been disappointing to say the least. We have heard so much about how Honeycomb tablets will finally give tablet fans a real alternative to Apple iPad. HP has launched its own WebOS tablet, which won’t go anywhere. Things are so bad for iPad competitors that experts are wondering whether they should go easier on them.
Not all is rosy in the Apple world. Its shares have not seen the best of days recently. Apple’s stocks have lost 2.2% in value in the current year (as reported on Reuters). That is not too encouraging for investors:
The technology sector as a whole has been very weak. There is some concern about demand in the second half of the year. The mobile internet space has been very weak,
said Channing Smith, co-manager of the Capital Advisors Growth Fund. With the economy struggling to bounce back, even Apple is not untouchable.
