Apple Inc. (AAPL): iPad is Numero Uno, But Fewer Are Buying Them

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is still the king of the hill when it comes to tablet computers, according to a couple of recent surveys. but we find it mildly interesting (and also, not real surprising) that while iPad gets rave reviews for is quality, it is actually losing market share to two top competitors – tablets running the Android operating system by Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), and Windows 8 by Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT).

Of course, we here at Insider Monkey are not terribly surprised by these two seemingly contradictory surveys, one of which measures customer satisfaction among tablet owners, while the other measured the market share of the various tablets. But we really find it interesting about the dynamic of the tablet market and how Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) seems to be playing this. We’ll explain this in a minute.

In the first survey, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad won a J.D. Power survey for customer satisfaction among more than 1,800 tablet users who have owned their current devices for less than a year. On a 1,000-point scale based on five criteria – performance, ease of operation, styling and design, features and cost – Apple scored an 836 and rated high in four of the five categories, while the Kindle Fire by Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) finished second at 829, rating high in the cost category. Samsung’s tablet came in third at 822.

In another interesting tidbit from the survey, a whopping 94 percent of those users who were “highly satisfied” with their device said they would buy more products from the same company in the future. That could be a word of warning for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) – again, will touch on that in a minute.

The other survey covered market share of tablets. In the first three months of this year, there were a reported 40.6 million tablets shipped, and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), for the first time, dropped below 50 percent of the market share for the devices, at 48 percent. The company lost 15 percentage points from a year ago, with Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android devices increasing from 34 percent to 43 percent, and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) coming on the scene with 7.5 percent after Windows-based tablets did not exist last year at this time.

What might this mean for Apple, or what might be the Apple approach to these kinds of surveys?

OK, so here is the bottom line about these surveys. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), may not really worry too much about getting customers  to buy an iPad or iPad Mini as their first tablet. The company is losing market share to competitors that are generally cheaper. Apple could very well be taking the approach of “try everything else first, and you’ll eventually come around to know what we already know – our devices are better and are worth the price.” The one risk of that philosophy of “try everyone else first” is that, if the customer-satisfaction survey is right when more than 90 percent of tablet buyers say they’ll likely stick with the brand they have, that applies not only to iPads, but could also apply to Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) Kindle Fires or a Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) Surface – the survey does not indicate the breakdown of how many first-year tablet owners owned which device.

What do you make of these surveys? What do you think they might say about Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and its iPad devices? What do you think it says about the consumers and does it say something other than what Apple believes? Should Apple notice? Let us know in the comments section below.

DISCLOSURE: I own no positions in any stock mentioned.