Is Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s Falling Tablet Market Share Cause for Concern?

That’s a double-edged sword for Asus, since there’s no way that Asus is making much money on the device at $199 and is likely assuming the role of merely a contract manufacturer. That also implies that Asus’ other tablets are faring rather poorly, including its higher-end Transformer series of Android tablets that compete directly with the iPad.

There’s a reason why most hardware OEMs aren’t venturing down to the $199 price point: because it’s not profitable.

Don’t worry
While ceding some market share certainly isn’t a good thing for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), it’s still by far the top tablet vendor with a 28.5% lead over its runner-up. Looking at the bigger picture, IDC also recently estimated that the broader tablet market would soar to 282.7 million units by 2016, with roughly half of those being iPads.

That would make the iPad a $56 billion business in just three years. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) doesn’t have anything to worry about quite yet.

The article Is Apple’s Falling Tablet Market Share Cause for Concern? originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Evan Niu, CFA.

Fool contributor Evan Niu, CFA, owns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool recommends Amazon.com, Apple, and Google. The Motley Fool owns shares of Amazon.com, Apple, Google, and Microsoft.

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