A few months ago, the research firm Strategy Analytics claimed that three million tablets running some version of Windows had shipped worldwide in the first quarter of 2013. Today, the firm said that some form of Windows made its way onto 2.3 million tablets shipped in the second quarter of this year.
That number is still well above the 200,000 tablets that had Windows inside in the second quarter of 2012, but still well behind the numbers of Android and iOS tablets. Indeed, the firm's press release said that Android tablet shipments soared up to 34.6 million units for the quarter, well above the 18.5 million units that were shipped for the same period a year ago.
As Apple itself reported last week, shipments of its iPad tablets came in at 14.6 million in the second quarter of 2013, well below the 17 million shipment for the same time in 2012. Android now commands a healthy majority of the tablet market at 67 percent, compared to 28.3 percent for iOS and just 4.5 percent for Windows.
Speaking of which, Strategy Analytics expressed some optimism that Windows tablets could see a rise in shipments in the current third quarter. It stated:
There may be an uptick in Windows RT shipments in Q3 following savage price cuts by all the partners still involved in the RT Market. Microsoft has reduced prices by $150 and other vendors even more; they are still not cheap, but are much more where they should be to compete. The shortage of apps continues to be a problem, with seemingly little incentive for developers to work on the platform.
Meanwhile, Blackberry, which entered the tablet race well over a year before the Windows 8/RT launch with the BlackBerry Playbook, only shipped 100,000 tablets in the second quarter. The company has not indicated any plans to release future tablet products.
Source: Strategy Analytics | Image via Strategy Analytics
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