Amazon.com Inc, the world’s largest online retailer, surpassed Samsung Electronics Co as the No. 2 seller of tablet computers last quarter, shipping 3.89 million units, according to research firm IHS Inc.
Amazon’s share rose to 14 percent in the period, up from zero in the third quarter, while Samsung slipped to 8 percent from 11 percent, according to Englewood, Colorado-based IHS. Apple Inc, meanwhile, maintained its lead in the market, accounting for more than half of shipments.
Amazon rolled out its Kindle Fire tablet in November, aiming to undercut Apple’s iPad by selling a tablet at less than half the price. While the Fire may have taken some market share from the iPad, Apple faced even more competition from its own mobile device, the iPhone, said Rhoda Alexander, who manages tablet research for IHS.
“Shipments of the iPad line fell short of IHS estimates in the fourth quarter as many loyal Apple customers devoted their dollars to shiny new alternatives,” she said in the report. “The primary alternative wasn’t the Kindle Fire — which debuted to solid sales in the fourth quarter — but Apple’s own iPhone 4S smartphone.”
Apple shipped 15.4 million iPads to capture 57 percent of the market. The company had a 62 percent share for the year, compared with 87 percent in 2010, when there was little competition. Samsung shipped 2.14 million tablets in the fourth quarter. The whole market rose 55 percent to 27.1 million, according to IHS.
Amazon’s shipment figures fell in line with estimates from Ross Sandler, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets who predicted between 3 million and 4 million units in the fourth quarter. Other analysts expected more, with Jordan Rohan at Stifel Nicolaus & Co projecting as many as 6 million and Anthony DiClemente at Barclays Capital looking for 5.5 million.
Shares of Amazon, based in Seattle, fell 2.5 percent to US$17.93 at the close in New York on Thursday. The stock has gained 3.9 percent this year.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”