Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) remained the world’s third-largest tablet maker in the third quarter of this year, followed closely by China’s Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想), according to data from research firm Strategy Analytics.
Global tablet shipments reached 55.2 million units in the three-month period ending in September, up 5 percent from the previous quarter and up 6 percent from a year earlier, Strategy Analytics said in a research report on Thursday last week.
Although they are still some distance behind market leaders Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co, both Lenovo and Asustek are demonstrating that innovations are providing “sufficient product differentiation to drive shipments,” it said.
The Taiwanese firm shipped 3.1 million tablets in the third quarter for a 5.6 percent market share, followed by Lenovo in fourth place with 3 million units and a 5.4 percent market share.
Top player Apple had a 22.3 percent market share, but its shipments of 12.3 million units declined 13 percent annually and 7 percent sequentially, with fewer consumers in the developed countries feeling the need to upgrade to the latest products that offer only minor changes, Strategy Analytics said.
Samsung, in second place, shipped 9.7 million tablets for a 17.6 percent share, while Taiwan-based Acer Inc (宏碁) stayed in fifth with 1.3 million units and a 2.3 percent share of the global market.
In terms of operating systems, Google Inc’s Android further consolidated its global market share, reaching an all-time high of 72 percent share of the tablet market, Strategy Analytics said.
Apple’s iOS ranked second with a 22.3 percent market share, while Microsoft Corp’s Windows reached its highest market share of 5.7 percent as more Windows models became available, including the Microsoft Surface Pro 3.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure