Figures released on Thursday by International Data Corp (IDC) showed that the global tablet market continued to slump last quarter.
Shipments of tablets and “two-in-one” devices that combine tablet and laptop features sank to 47.1 million in a drop of nearly 6 percent from the first three months of last year, according to the market tracker.
“Although the tablet market is in decline, two-in-ones are certainly a bright spot,” IDC senior research analyst Jitesh Ubrani said. “While two-in-one, or detachables, still account for a small portion of the overall market, growth in this space has been stunning.”
The analyst said that companies such as Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), Acer Inc (宏碁) and E-FUN Inc have scored with value-priced two-in-one devices, while Microsoft Corp has seen success at the high end of the market with the Surface Pro 3.
Sales of Apple Inc’s iPads have suffered from buyers preferring iPhones or Mac laptop computers, according to IDC.
Apple shipped 12.6 million iPads in the quarter, compared with 16.4 million in the same period a year earlier, the market-tracker reported.
IDC said it expects iPad sales to continue to shrink until an innovative new model, perhaps with a larger screen, is introduced.
Chinese computer titan Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) was one of the few tablet makers seeing growth in the declining overall market thanks to a diverse product line and low-price offerings, IDC said.
Lenovo shipped 2.5 million tablets in the quarter compared with 2 million shipped during the first three months of last year, IDC reported.
The Chinese company is to introduce a new tablet to be sold at Wal-Mart Stores Inc, as it seeks to double its market share in North America.
The tablet expands the company’s existing product line, Lenovo North America president Aymar de Lencquesaing said on Thursday in an interview.
He declined to specify pricing, but said it would be less than an iPad.
“I look at market penetration in the US and we have a lot of room to grow,” he said.
Lenovo, the world’s largest maker of personal computers, already sells its products through Walmart.com, and the tablet is a way to enter stores and reach customers more directly, Lencquesaing said.
It also presents an opportunity as consumers increasingly view tablets as addition to computers rather than a replacement, he said.
Seeking to build its name recognition for the product, the Chinese company is also increasing social media engagement and marketing efforts, Lencquesaing said.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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
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],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained