The shipments of these mobiles devices on a global scale maintained Apple’s crown.
According to recent tablet commerce data issued by Strategy Analytics, the shipments of these mobile devices reached 76.8 million units last year, which was an increase of 20 percent over the 64 million units that had been shipped in 2012.
The Android operating system has been leading this marketplace with a clear dominance.
The data from Strategy Analytics showed that in terms of the share of operating systems in tablet commerce, Google’s Android was in the lead with a massive 62 percent. That said, Apple’s iOS had a 34 percent of the whole. That said, when it came to the individual mobile devices, Apple by far sold the largest number when compared to any other specific manufacturer.
Apple saw tablet commerce, last year, that was made up of the shipment of 26 million mobile devices.
Samsung came in second when it came to tablet sales, having shipped 13.6 million. In third place was Amazon, which sold 4.6 million. The next on this list were Asus (the manufacturer of the Nexus 7), which sold 3.6 million units, and then Lenovo with its 3 million, and Acer which had 1 million.
Among the products that drove Apple to the top of the list and made sure that consumers remained very interested in the tablets that it had to offer, were the iPad Air and the iPad mini with Retina display. These were credited by Strategy Analytics as having pushed its market share upward in the fourth quarter of last year by an additional 7 percent over where it had been in the third quarter. This turned around a two quarter streak of lost share.
Overall tablet commerce was very strong last year. It saw growth of 33 percent when compared to the year before, reaching 227 million units. The Strategy Analytics director of tablets and wearables, Matt Wilkins stated that “2013 was another extremely healthy year for the tablet market.” He added that while it was not a three digit increase, as had previously been seen, it remains considerable when keeping in mind that the market is now delivering more than 200 million units worldwide each year.
Amazon continues to work on its mobile presence
Amazon is beginning to gain momentum when it comes to mobile commerce. The company has already established a strong presence in the mobile space. As of June 2013, approximately 57% of the retailer’s user accessed Amazon with a mobile device. With the launch of Amazon’s Login and Pay service in October of 2013, the company has seen more mobile activity. Amazon is expected to find even more momentum in the mobile field as it continues to develop various mobile-centric initiatives.
Company may seek to bring a point-of-sale solution to physical retailers
As Amazon’s mobile interests continue to gain traction, the company may have plans to bring a point-of-sale solution to physical retailers during the summer of this year. This solution would leverage the Kindle device as a checkout platform. The device would be equipped with a card reader that is similar to platforms offered by PayPal and Square. This would allow consumers to make purchases in a more efficient manner than if they used traditional checkout methods. This solution would also accommodate mobile commerce.
Amazon may opt to birth its own mobile commerce platform in the future
Amazon boasts of over 224 million credit cards that are linked to consumer mobile devices that use the Amazon application. These people have been accessing Amazon to purchase products directly from their mobile devices fairly regularly and this may serve as encouragement for Amazon to develop its own mobile commerce platform. The company’s Login and Pay system is meant to make it easier for consumers with Amazon accounts to pay for products, but this service may also be a precursor to a future mobile commerce platform.
Amazon remains dubious concerning its plans for the mobile space
The company is somewhat notorious for being secretive with its future endeavors. Amazon has expressed strong interest in mobile payments, but has been elusive when it comes to the matter of how it will tackle mobile commerce in the future. Currently, a significant portion of mobile shoppers make use of Amazon on a daily basis, giving the company a strategic advantage if it does decide to break into the mobile commerce space more aggressively.
