Amazon’s Kindle Fire has seen rapid adoption among tablet buyers since its release last November. The device had an explosive debut quarter, giving it a 14% share of the tablet market. According to the latest numbers from comScore, the Kindle Fire has almost doubled its share of the U.S. Android tablet market over the past two months from 29.4% in December to 54.4% in February. In other words, more tablets running Amazon’s version of Android were sold in the U.S. than tablets running Google’s version of Android. Amazon’s tablet is followed by the Samsung Galaxy Tab family, which had a combined 15.4% share in February, and the Motorola Xoom with a 7.0% share. The ASUS Transformer and Toshiba AT100 rounded out the top five with 6.3% and 5.7% of the market, respectively. The research firm also found, when analyzing page view consumption, that 10-inch tablets had a 39% higher consumption rate than 7-inch tablets and a 58% higher rate than 5-inch tablets. Read on for comScore’s press release.

Tablet Competition Heats Up: Kindle Fire Captures more than Half of Android Tablet Market

10″ Tablets Have 39 Percent Higher Content Consumption Rate than 7″ Tablets

comScore Device Essentials™ Introduces Unique Device and Local Market Reporting to Cross-Device Digital Traffic Measurement

RESTON, VA, April 26, 2012 – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today announced the next generation of its Device Essentials™ service, offering new insight into global digital device usage. Based on comScore’s global Unified Digital Measurement (UDM) data, which utilizes census-level information from tagged web page content, Device Essentials includes reporting of brand and operating system for digital device and Internet traffic patterns (i.e. page views) from computers, smartphones, tablets, music, players, e-readers and gaming devices.

“comScore is excited to introduce our next generation Device Essentials product, which provides new insight into digital device usage and detailed reporting of traffic patterns within local markets,” said Serge Matta, comScore president of mobile & operator solutions. “These new insights are invaluable to all stakeholders in the mobile ecosystem as they seek to provide valuable services and optimize the mobile media experience for their customers.”

comScore Device Essentials includes previously available reporting capabilities across all of comScore’s global reporting geographies, plus detailed reporting for local U.S. markets including states and DMAs as well as the addition of unique device measurement. Current reporting capabilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Share of smartphone and feature phone usage by OS
• Carrier share of smartphone traffic
• OS share of carrier traffic
• Traffic to site content categories by carrier, OS and device type
• Wifi vs. Non-Wifi traffic

Amazon Kindle Fire Doubles its Share of Android Tablet Market in Two Months

The Kindle Fire, introduced to the market in November 2011, has seen rapid adoption among buyers of tablets. Within the Android tablet market, Kindle Fire has almost doubled its share in the past two months from 29.4 percent share in December 2011 to 54.4 percent share in February 2012, already establishing itself as the leading Android tablet by a wide margin. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab family followed with a market share of 15.4 percent in February, followed by the Motorola Xoom with 7.0 percent share. The Asus Transformer and Toshiba AT100 rounded out the top five with 6.3 percent and 5.7 percent market share, respectively.

Larger Screen Tablets See Higher Level of Content Consumption

Tablet adoption among U.S. consumers continues to climb as more devices appealing to various price and feature preferences are introduced to the market. Screen size is perhaps the most outwardly apparent differentiator between devices, with the market offering consumers a wide variety of options such as the 10″ Apple iPad, 9″ Sony S1, 7″ Amazon Kindle Fire and 5″ Dell Streak. Analysis of page view consumption by screen size found a strong positive association between screen size and content consumption. Specifically, 10″ tablets have a 39-percent higher consumption rate than 7″ tablets and a 58-percent higher rate than 5″ tablets.

Although many factors – such as demographics, content availability, connection speed and ease of portability – may influence consumption levels, the results of this analysis highlight important questions for the industry as the tablet space develops. With the emergence of a growing number of smaller-sized tablet devices, advertisers and publishers will need to understand whether these devices limit the opportunity for advertising compared to their larger-screen counterparts, or if they are able to build incremental reach and engagement by presenting different use cases.

Smartphone Carrier Market Share Shows Variation Across Key States

Among the new capabilities introduced in Device Essentials is the ability to segment data into custom geographies to provide more granular insights into local market device usage. comScore analyzed the share of unique smartphone devices among the top four carriers in the most populous U.S. states and found significant variation between markets. Looking exclusively at the top four carriers, AT&T accounted for the largest share of unique smartphones in Texas (46.2 percent), California (42.9 percent) and Illinois (42.1 percent), while Verizon claimed the top spot in New York (43.6 percent) and Florida (36.5 percent). The greatest disparity in carrier share between AT&T and Verizon occurred in Texas, where AT&T’s smartphone share was more than double that of Verizon’s share.

Sprint PCS ranked as the third largest smartphone carrier in each of the top five markets, with the carrier owning its highest market share in Illinois at 22.8 percent. T-Mobile USA captured its highest market share in Texas, where the carrier accounted for 11.9 percent of smartphone devices.

Intel is expected to move up the announcement of its next-generation Ivy Bridge processors from the original date of April 29th to April 23rd, Digitimes reported on Thursday. ASUS, Acer, Lenovo and Hewlett-Packard are all preparing to release their second generation of ultrabooks in May, with average prices expected to “rapidly” drop from $999 to $699. To promote ultrabooks, Intel has also reportedly set up a $300 million fund to assist its partners in ultrabook design as well as research and development. Earlier rumors have suggested that Apple is planning to refresh its iMac family of computers with Intel’s 22nm-based Core i5 and Core i7 Ivy Bridge processors in June or July. The Cupertino-based company is also said to be ramping up production in preparation for thinner 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pro models.

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The Google-branded Nexus tablet the search giant is rumored to be co-developing with ASUS may be pushed back until July. Earlier reports had the device slated for launch some time in June, with an unveiling possibly set for Google’s annual I/O conference on June 27th. Unnamed sources informed The Verge on Friday that Google pushed back its planned release so it could tweak the device, however. The 7-inch tablet is supposedly equipped with a quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and Wi-Fi connectivity. The device would reportedly cost $249 in its current state, but Google and ASUS are both looking to reduce the price. Earlier rumors indicted that the Mountain View-based company was attempting to offer the tablet for as little as $149. It has also been speculated that Google could be delaying the planned release in order to pre-load its tablet with the next version of Android — Jelly Bean. The Verge claims this scenario is unlikely though, as the current product is designed for Android 4.0.

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When ASUS announced the PadFone at this year’s Mobile World Congress, the company promised the hybrid device would begin shipping in April. Staying true to its world, ASUS on Thursday revealed that pre-orders will begin on Friday and the device will launch on April 20th in Taiwan, Engadget reported. The 4.3-inch Android-powered smartphone will be priced at NT$17,990 ($610) on its own and the dockable tablet and keyboard will cost roughly $240 and $130, respectively, bringing the PadFone’s total cost with accessories to $980 in Taiwan. ASUS will also be offering an extra battery as a bonus to those who pre-order the device. The handset features a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, an Adreno 225 graphics processor and an 8-megapixel rear camera. The device also has the unique ability to dock inside a tablet shell that will deliver a 10.1-inch display, a tablet UI and a new range of functionality. The company has not announced further details regarding the PadFone’s global availability.

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Google is planning to market and sell tablets directly to consumers through its own online store, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The paper’s anonymous sources say the search giant hopes the move will turn around the slow adoption rate of its Android-powered tablets. The Mountain View-based company will reportedly look toward its partners such as Samsung and ASUS to manufacture devices for the shop, with the latter creating a Google-branded tablet to be sold in the store later this year. The Journal’s sources also confirmed previous reports that stated the next version of Google’s Android operating system, called Jelly Bean, will be released in the middle of this year.

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It is widely believed that Google will entere the tablet market in 2012 with an own-branded 7-inch Android tablet. The search giant has reportedly partnered with ASUS to build a $199 device that will compete against Amazon’s Kindle Fire. These low-cost tablets are expected to have a big impact on the entry-level tablet market and apply pressure to other vendors such as Acer, Lenovo and Samsung Electronics to cut prices, DigiTimes reported on Wednesday. The average gross margin on tablets is roughly 10% to 15% the report said, however as prices continue to drop and internal component costs increase, gross margins are expected to drop rapidly, forcing vendors and component makers to fight over narrowing profits. Google’s Nexus tablet is reportedly a “done deal” and should enter production in April and ship around June. The slate could be unveiled at Google’s annual I/O conference on June 27th if earlier rumors pan out.

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Google chairman Eric Schmidt started a firestorm when he was quoted saying the company planned to “market a tablet of the highest quality.” Since then, speculation surrounding a Google-branded slate has nearly spiraled out of control. DisplaySearch analyst Richard Shim recently fueled the fire, suggesting that a Nexus-branded tablet will enter production in April for an initial run of between 1.5 million and 2 million units. Further reports also suggested that the Mountain View-based company had reached out to ASUS to design the Google-branded slate based on its Eee Pad MeMo tablet. Now, a new rumor suggests that ASUS has scrapped its $249 MeMo to focus solely on the “Nexus tablet.” Read on for more.

While earlier reports indicated that the device would retail between $199 and $249, Android and Me on Friday claimed that the new target price is lower — between $149 and $199. The blog can only confirm the tablet’s 7-inch display, however, which its supply chain source said is “a done deal.” With a lower entry price, Google may be looking to undercut Amazon’s Kindle Fire and use a cheaper dual-core CPU than the previously rumored quad-core Tegra 3, which has also reportedly been scrapped. Google’s Nexus tablet is expected to be announced at this year’s CTIA Wireless trade show in New Orleans, which takes place from May 8th to May 10th.

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Samsung, Asus and other Android tablet vendors are reportedly very concerned over rumors that Apple is working on a 7.85-inch version of its iPad tablet, currently referred to as the “iPad mini.” Apple sold more than 15 million post-PC slates in the December quarter last year, and Android tablet makers are said to be concerned that a smaller, cheaper version of Apple’s wildly popular tablet will make it extremely difficult to remain competitive in the space. Moreover, Google is said to be prepping an own-brand 7-inch Nexus tablet to launch later this year, which will likely make it even more difficult for Android partners to compete. DigiTimes’s sources said “non-Apple” tablet vendors are fine for the time being thanks to the growing popularity of the 7-inch tablet space. If Apple and Google do release mid-sized tablets of their own, however, companies like Samsung and Asus “may soon have difficulty to survive” according to the site’s sources.

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Speculation surrounding a Google-branded Android tablet is ramping up with a new rumor suggesting that the search giant has partnered with ASUS to release a 7-inch tablet, an Android fan site reported on Monday. The slate is expected to retail for $199 and include a quad-core Tegra 3 processor with a stock version of Android Ice Cream Sandwich. According to the blog, Google was highly impressed with ASUS’ previously announced $249 MeMo tablet. The Mountain View-based company reached out to ASUS to see if they could reduce the cost of materials — possibly internal storage —  and reach the coveted $199 price point. The final product name is unknown, although the company has been reportedly purchasing domains referring to “Google Play.” The tablet should enter production in April and ship around June, possibly at the company’s annual I/O conference on June 27th if these rumors pan out.

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Asus on Monday unveiled the Padfone from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The hybrid device was first announced in May last year, however a bit has changed since the Padfone’s initial announcement at Computex 2011. The unique Padfone tries to capitalize on separating itself from the pack, and is comprised of a 4-3-inch Android 4.0-powered smartphone docked inside a 10-inch tablet. The handset portion of the device features a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, an Adreno 225 graphics processor and an 8-megapixel rear camera. Docking the smartphone inside the tablet brings the device a 10.1-inch display, a tablet UI and a new range of functionality. Announced alongside the Padfone is the entry-level Transformer Pad 300, a new version of Asus’s popular Eee Pad Transformer that features a quad-core Tegra 3 processor, an 8-megapixel rear camera, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, a 10.1-inch 1,280 x 800-pixel display and 16GB of internal storage. The Padfone will finally begin shipping in April, 11 months after it was first announced, and pricing is not yet available. Launch details for the Transformer Pad 300 have not yet been announced, but hit the break for an image of the device.

Last week, ASUS announced that the original Eee Pad Transformer would receive an update to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in the coming weeks, a slight delay from the company’s original claim. The wait is over, however, and the update is currently rolling out over-the-air for Wi-Fi-only Transformers, according to forum members at XDA-Developers. Numerous reports have also indicated that the update is available in the U.K. and Canada as well.

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Apple’s shipments of iPads and MacBooks in the fourth quarter combined to give the Cupertino-based company a 26.6% percent share of the mobile PC market, according to a report from DisplaySearch released on Thursday. Apple shipped a total of 23.4 million units, nearly three times the amount of No.2 HP. The iPad accounted for 18.7 million units and captured 59.1% of the tablet market. Amazon shipped 5.3 million Kindle Fire’s for 16.7% of the market, with Samsung shipping 2.1 million and controlling 6.7% of the market. ASUS shipped 1.5 million units for a 4.6% market share and Barnes & Noble shipped 1.1 million units for a 3.5% share. Apple’s fourth quarter notebook shipments came in at 4.6 million units for an 8.3% share of the market. Ranking ahead of the Cupertino-based company was HP (15%), Dell (11.8%), Acer (11.8%) and Lenovo (10.8%). Read on for DisplaySearch’s press release.

Apple Maintains Top Mobile PC Share Position for Q4’11 and Full Year

HP, Dell, Acer and Lenovo Round Out Top Five Spots; Apple Y/Y Shipment Growth Tops 125% for the Quarter and the Year

Santa Clara, Calif., February 23, 2012—Apple shipped nearly 23.4 million mobile PCs in Q4’11, up 128% Y/Y, and over 62.8 million mobile PCs in 2011, up 132% Y/Y, according to preliminary results from the latest NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly Mobile PC Shipment and Forecast Report. Nearly 80% of Apple’s mobile PC shipments were iPads, more than 18.7 million shipped in the quarter, up 156% Y/Y, and 48.4 million units for the year, up 183% Y/Y.

Overall mobile PC shipments grew 12% Q/Q and 44% Y/Y, reaching 88 million units in Q4’11. This was driven by continuing strong demand for tablets. Tablet PC shipment growth was 42% Q/Q and 210% Y/Y, reaching 31.7 million units in Q4’11. Notebook PC shipments were flat Q/Q but up nearly 11% Y/Y, reaching 56.3 million units. As expected, consumer mobile PC adoption was focused on tablets, holding up demand in notebooks.

“Mobile PC brands read the writing on the wall in the fourth quarter,” said Richard Shim, NPD DisplaySearch Senior Analyst. “Consumer demand for notebooks was expected to be weak following modest back-to-school results, especially with the expected launch of Windows 8 on the horizon, and increasing interest in tablet PCs. As a result, brands focused their typical holiday price cuts on tablets to boost demand.”

Apple’s 26.6% share in Q4’11 is largely due to its dominant position in tablet PCs, which propelled it to nearly three times the shipments of HP. The other brands in the top five market share rankings relied almost exclusively on notebook PC shipments to establish their positions.

Table 1: Preliminary Q4’11 Worldwide Top Five Mobile PC Shipment Rankings by Brand

Rank	Brand	Units (millions)	Share (%)
1	Apple	23.4	26.6
2	HP	8.7	9.9
3	Dell	6.9	7.9
4	Acer Group	6.8	7.7
5	Lenovo	6.3	7.2

Source: Q1’12 DisplaySearch Quarterly Mobile PC Shipment and Forecast Report

HP maintained the top notebook PC ranking with a 15.5% share, although it lost some of its lead as shipments into North America, China, Latin America, and Asia Pacific faltered. Dell and Acer essentially tied for second place with 11.8% each. Dell had strong results in EMEA, while Acer continued to struggle in the notebook PC market. Lenovo continues to build on momentum started early this year with strong growth in China and Asia Pacific with a dip in North America, and maintained its #4 position in notebook PCs, gaining some share in Q4’11. Apple leapfrogged over ASUS and Toshiba to capture #5 with 8.3% market share.

Table 2: Preliminary Q4’11 Worldwide Top Five Notebook PC Shipment Rankings by Brand

Rank	Brand	Units (millions)	Share (%)
1	HP	8.7	15.5
2	Dell	6.7	11.8
3	Acer Group	6.6	11.8
4	Lenovo	6.1	10.8
5	Apple	4.6	8.3

Source: Q1’12 DisplaySearch Quarterly Mobile PC Shipment and Forecast Report

In the tablet PC market, Apple continued its strong growth across all its regions, capturing 59.1% share in Q4’11. Newcomers Amazon and Barnes and Noble firmly planted their flags in the market, at #2 and #5, respectively—Amazon with 16.7% share and Barnes and Noble with 3.5%. Both brands focused on North America in their market entries. Samsung improved in all its key markets, particularly EMEA, helping it to reach .67% market share. ASUS continued its strong results in North America, EMEA, and Asia Pacific as it took 4.6% share in Q4’11.

Table 3: Preliminary Q4’11 Worldwide Top Five Tablet PC Shipment Rankings by Brand

Rank	Brand	Units (millions)	Share (%)
1	Apple*	18.7	59.1
2	Amazon	5.3	16.7
3	Samsung	2.1	6.7
4	ASUS	1.5	4.6
5	Barnes and Noble	1.1	3.5

Source: Q1’12 DisplaySearch Quarterly Mobile PC Shipment and Forecast Report
* Apple shipments include units for sell through and inventory.

As promised, ASUS has released a bootloader unlocking tool for the Transformer Prime. The tool is packaged in an APK that can be downloaded from the company’s website. Once downloaded and installed, the Transformer Prime will have the ability to run custom ROMS, however ASUS warns that unlocking your bootloader will void your warranty. “Once you activate the [unlock app] you will not be able to recover your ASUS product (“Original Product”) back to original locked conditions,” ASUS stated. “You also acknowledge ASUS does not guarantee service satisfaction to any Revised Product, including events involving paid service requested by you to be performed to the Revised Product.”

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Earlier this month, images of the next-generation ASUS Eee Pad Transformer tablet leaked onto the Internet. The slate’s “TF300T” code name was in line with the original naming convention used on the Transformer (TF101) and the Transformer Prime (TF201), indicating it was next in line in the Transformer family. According to a purported screenshot of the tablet’s spec sheet obtained by Polish site Tabletowo, the TF300T is will feature a 1.2GHz quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor with a 10.1-inch 1200 x 800-pixel IPS display and 1GB of RAM. The slate will also come equipped with 16GB of internal storage, an 8-megapixel rear camera (no flash), a 1.2-megapixel front facing, a microSD slot and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Oddly enough, the device is both heavier and thicker than the Transformer Prime, measuring 9.9 millimeters and weighing 640 grams. The Polish site’s leaked document also indicates that the new high-resolution Prime will be equipped with a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8060A processor clocked at 1.5GHz, rather than the quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3. ASUS is expected to reveal its new Transformer tablet at this month’s Mobile World Congress trade show. Tabletowo’s screenshot follows below.

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ASUS on Wednesday announced that the original Eee Pad Transformer will receive an update to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in the coming weeks. “We are informed that the ICS upgrade for TF101 will be ready within the Feb/March 2012 period,” said an ASUS representative on the company’s Singapore Facebook page. “You will be able to receive the upgrade notification via FOTA once we have a confirmation date.” The company previously assured users an update was coming in mid-February and that Google was in the process approving it. ASUS gave no reason for the delay.

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