Analysts expect ipad sales to reach 22 million units in the fourth quarter

Sina Science and technology news Beijing time August 23 morning, according to the U.S. Science and Technology information Web site CNET reports, analyst Jensen Schwarz (Jason Schwarz) recently, due to the pressure of tablet computer competitors, coupled with weak demand for notebook computer market,　　Apple's ipad sales are likely to reach 22 million in the fourth quarter of this year. "The era of laptops is over," Schwartz wrote in an article last week, and Apple was the only beneficiary of the shift in mobile PCs to the tablet era. Schwartz, for example, said a businessman he knew used to take a MacBook Air wherever he went, and now prefers to use desktops and ipads.　　Schwartz also used specific research to illustrate the increasingly weak demand for laptops. Apple has become the largest mobile PC vendor, based on ipad sales (assuming the ipad can be viewed as a mobile PC), according to the latest report released by market Research Institute DisplaySearch.　　In the second quarter of this year, tablet shipments grew 400% per cent, close to 16.4 million, while notebook shipments rose slightly by 2% to 48 million units. A report by Gartner, a market research firm, showed that PC shipments fell 19% in Western Europe in the second quarter, while Apple was one of the five biggest producers of PC shipments.　　Although the ipad market share has been eroded by rivals over the past year, Apple's tablet market share is still around 75% per cent, far ahead of rivals, ABI data shows. One wonders who will be the biggest beneficiary of the rising demand for tablet computers as notebook computers fall. As Schwartz points out, HP has actually dropped out of the competition after deciding to give up the Touchpad tablet computer.　　Other tablet makers such as HTC, LG, Acer and Samsung are at a disadvantage in the competition because they control hardware rather than software. Schwartz also sees the fragmentation of the Android operating system as "a disaster that has led Google to recklessly buy Motorola." "Because Android apps aren't designed for specific tablets, older devices cannot be compatible with Google's upgraded Android system, and as a result, Android ultimately" proves itself incapable of becoming a strong competitor to Apple's ecosystem, "Schwartz said. "Schwartz says the ipad will be the only tablet computer that has the power to further erode the laptop market, predicting that the ipad will reach 21.9 million units in the fourth quarter of this year."　　On the face of it, the sales figure was almost impossible to complete in just three months, but Schwartz supported his view with the Apple ipad's third-quarter (as of June 30) year-on-year growth of 183%. Schwartz also thinks the ipad's growth may be similar to the iphone's trajectory over the past 2010 years. That year, iphone shipments from 8.4 million in the second quarterThe department surged to 16.2 million in the fourth quarter. (Xuan Chen)