Samsung on top as Micromax grabs 2nd spot in India's tablet market: IDC

International Data Corporation’s (IDC) numbers for the Indian tablet market are out and they show some positive signs for the tablet market, which recovered in Q2 2014. The market had seen in a decline in the last couple of quarters. The report says that in India tablet market shipments stood at 0.86million (mn) units in Q2 2014 and the segment saw quarter-on-quarter growth of 9 percent.   As far as OEM manufacturers are concerned, Samsung is on top with 19 percent share and its sales were driven by sub $200 voice calling Tablets. Micromax was number two in Q2 thanks to a strong performance, beating previous number two Apple. Apple’s market share stood at 9 percent. Interestingly the report notes that in India more that 60 percent of volume for Apple is driven by iPad mini.   According to Karan Thakkar, Senior Market Analyst, IDC India, the reason for this recovery was, “Traditional PC OEMs have started making big inroads in the tablet market and most of this success is led by leveraging their vast expanded reach through multiple distribution points.”     As far as operating systems go Android is on top with 89.6% market share. The report notes that Windows OS is gaining ground too but this rise is driven by enterprise buying.   Where screen-sizes are concerned, it is the 7-8 inch ones that dominated the market shared and have a total of 88 percent market share. The report notes that on the low volume is concerned, tablets with screen size 10-11 inch screen grew by 54 percent in Q2.   Number 4 and 5 positions were taken by Lenovo and Datawind (best known for it’s Aakash and Ubislate tablets). Nearly 45 percent of the market is dominated by others.