IDC reports total of 27.8m tablets shipped in Q3 2012, Android gains momentum at Apple’s expense

There are a total of 27.8 million tablets shipped worldwide in Q3 of 2012 according to a preliminary report from IDC. Compared to the same quarter last year, this is nearly 50% jump in sales and just 6.7% over the previous quarter.

Android tablet have started gaining more considerable market share, as Samsung has shipped 5.1 million tablets in the third quarter, which is twice as much as they managed in the previous quarter, and an increase of 325.0% from 3Q11, when it shipped 1.2 million tablets. This puts the company in second place with 18.4% market share.

Apple maintains its king of the hill position, shipping 50.4% of all tablets in Q3. That’s down from 65.5% for the previous quarter. The anticipation around the announcement of the company’s new iPad mini and iPad 4 are the reason for the slowdown in Apple’s tablet sales. Now that those are out, IDC expect the company to post strong Q4 results.

Vendor	3Q12 Shipments	3Q12 Market Share	3Q11 Shipments	3Q11 Market Share	3Q12/3Q11 Growth
1. Apple	14.0	50.4%	11.1	59.7%	26.1%
2. Samsung	5.1	18.4%	1.2	6.5%	325.0%
3. Amazon.com	2.5	9.0%	NA	NA	NA
4. Asus	2.4	8.6%	0.7	3.8%	242.9%
5. Lenovo	0.4	1.4%	0.2	1.1%	100.0%
Others	3.3	12.2%	5.4	28.9%	-38.9%
All Vendors	27.8	100%	18.6	100%	49.5%

Still, analysts also think that Android’s tablet upswing will continue as the Apple iPad mini might come off as too expensive at $329 for the regular 7-inch tablet consumer, which would be lured by the Amazon and ASUS’ tablets. Speaking of those two, Amazon, ASUS along with Lenovo round up the top 5 tablet manufacturers.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Whole shipment of iPhone 5s stolen from French airport

Just before the Japanese launch of the iPhone 5, three stores were robbed of a total of 191 units. Then about a week ago, an employee of a London O2 store made off with an entire shipment of 250 iPhone 5s, which are worth about £100,000.

Now there’s a report that on Tuesday there was yet another major iPhone 5 theft, which occurred in France. The number of units stolen wasn’t confirmd, but the whole thing played out like a heist movie.

The iPhone 5 shipment was being loaded on a plane at Marignane airport when three armed robbers blocked the vehicle used to load the plane with two BMWs. The gunmen then forced the driver to follow the two cars and a Renault Master that lead the way.

About 10km down the road, the robbers stopped and loaded the shipment (which also included a number of Apple laptops) in the van. After they were done, they set the airport’s truck on fire and drove off.

The police investigating is ongoing.

Note: the image above is not an actual photo of the incident, just a photo of something being loaded on a plane with a quickly photoshopped Apple logo.

Source (in French)

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com