British electronics company DataWind, popularly known for its Aakash tablet series, has topped the Indian market chart surpassing Micromax and Apple in the first quarter of 2013.
Market watch dog CMR's (Cyber Media Research) survey has revealed that DataWind claimed the top spot with 15.3 percent market share, whereas domestic player Micromax had to settle for second position with 12.3 percent and Apple finished third with 11.7 percent market share.
Commenting on report, Tarun Phatak, an analyst at CMR said, "Datawind and Micromax have figured amongst the Top 3 India Tablet vendors since 4Q CY 2012, while Apple was No. 2 for CY 2012. These players continued to maintain their leadership ranks during 1Q CY 2013. This trend points to a sort of polarization of India Tablet user segments - one set looks primarily for performance and best-in-class build quality and typically opts for the high-end Apple iPad, while the other segment looks for a wide range of features at an affordable price point and opts for brands like Datawind and Micromax."
The CMR report mentions that Indian tablet market witnessed 905,000 tablets in the first quarter (January -March, 2013) from 53 domestic and MNC manufacturers. Of the 53 vendors, only nine were able to record significant shipments of more than 20,000 units.
The report added that the market only recorded 17.57 percent quarter-on-quarter growth, little lower than the previous quarter. The CMR analyst attributed the slump in sales to seasonal factors and they are expected to rebound in the coming quarter as the market will continue to witness 10,000 unit shipments a day.
In terms of overall growth between 1Q, 2012 and 1Q, 2013, Indian market registered a staggering 158.9 percent growth. Phatak expects that the affordable tablet devices with both 3G and Wi-Fi offered by the local manufacturers would further accelerate the growth in coming days.
