According to a report recently released by the IDC (News - Alert), Apple--ostensibly the originator of the tablet—only has 50 percent of the tablet market now. Apple’s (News - Alert) share of the tablet market was much larger before its collapse in the third quarter, which the IDC says has dropped from 65.5 percent to 50.4 percent.

Tablets from other companies including Amazon, Asus, Lenovo (News - Alert) and Samsung have all contributed to the shift, taking shares aware from Apple throughout the quarter.

This news comes as a surprise to many, because expectations were high for Apple’s iPad Mini. In fact, this is mainly due to Apple CEO Tim Cook’s inclusion of a certain chart during the iPad Mini presentation. 


Image via Shutterstock

Only now that the IDC has dropped the news of Apple’s shrinking market share are people beginning to question the legitimacy of Cook’s chart.

For one, the chart has no source, credible or not. Cook simply put the chart on the screen without mention of where the numbers were taken from. 

Multiple news companies and skeptics have been working to figure out the source of Cook’s information, which showed more promising numbers than those collected by the IDC.

One guess as to the origin of Cook’s data is that it came from Chitika, an ad network which regularly publishes tablet market share data in Canada and the U.S., and does not include data from all around the world, as the IDC does.

This creates a significant spin on the actual numbers.

According to Chitika, Apple’s iPad accounts for 90 percent of all tablet Web traffic, but that percentage only pertains to the 250,000 American and Canadian sites Chitika looked at.

However, other reports are also in conflict with the IDC’s data: Strategy Analytics (News - Alert) has Apple’s tablet market share at 60 percent, not 50.

Despite the shady numbers, experts say Apple shouldn’t be too worried for the coming holiday quarter, as the iPad Mini and the iPad 2 should prove strong pulls for tablet market share.