Sales of Apple iPad in China halve in a year

Apple's share of the Chinese tablet market has almost halved in the past year, as cheaper Google's Android-based devices rapidly overtake the iPad.

The California-based company's iPad saw its market share fall to 28 percent in China's tablet market in the second quarter of this year, a sharp drop from 49 percent in the same period last year, research firm IDC said Wednesday.

Samsung Electronics' tablet computer using the Android platform, on the other hand, took up a market share of 11 percent, which almost doubles 6 percent a year earlier, according to statistics compiled by IDC.

The market share of Lenovo's tablet PC stood at 8 percent, similar to that a year earlier.

IDC analyst Dickie Chang said Android players are growing with strong price advantage, according to the Financial Times.

"Samsung, Lenovo, Asus and Acer are providing more competitive products. Meanwhile, consumers are familiar with Android OS from smartphone use," Chang was quoted as saying.

AJP