Tablet Market Share Forecast
A rare piece of good news for Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows came out of a new IDC report on tablet PC sales. Over the period from 2012 to 2016, the market share of Windows as a tablet OS will grow from 2.9% to 10.3%. This larger market share will be part of a growing pie:
A strong competitive landscape — including surging Android tablet shipments and robust demand for Apple’s new iPad mini — has led International Data Corporation to increase its 2012 forecast for the worldwide tablet market to 122.3 million, up from its previous forecast of 117.1 million units. In the latest forecast update of the Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker, IDC also raised its 2013 forecast number to 172.4 million units, up from 165.9 million units. And by 2016 worldwide shipments should reach 282.7 million units, up from a previous forecast of 261.4 million units.
Despite the improvement for Windows, operating systems for tablets will continue to be dominated by Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iOS and Google Inc.’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android. iOS will have a market share of 49.7% in 2016, based on the IDC forecast. Android’s share will be 39.7%. The numbers suggest that the iPad will not completely dominate the market four years from now.
Top Chinese Brands
Using its black-box methodology, which makes its conclusions impossible to understand or critique, Millward Brown released BrandZ Top 50 Most Valuable Chinese Brands 2013. The top five part of the list had no surprises: China Mobile Ltd. (NYSE: CHU) at $50.6 billion, ICBC at $40.4 billion, China Construction Bank at $24 billion, Baidu.com Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU) at $22.7 billion and Tencent at $20.2 billion. The value of China’s brands has been damaged along with the nation’s economic prospects. In the introduction to the study, the authors wrote:
Brand strength is key to sustained commercial success, as this year’s survey demonstrates. For the first time since we first published this study in 2011, The China Top 50 declined in brand value. The decrease, a relatively minimal 1.6 percent, is attributed mostly to the slower growth rate of China’s economy.
Monster November Employment
Job site Monster released its data on jobs, and it was better than many other reports on U.S. employment. According to its November report:
- Monster Employment Index U.S. grows seven percent on annual basis in November
- Retail Trade (up 16 percent) leads all sectors in annual growth, while real estate and rental and leasing sector continued to track double-digit growth
- Arts, Entertainment and Recreation and Utilities record negative year-over-year growth, while Management of Companies and Information remain flat
- Among the metro markets tracked by the Index, Los Angeles records top growth, while New York loses momentum
No fiscal cliff impact here.
Douglas A. McIntyre
The Average American Is Losing Their Savings Every Day (Sponsor)
If you’re like many Americans and keep your money ‘safe’ in a checking or savings account, think again. The average yield on a savings account is a paltry .4% today, and inflation is much higher. Checking accounts are even worse.
Every day you don’t move to a high-yield savings account that beats inflation, you lose more and more value.
But there is good news. To win qualified customers, some accounts are paying more than10x this national average. That’s an incredible way to keep your money safe, and get paid at the same time. Our top pick for high yield savings accounts includes other benefits as well. It pays one time cash bonuses on deposits, and is FDIC insured.
Click here to see how much more you could be earning on your savings today. It takes just a few minutes and your money could be working for you.
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.
Latest from 24/7
Our expert who first called NVIDIA in 2009 is predicting 2025 will see a historic AI breakthrough.
You can follow him investing $500,000 of his own money on our top AI stocks for free.