DataWind has been a very steady player in the Indian Tablet market and the latest CMR India Tablet PC Market Review suggests that DataWind accounted for a pretty significant portion of the Indian Tablet market in Q2 2016. According to the CMR report every third Tablet sold in India in Q2 2016 was a DataWind Tablet.
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DataWind’s rise continues to be meteoric yet it has managed to remain out of the constant media glare circus that a company doing such great business would often attract. When we take a closer look at these emerging DataWind stats, they are quite stunning and praiseworthy to say the least.
Here is a little number crunching from the findings of the report highlighting DataWind’s current market standing:
- In Q2 2016, ending June 30, 2016, approximately 950,000 Tablets were sold in India
- Of these 950,000 Tablets sold, DataWind accounted for 37.2% of the sales
- The Tablet market in India grew by a mere 5% compared to Q1 2016
- DataWind sold more Tablets than anyone else in India for the third successive quarter
- DataWind added 3% to its market share compared to Q1 2016
- Samsung accounted for 18.9% of all Tablets sold in Q2 2016, which means DataWind’s market share was almost double that of Samsung for the said quarter
These are truly remarkable numbers and DataWind deserves more praise for this accomplishment than other brands because of the market it caters to. DataWind isn’t a high-end Tablet maker and some industry pundits would argue that DataWind will never build or sell a Tablet of the quality of an iPad Pro, but then they must concede that DataWind’s target market is an entirely different demographic altogether.
DataWind’s target audience is mainly the sub-Rs. 5000 market. Apple and Samsung aren’t going to be shipping sub-Rs. 5000 Tablets anytime in the near future and therein lies DataWind’s advantage. The Montreal, Canada based company has made the low-budget Tablet market almost entirely its own. In fact it would not be hyperbolic to suggest that DataWind is the Google Search of low-budget Tablets.
Here is some more number crunching to back that up:
- The sub-Rs. 5000 Tablet market is the fastest growing market segment in India
- Of all the Tablets sold in India in Q2 2016, 48% of Tablets fell in the sub-Rs. 5000 segment
- This is up 2% from Q1 2016 when the sub-Rs. 5000 Tablets accounted from 46% of total Tablet sales
- DataWind had a 76% market share in this sub-Rs. 5000 Tablet segment in Q2 2016
- This is up from 74% in Q1 2016
- In the slowing Tablet market DataWind is the only company among the top 3 Tablet sellers in India to see an increase in its market share in Q2 2016
Why DataWind’s growth is truly remarkable!
Some would argue that since the number of Tablets sold are not quite the same as the number of smartphones sold, the Tablet market is somehow not relevant. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Even though the Tablet market hasn’t seen a phenomenal growth the fact remains that comparing it to smartphone growth is a bad comparison to start with. Tablets are a smaller niche compared to smartphones and their size automatically alienates them from many demographics. Also, we tend to forget that smartphones had a 3 year head start on Tablets when we take into account the timelines when these products went mainstream.
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People had, what we would now call, dumb phones and BlackBerry before 2007. Then came the iPhone in 2007, which was essentially the first true modern smartphone. Clumsy looking Tablets had been around for a while but it took the iPad in 2010 to really make companies consider Tablets seriously.
The Tablet industry is yet to undergo its second remarkable transformation period. The smartphone industry on the other hand has had several remarkable moments since the first iPhone and most of them are not Apple products.
This makes DataWind’s dominant presence in the Indian Tablet market not only unique but also makes them a player that is likely to remain dominant for quite some time. After all, they completely dominate the fastest growing market segment in an industry that is poised to grow further for years to come. In case you haven’t noticed, laptops are becoming smaller and smartphones are adding more inches to them with each passing quarter.
DataWind’s growth may have been steady but the market segment it dominates will continue to grow for quite some time, in all likelihood.