By AppleInsider Staff
Published: 05:37 PM EST (02:37 PM PST)
New data released on Wednesday suggests Research in Motion's PlayBook tablet has managed a ten percent increase in Canadian marketshare on substantial discounts, and has pulled the share of Apple's iPad down to 68 percent.
Citing market research data from Toronto-based Solutions Research Group,
The Globe and Mail reports that market share of the oft-maligned PlayBook
has risen to 15 percent of the Canadian market, but comes at the cost of discounts which equate to hundreds of dollars per unit.
The data, taken from a survey of 1,000 Canadians, illustrates that while RIM's share is but a fraction of the iPad's, the sharp rise in sales saw Apple's market presence drop from 86 percent to 68 percent since fall 2011. This steep decline also means that Android tablets have also shown growth during the period.
Despite critical reviews from bloggers and the media, RIM chose to
stick with the PlayBook even as a
the inability to sell units cost the company $485 million in earnings at the end of the holiday quarter.
In an attempt to salvage the device, RIM initiated a
fire sale in November which slashed prices of the premium tablet by as much as $300, and continues to uphold the low cost in order to move product.
RIM's deep discounts have translated into a bump in Canadian market share. | Source: BlackBerry.com
A software update for the 7-inch tablet, dubbed PlayBook 2.0, is expected to be announced in the coming weeks and will bring much needed e-mail and calendar apps as well as the ability to type on the device using a BlackBerry handset's physical keyboard.
