Samsung, HCL Are the Top Tablet Brands

The booming tablet segment is witnessing a new pecking order, with Samsung replacing last year's leader Apple in the 100-499 employees segment and HCL pipping Samsung to the top slot in the 500+ category.

In the lower segment, Apple - a pioneer in tablets with its iPad - has managed only 97% respondents as current owners/users, but HCL and Sony - a new entrant - have garnered 90% and 72% index score. Acer, another new entrant, with 64 per cent, has made it to the fifth position, thereby eliminating Lenovo and HTC from the list. It's not Apple or Samsung, but Sony and HCL that offer maximum satisfaction to their users, closely followed by Asus.

On the other hand, HCL has staged an amazing comeback from fourth position last year to the top in the 500+ employees segment, followed by Samsung at second (97%) and Apple with 94% at third slots. The dismal performance of Apple - which was placed second after Samsung last year - might be attributed to the void left by Steve Jobs in 2011 and lack of any pathbreaking innovation post his demise. Apple users remain the most satisfied lot, however, in this segment with them rating it 4.3 out of 5, and Samsung and HCL are neck-and-neck at 4.2.

On its way up, Samsung seems to have ensured that its users in the 100-499 segment would stay loyal to its products, with nobody wanting to opt out. Interestingly, about 6% of Apple users wanted to shift out to Acer.

But in the 500+ segment, about 17 per cent of Samsung users are not sure about their future brand, even as 83% are willing to stick on with it. Here also 6% Apple users might shift to Acer. Asus has recorded a huge 71% shift out figure, with Acer at 38% and HCL at 33%, which should ring the alarm bells for the OEMs.