Samsung Galaxy Tab sold just 20,000 out of 1m shipped: Lenovo

Android tablet maker Lenovo has claimed that only 20, 000 out of the total 1 million Samsung tablets shipped last year has been bought thus falling way short of their sales targets. Lenovo further claimed that Samsung also tried to extract share from market leader Apple and ended up burning fingers.

In words of Andrew Barrow, director of consumer products and pricing for Lenovo, such dismal sales figures clearly suggest Samsung has not been actually setting tablet market afire as expected.

He accused Samsung of undercutting Apple iPad's price, which already has sold more than 30 million units worldwide. Samsung on the other hand, has only sold 20,000 7-inch tablets. Incidentally, Samsung, early this year had openly admitted of shipping more tablets than had actually been sold. Executives at Samsung described the situation as "quite smooth" leaving the rest to the imagination of market experts.   

Interestingly, Lenovo too has entered booming Android tablet market only recently. The formal announcement came at the IFA technology show in Berlin on Thursday where Lenovo announced IdeaPad K1, its first tablet offering.

Andrew Barrow also stated that Lenovo doesn't feel the need to buy share from Apple. He pointed out that Lenovo is being extremely cautious with its first volume. Mr. Andrew took a pot shot at Samsung stating that it sold only 20, 000 units even though it claimed shipping out a million units to different markets. However, in process they did become a major Android tablet manufacturer.

Rob Bamforth, a mobile analyst with Quocirca told Guardian that if the claim was true Samsung would have been engaging in ‘channel stuffing’, a practice where manufacturers claim of having shipped large quantities of items only to get the publicity advantage. He further added, this tricks might work in short-run but they fail to cover-up when sales stay do not pick up in long run.

Hope Samsung’s 10.1-inch tablet does not end up the same way.