I don't think the YoY sales decrease can be attributed to any single cause. I have an iPad 3 and a mini 1. I didn't buy them for any particular reason other than they looked like a pretty cool device and fun to play around with. I have yet to try to do any serious work on them, which brings me my first point.
1) iPads just aren't that useful for many people. They don't work out very well as a replacement for general purpose computers, in my opinion.
2) Another reason for the drop in sales is, what others have mentioned, market saturation
3) Perhaps the iPhone 6+ was more popular this time around. Face it, not everyone can afford both devices so they chose the iPhone instead of the iPad.
4) Also, there are other tablets in the market and overseas, especially in Asia, I suspect there was a lot of competition.
5) The excitement of the iPad phenomenon is starting to die down so there is not as many grassroots recommendations as before.
Good to see all the professional analysts here on AI chiming in on what Apple must do to survive this latest prediction of doom. How many of you have your SEC licenses? I’m content in knowing that the people who run Apple are not idiots so I will sit back and watch what happens.
Let's be honest... the 7" tablets that Steve was talking about weren't a joy to use.
7" with a 16:9 aspect ratio made a tablet that was too narrow in portrait... and too short in landscape.
Luckily... Apple did not build one of those. Enter iPad mini... with a more-usable aspect ratio and the entire iPad app ecosystem.
My intent wasn't to debate how we got the iPad mini. The point of my post was that there were plenty of people who insisted that Apple would never make a smaller iPad. Those folks claimed to know what Apple would do, why, and how. But the situation changed. So to say that just because today iOS is optimized for touch and OS X isn't only speaks to what today's situation is. It says little about what Apple will do in the future and whether the two product lines (iPads/Macs) will ever merge into a single unified range of devices.
It's a shame I can't love my iMac iPhone5S, and 13RMBP and NOT care about an AWatch, 12" iPad, etc. and want a new ATV without Amerkanstam calling me a troll. Sad.
People like you shouldn't be allowed to speak on topics you have no clue on how to discuss. Like Slurpy (and others here) have summed up very well, there is no need for me to repeat what he or the others said, because I'm with them 100%.
Don't you think it's a bit too early for market saturation? The iPhone keeps on going - for me it's much more a matter of insufficient "revamp" to bolster tablet sales again - a market reinvention if you will.
Tablets are a fad. People realize they are good basically for viewing.
Check Apple's volume of legal documentation and you'll see how "unimportant" lawyers are in the real world. It's not all about Woz and a few nice engineering tricks, ya know.
I'd be willing to bet that, for every case where a legal team is actually defending a valid invention in the tech industry, there are 100 cases where a legal team is convincing a patent troll company (or other bottom feeders) that they should go after other companies just so that they can get a nice payday. Which, in turn, necessitates the need for relevant tech companies to have a legal team on staff. How again is this a benefit to society?
Some of the things Apple has done with iPad are head scratching. In 2013 they basically bring parity to the mini and full size iPad making screen size and price the only differentiator. Then they abandon that one year later with the iPad mini 3 which basically does nothing but add Touch ID, And just when you think Apple would/should be moving to retina only screens across all iOS devices they decide to keep the original mini in the lineup. Even though you can get competing tablets with much better screens for cheaper. Apple needs a big rethink on iPad. Just throwing some IBM apps on it and having IBM push it to big companies is not enough.
Maybe just one size? Seems like the Air is not too much bigger or heavier than the mini. Maybe they can just have a low end entry level mini model.
Yes, "I" represents the masses </s>...what an idiotic statement to make, especially when you go on to explain that since you use a computer 8 hrs/day that that makes you in touch with reality...talk about irony. You don't even know what I do on a computer, so shut it.
I never said that keyboard/mouse/tablet combos will replace laptops. I am saying that the future will consist of more keyboard/mouse/tablet usage even though it isn't very popular at the moment...result is that consumers will find more/better uses for their iPads...and iPad sales makes a slight comeback.
This mofo needs to go. His opinion is just a pos. Disregard his craps. I just ignore your stupid comments. BTW, just stfu.
I'm much more satisfied with his track record than other analysts... and he's not just repeating what other analysts are saying.
This is a guy that tells his clients that Apple is going to have a blowout quarter... that iPhone sales are going to be way beyond anything we've seen. He also said that even "if" the Plus is delayed it won't affect anything. All true. From that it sounded as if he was promoting Apple. Everyone is happy.
Now, the same guy says that iPad sales could see a 50% decline in this quarter. His clients will want to know this information. They, like I will be watching to see where Apple is going to achieve growth. If aint growing then....
Now a bunch of AI members are pissed at him for saying, as you mentioned, the obvious. Well, if it's obvious then you must agree with him.
Others were saying the exact same thing at the same time. Google. Apple itself gave a very early hint of that more than 6 months ago.
You conviently did not answer the rest of my post, considering supposedly your non-biased nature, that's mighty convenient.
Tablets are a fad. People realize they are good basically for viewing.
Some people can still use them as their only device - people who only ever buy things online, do online banking, check social media, do email, look at photos. The active install base is huge for one company - 150m units or so. The real problem is they don't fail in large numbers and don't perform poorly over time so people don't need to upgrade them. Televisions have a 7 year upgrade cycle because although loads of people have them, hardly anyone needs to get a new one so it levels out at a smaller yearly amount of sales.
The plus side with having such a large install base is that the monetization then comes from the App Store and content. If Apple can monetize each iPad user about $30 per year, they can make $4.5b revenue without selling a single unit.
I don't think it's overall productivity that limits the iPad for people as much as just heavy typing. The metal keyboard isn't an optimal solution because it's not portable and they sell nothing else externally for text input so people have to rely on 3rd party solutions. An add-on keyboard isn't a good solution because of the form factor. I think they'd manage a good enough solution with the smart cover. There are a lot of 3rd party options though:
[VIDEO]
That doesn't sell iPads of course, it just helps sell accessories. Ideally they should put AMD or NVidia GPUs, platter hard drives, poor backlights and poor quality batteries in the iPads so they fail within 3 years, that'll get people upgrading them.
High-end games would help push sales for kids but not without an official controller and a lot of AAA titles. Even then the unit volumes are about 10m units per year for the most popular gaming platforms.
Tablets are a fad. People realize they are good basically for viewing.
Originally Posted by Marvin
Some people can still use them as their only device - people who only ever buy things online, do online banking, check social media, do email, look at photos. The active install base is huge for one company - 150m units or so. The real problem is they don't fail in large numbers and don't perform poorly over time so people don't need to upgrade them. Televisions have a 7 year upgrade cycle because although loads of people have them, hardly anyone needs to get a new one so it levels out at a smaller yearly amount of sales.
The plus side with having such a large install base is that the monetization then comes from the App Store and content. If Apple can monetize each iPad user about $30 per year, they can make $4.5b revenue without selling a single unit.
I don't think it's overall productivity that limits the iPad for people as much as just heavy typing. The metal keyboard isn't an optimal solution because it's not portable and they sell nothing else externally for text input so people have to rely on 3rd party solutions. An add-on keyboard isn't a good solution because of the form factor. I think they'd manage a good enough solution with the smart cover. There are a lot of 3rd party options though:
That doesn't sell iPads of course, it just helps sell accessories. Ideally they should put AMD or NVidia GPUs, platter hard drives, poor backlights and poor quality batteries in the iPads so they fail within 3 years, that'll get people upgrading them.
High-end games would help push sales for kids but not without an official controller and a lot of AAA titles. Even then the unit volumes are about 10m units per year for the most popular gaming platforms.
I didn't write that ("tablets are a fad...'). I think you may have gotten a little creative with your editing.
As an owner of an iPad since the first one came out, I definitely don't think they are fad. However, not everyone needs one like most people need a phone. In addition to what you said above, I think the iPhone 6+ may have cannibalized some iPad sales for those who don't mind carrying around a huge phone in their pocket or purse.
Will people continue to want an iPad? The iPhone 6 Plus and upcoming MacBook Air may ravage sales. And will the iPad transition from being a mainstream device to more of a niche product for businesses such as hospitals, airlines, daycare centers, etc.? We'll know the answer by year's end.
This sounds very much like the "Apple will never make a smaller iPad. Steve said I'd have to file down my finger tips to use one if they did. Every tablet smaller than the iPad has failed so it would be stupid for Apple to make one."
...enter iPad mini.
No it doesn't. The mini is a smaller iPad. No difference in how it works. iPad apps works on both sizes.
Tablet sales and desktop sales (excluding Mac's) are down because IMO the facts bear it out . People are buying larger phones in their place especially in china. Sales that would have gone into desktops and tablets are now going to mobile computers (Smartphones).
A 40/50% drop would be madness unless some national or global event occurred.
Comments
I don't think the YoY sales decrease can be attributed to any single cause. I have an iPad 3 and a mini 1. I didn't buy them for any particular reason other than they looked like a pretty cool device and fun to play around with. I have yet to try to do any serious work on them, which brings me my first point.
1) iPads just aren't that useful for many people. They don't work out very well as a replacement for general purpose computers, in my opinion.
2) Another reason for the drop in sales is, what others have mentioned, market saturation
3) Perhaps the iPhone 6+ was more popular this time around. Face it, not everyone can afford both devices so they chose the iPhone instead of the iPad.
4) Also, there are other tablets in the market and overseas, especially in Asia, I suspect there was a lot of competition.
5) The excitement of the iPad phenomenon is starting to die down so there is not as many grassroots recommendations as before.
Good to see all the professional analysts here on AI chiming in on what Apple must do to survive this latest prediction of doom. How many of you have your SEC licenses? I’m content in knowing that the people who run Apple are not idiots so I will sit back and watch what happens.
Let's be honest... the 7" tablets that Steve was talking about weren't a joy to use.
7" with a 16:9 aspect ratio made a tablet that was too narrow in portrait... and too short in landscape.
Luckily... Apple did not build one of those. Enter iPad mini... with a more-usable aspect ratio and the entire iPad app ecosystem.
My intent wasn't to debate how we got the iPad mini. The point of my post was that there were plenty of people who insisted that Apple would never make a smaller iPad. Those folks claimed to know what Apple would do, why, and how. But the situation changed. So to say that just because today iOS is optimized for touch and OS X isn't only speaks to what today's situation is. It says little about what Apple will do in the future and whether the two product lines (iPads/Macs) will ever merge into a single unified range of devices.
And that says a lot.
Tablets are a fad. People realize they are good basically for viewing.
Check Apple's volume of legal documentation and you'll see how "unimportant" lawyers are in the real world. It's not all about Woz and a few nice engineering tricks, ya know.
I'd be willing to bet that, for every case where a legal team is actually defending a valid invention in the tech industry, there are 100 cases where a legal team is convincing a patent troll company (or other bottom feeders) that they should go after other companies just so that they can get a nice payday. Which, in turn, necessitates the need for relevant tech companies to have a legal team on staff. How again is this a benefit to society?
Maybe just one size? Seems like the Air is not too much bigger or heavier than the mini. Maybe they can just have a low end entry level mini model.
Yes, "I" represents the masses </s>...what an idiotic statement to make, especially when you go on to explain that since you use a computer 8 hrs/day that that makes you in touch with reality...talk about irony. You don't even know what I do on a computer, so shut it.
I never said that keyboard/mouse/tablet combos will replace laptops. I am saying that the future will consist of more keyboard/mouse/tablet usage even though it isn't very popular at the moment...result is that consumers will find more/better uses for their iPads...and iPad sales makes a slight comeback.
This mofo needs to go. His opinion is just a pos. Disregard his craps. I just ignore your stupid comments. BTW, just stfu.
This mofo needs to go. His opinion is just a pos. Disregard his craps. I just ignore your stupid comments. BTW, just stfu.
Blocked...hope you get banned.
I'm much more satisfied with his track record than other analysts... and he's not just repeating what other analysts are saying.
This is a guy that tells his clients that Apple is going to have a blowout quarter... that iPhone sales are going to be way beyond anything we've seen. He also said that even "if" the Plus is delayed it won't affect anything. All true. From that it sounded as if he was promoting Apple. Everyone is happy.
Now, the same guy says that iPad sales could see a 50% decline in this quarter. His clients will want to know this information. They, like I will be watching to see where Apple is going to achieve growth. If aint growing then....
Now a bunch of AI members are pissed at him for saying, as you mentioned, the obvious. Well, if it's obvious then you must agree with him.
Others were saying the exact same thing at the same time. Google. Apple itself gave a very early hint of that more than 6 months ago.
You conviently did not answer the rest of my post, considering supposedly your non-biased nature, that's mighty convenient.
Others were saying the exact same thing at the same time. Google. Apple itself gave a very early hint of that more than 6 months ago.
You conviently did not answer the rest of my post, considering supposedly your non-biased nature, that's mighty convenient.
Conveniently? Naw... I just couldn't be bothered reading the rest of your drivel. lol
The article sounds like pure stock-manipulation statements to me.
Some people can still use them as their only device - people who only ever buy things online, do online banking, check social media, do email, look at photos. The active install base is huge for one company - 150m units or so. The real problem is they don't fail in large numbers and don't perform poorly over time so people don't need to upgrade them. Televisions have a 7 year upgrade cycle because although loads of people have them, hardly anyone needs to get a new one so it levels out at a smaller yearly amount of sales.
The plus side with having such a large install base is that the monetization then comes from the App Store and content. If Apple can monetize each iPad user about $30 per year, they can make $4.5b revenue without selling a single unit.
I don't think it's overall productivity that limits the iPad for people as much as just heavy typing. The metal keyboard isn't an optimal solution because it's not portable and they sell nothing else externally for text input so people have to rely on 3rd party solutions. An add-on keyboard isn't a good solution because of the form factor. I think they'd manage a good enough solution with the smart cover. There are a lot of 3rd party options though:
[VIDEO]
That doesn't sell iPads of course, it just helps sell accessories. Ideally they should put AMD or NVidia GPUs, platter hard drives, poor backlights and poor quality batteries in the iPads so they fail within 3 years, that'll get people upgrading them.
High-end games would help push sales for kids but not without an official controller and a lot of AAA titles. Even then the unit volumes are about 10m units per year for the most popular gaming platforms.
Nice click whoring, Slave! Though, "I can't get no satisfaction".
BTW: Does your mother know what you do for living? Is she happy about it? I thought so! Whoring is not a nice thing to do, nowadays.
Tablets are a fad. People realize they are good basically for viewing.
Some people can still use them as their only device - people who only ever buy things online, do online banking, check social media, do email, look at photos. The active install base is huge for one company - 150m units or so. The real problem is they don't fail in large numbers and don't perform poorly over time so people don't need to upgrade them. Televisions have a 7 year upgrade cycle because although loads of people have them, hardly anyone needs to get a new one so it levels out at a smaller yearly amount of sales.
The plus side with having such a large install base is that the monetization then comes from the App Store and content. If Apple can monetize each iPad user about $30 per year, they can make $4.5b revenue without selling a single unit.
I don't think it's overall productivity that limits the iPad for people as much as just heavy typing. The metal keyboard isn't an optimal solution because it's not portable and they sell nothing else externally for text input so people have to rely on 3rd party solutions. An add-on keyboard isn't a good solution because of the form factor. I think they'd manage a good enough solution with the smart cover. There are a lot of 3rd party options though:
That doesn't sell iPads of course, it just helps sell accessories. Ideally they should put AMD or NVidia GPUs, platter hard drives, poor backlights and poor quality batteries in the iPads so they fail within 3 years, that'll get people upgrading them.
High-end games would help push sales for kids but not without an official controller and a lot of AAA titles. Even then the unit volumes are about 10m units per year for the most popular gaming platforms.
I didn't write that ("tablets are a fad...'). I think you may have gotten a little creative with your editing.
As an owner of an iPad since the first one came out, I definitely don't think they are fad. However, not everyone needs one like most people need a phone. In addition to what you said above, I think the iPhone 6+ may have cannibalized some iPad sales for those who don't mind carrying around a huge phone in their pocket or purse.
We'll know the answer by year's end.
No it doesn't. The mini is a smaller iPad. No difference in how it works. iPad apps works on both sizes.
Tablet sales and desktop sales (excluding Mac's) are down because IMO the facts bear it out . People are buying larger phones in their place especially in china. Sales that would have gone into desktops and tablets are now going to mobile computers (Smartphones).
A 40/50% drop would be madness unless some national or global event occurred.