If Americans had to pay full retail for their iPhones, they wouldn't be updating every 2 years either.
You've got it exactly right. That's the key issue. Except when there is substantial differentiation in a new model, people are not going to run out to buy it each year or even every other year when you have to pay regular prices. Even subsidized, I'm shocked at the number of people who update every two years (or even every year).
I'm typing this on a late 2008 MacBook Pro that still works perfectly. It's only seeming limitation is that it's not powerful/fast enough for very tight video editing. And due to its beautiful case design, it still looks great...every time my mother comes to my house, she says, "oh, you bought a new computer?" I think in 2015 or 2016, I'll finally break down and buy a new laptop. The chances of me doing that are greater if Apple makes more than another iterative change and/or if they substantially lower prices.
Apple could differentiate the iPad more. As improvements in technology permit, they could make it lighter, improve the sound quality when not using headphones, update the OS to permit true multitasking and improve file handling. I think things of that nature would get first generation iPad users to update and it would get more people to give up their PCs and use an iPad instead.
Personally I don't even focus on iPad vs iPhone unit sales. I combined them. The line between iPad and iPhone has been blurred because of the iPadMini and 6+. I consider then one product with different screen sizes.
As you can see combining iPad/iPhone gives a better picture of the total landscape.
I see your point, but there is always value in the more granular stats. I would agree that the computing landscape is forever changed and seems we are starting to see a "blurring" between many product lines.
At this point, there is no screen format/size that is "taboo". I'm one of the lame ones (yes, I admit it's a little lame) who said a "flip phone" could be a viable & useful Apple product. And while I'm sure Apple does not want to dilute or confuse product offerings, there WILL be new formats/UXs introduced successfully...and hopefully loud/rude arguments against new products (that took place re: the iPad Mini, iPhone 6+, iWatch, etc.) will be stifled, and instead, we talk sanely, humorously and respectfully about them.
In 3-5 years we will want to BE ABLE to connect anytime/anywhere... which will either mean that we will have a chip wired to our brain - or - we will have about 7 devices of varying sizes as our personal assistant...probably the latter. Question is: what kinds of formats/sizes/UX will be best?
Heck, if all you need is the web, music, books, magazines, NetFlix, email, and non-fps style games the iPad 1 will do the trick. These devices are quite solid and even 2-3 generations old iPad devices have tons of useful life and utility left in them.
I keep hearing people talk about how much more Apple makes on the iPhone 6 versus iPad. You do realize Apple had to invest a ton of non recurring expenses in design, development, and tooling to bring the iPhone 6 family to market. These expenses have to be considered and amortized in addition to the unit build costs.
Choosing an iPhone 6+ over an iPad Mini still entails a significant compromise in usability. You get something back on portability but it's not a slam dunk by any stretch of the imagination. People who can afford to own both and care about optimizing the utility and user experience will still want both devices, especially when all of the content that is really driving the usefulness of these products is usable on both platforms.
Apple must be feeling some of the heat. They've started putting iPad ads on the YouTube homepage (maybe this is a normal thing, but I don't think I've ever seen an Apple ad there)
Apple must be feeling some of the heat. They've started putting iPad ads on the YouTube homepage (maybe this is a normal thing, but I don't think I've ever seen an Apple ad there)
I guess that makes sense, the iPhone 6 is like an iPad Nano. I have an iPad Air and didn't feel like the Air 2 was a big enough upgrade for me. Have analysts already used this information to say that Apple is doomed?
I bought the original iPad on day 1 and it wasn't until the Air came out that I felt that the retina display and speed increases gave me the excuse to upgrade. I still loved my first one when I sold it to a friend.
Form factors will continue to change as better technology becomes available and iOS and OS (X?) will be there to take advantage. Yes, this includes wearables and larger multi-touch devices.
Yeah... it depends on the specific YOY differences AND how long you wait between upgrades.
One year might not be much... but two years or longer and it becomes much more dramatic.
However... there are some people who are still using the first iPad they ever bought... which could go as far back as an original iPad or iPad 2.
Is Apple a victim of making something TOO good that someone will never replace it?
I didn't buy an iPad Air 2 for myself, but as a gift for a family member that uses her iPad exclusively as her primary "personal computer." She had the original iPad and then Retina iPad (3rd gen). I chose not to get her the 4th gen iPad because it was mostly a mid-cycle performance boost, and I then I chose not to get her the iPad Air because it was mostly a little lighter with some performance gains. But the iPad Air 2 stuck to me, over the iPad Air because of (major) the major changes done to improve the display and the move from 5MPx to an 8MPx camera, and (minor) return to the A*X-series chips with a 128-bit Memory Bus, as well as 2GiB LPDDR3 RAM which should give it many years of updates without any noticeable slowdown*.
* Not that she would notice, but that's more for resale value later on even though she'd likely gift it to someone when she upsets in several years. Hence, I list that as a minor reason for that scenario.
I have an original iPad Mini and it works well enough to read comic books and watch the occasional movie or browse the web. But I have family members who claim their iPad 2's have become too slow to use conveniently after they updated to iOS 8. Are they crazy or have others encountered similar problems? They feel that Apple has sabotaged their iPads for some nefarious plan to encourage them to buy new ones and it is a "money grab." This is a crazy notion to me because they should be rejoicing that an older model like that was even considered by Apple to be supported by the latest OS. And how could they think that Apple would see intentionally making their products less useful as a way to encourage anybody to continue buying their products? But how could one ever convince someone suffering from such faulty logic to not jump ship and purchase an Android tablet?
No. No way. The 6+ is close enough in size to the IPad mini, where some people may use it as an iPad Mini replacement. But it offers no real advantages over an iPad, and is far from able to compete with older iPad/iPad Air in size and resolution, and the Air 2 gives a big boost in CPU and GPU. And that's even before you bring up price. You could get anywhere from 2-4 iPads/iPad mini's for the price of one iPhone 6+. Only a fraction of the customers out there could afford or be willing to get one device instead of two or three devices, when it only offers a neglible advantage.
Exactly. A customer who uses his ipad2 as people used to use a netbook, may still have iOS 6 running on it, and experiences it as just as fast and slick as always.
iPads have been popular with customers that are known for not upgrading to the latest model just because it's the latest model.
There are millions of ipads and ipad mini's that are used as the family's portable video player, as something for the kids to play on, or the device that grandma emails on. They don't upgrade every year or every second year. But they'll upgrafe eventually. And until then, they'll keep using iTunes store and the AppStore, and grow Apples market share and a mindshare with developers that the competition doesn't have.
Nah, doubt it. The Kindle is almost exclusively a U.S. phenomenon. Regardless, they're most likely already tied to the Amazon ecosystem and would be hard to win over. Customers that are this price sensitive aren't really worth it in the long run either, unless you're Amazon.
Why not? I pay full retail and usually update every year. If you save 25$ a month you got an upgrade every two years.
The way I can afford it is through the high resale value of Apple products. I keep my phone in a case and can sell it next year for 3/4 of what a new phone costs.
I live in Europe, and in many cases yes. Though it also depends on what country we're talking about.
In many countries they have contracts like in the US, but with the contract capped at 12 months or 6 months. The carrier still subsidizes the phone though, by anywhere from 33-100%.
You also see the carrier partnering with a bank or a credit union to offer a new phone for 0% or X% down, and the rest to be paid off over 1-3 years.
Dont forget that the plans are a little cheaper here too, which leaves a bigger budget for a new phone.
(Personally I pay 20$ for 10 hours outgoing calls, 10gb LTE data and unlimited messages and incoming calls.)
Actually, the iPhone 6 Plus has several advantages over the iPad. For starters, it fits in pants pockets. Second, the size of the screen negates the need for any sized iPad for many people, myself included, which is why I sold my Air. Third, why carry two devices when one can do it all. Furthermore, with the upcoming razor thin fan less12" MacBook Air with Retina Display due out this quarter, which can meet the needs of virtually everyone, why buy an iPad at all? My guess is that the iPad will be relegated to educational and business models, used in the classroom, by physicians in hospitals, on the back seats of airplanes, etc. For consumers, the newness factor has worn off, and the "must have" reaction is in the rearview mirror.
So this just proves my point by showing how rare of an occurance it is
One link doesn't mean it's rare. I'm pretty sure people don't write stories about Apple ads in YouTube. This is just to show you Apple has advertised on YouTube before. No heat.
Comments
Don't forget you can trade in your old iPhone so you get a couple hundred back. I traded in my 4S for $200 when I bought the 6.
If Americans had to pay full retail for their iPhones, they wouldn't be updating every 2 years either.
You've got it exactly right. That's the key issue. Except when there is substantial differentiation in a new model, people are not going to run out to buy it each year or even every other year when you have to pay regular prices. Even subsidized, I'm shocked at the number of people who update every two years (or even every year).
I'm typing this on a late 2008 MacBook Pro that still works perfectly. It's only seeming limitation is that it's not powerful/fast enough for very tight video editing. And due to its beautiful case design, it still looks great...every time my mother comes to my house, she says, "oh, you bought a new computer?" I think in 2015 or 2016, I'll finally break down and buy a new laptop. The chances of me doing that are greater if Apple makes more than another iterative change and/or if they substantially lower prices.
Apple could differentiate the iPad more. As improvements in technology permit, they could make it lighter, improve the sound quality when not using headphones, update the OS to permit true multitasking and improve file handling. I think things of that nature would get first generation iPad users to update and it would get more people to give up their PCs and use an iPad instead.
Personally I don't even focus on iPad vs iPhone unit sales. I combined them. The line between iPad and iPhone has been blurred because of the iPadMini and 6+. I consider then one product with different screen sizes.
As you can see combining iPad/iPhone gives a better picture of the total landscape.
I see your point, but there is always value in the more granular stats. I would agree that the computing landscape is forever changed and seems we are starting to see a "blurring" between many product lines.
At this point, there is no screen format/size that is "taboo". I'm one of the lame ones (yes, I admit it's a little lame) who said a "flip phone" could be a viable & useful Apple product. And while I'm sure Apple does not want to dilute or confuse product offerings, there WILL be new formats/UXs introduced successfully...and hopefully loud/rude arguments against new products (that took place re: the iPad Mini, iPhone 6+, iWatch, etc.) will be stifled, and instead, we talk sanely, humorously and respectfully about them.
In 3-5 years we will want to BE ABLE to connect anytime/anywhere... which will either mean that we will have a chip wired to our brain - or - we will have about 7 devices of varying sizes as our personal assistant...probably the latter. Question is: what kinds of formats/sizes/UX will be best?
I keep hearing people talk about how much more Apple makes on the iPhone 6 versus iPad. You do realize Apple had to invest a ton of non recurring expenses in design, development, and tooling to bring the iPhone 6 family to market. These expenses have to be considered and amortized in addition to the unit build costs.
Choosing an iPhone 6+ over an iPad Mini still entails a significant compromise in usability. You get something back on portability but it's not a slam dunk by any stretch of the imagination. People who can afford to own both and care about optimizing the utility and user experience will still want both devices, especially when all of the content that is really driving the usefulness of these products is usable on both platforms.
Apple must be feeling some of the heat. They've started putting iPad ads on the YouTube homepage (maybe this is a normal thing, but I don't think I've ever seen an Apple ad there)
It's normal. It's called advertising.
I realize that. But like I said, I've never seen them advertise there before
I bought the original iPad on day 1 and it wasn't until the Air came out that I felt that the retina display and speed increases gave me the excuse to upgrade. I still loved my first one when I sold it to a friend.
Apple advertised the iPod touch in 2008 over there. http://www.technologytell.com/apple/40966/apple-advertises-ipod-touch-on-youtube-homepage/
Besides it would be foolish if Apple didn't advertise on YouTube considering the demographics of the site.
The new iPad air wasn't enough of an upgrade to bother having over the previous iPad air.
Apple need to do something new, not just an incremental update.
Form factors will continue to change as better technology becomes available and iOS and OS (X?) will be there to take advantage. Yes, this includes wearables and larger multi-touch devices.
Apple advertised the iPod touch in 2008 over there. http://www.technologytell.com/apple/40966/apple-advertises-ipod-touch-on-youtube-homepage/
Besides it would be foolish if Apple didn't advertise on YouTube considering the demographics of the site.
So this just proves my point by showing how rare of an occurance it is
Apple doesn't expect anyone to upgrade after only one year. You're right... the difference between the iPad Air 1 and the iPad Air 2 is minimal.
But there will always be someone who is ready to buy... and there will be a new model waiting for them when they do.
A person might only buy an iPad once every few years... but people buy iPads every day.
New is always nice... but incremental updates are pretty much standard across all manufacturers.
I skipped the iPad Air but bought the iPad Air 2 because of the dramatic different YoY.
Yeah... it depends on the specific YOY differences AND how long you wait between upgrades.
One year might not be much... but two years or longer and it becomes much more dramatic.
However... there are some people who are still using the first iPad they ever bought... which could go as far back as an original iPad or iPad 2.
Is Apple a victim of making something TOO good that someone will never replace it?
I didn't buy an iPad Air 2 for myself, but as a gift for a family member that uses her iPad exclusively as her primary "personal computer." She had the original iPad and then Retina iPad (3rd gen). I chose not to get her the 4th gen iPad because it was mostly a mid-cycle performance boost, and I then I chose not to get her the iPad Air because it was mostly a little lighter with some performance gains. But the iPad Air 2 stuck to me, over the iPad Air because of (major) the major changes done to improve the display and the move from 5MPx to an 8MPx camera, and (minor) return to the A*X-series chips with a 128-bit Memory Bus, as well as 2GiB LPDDR3 RAM which should give it many years of updates without any noticeable slowdown*.
* Not that she would notice, but that's more for resale value later on even though she'd likely gift it to someone when she upsets in several years. Hence, I list that as a minor reason for that scenario.
No. No way. The 6+ is close enough in size to the IPad mini, where some people may use it as an iPad Mini replacement. But it offers no real advantages over an iPad, and is far from able to compete with older iPad/iPad Air in size and resolution, and the Air 2 gives a big boost in CPU and GPU. And that's even before you bring up price. You could get anywhere from 2-4 iPads/iPad mini's for the price of one iPhone 6+. Only a fraction of the customers out there could afford or be willing to get one device instead of two or three devices, when it only offers a neglible advantage.
Exactly. A customer who uses his ipad2 as people used to use a netbook, may still have iOS 6 running on it, and experiences it as just as fast and slick as always.
iPads have been popular with customers that are known for not upgrading to the latest model just because it's the latest model.
There are millions of ipads and ipad mini's that are used as the family's portable video player, as something for the kids to play on, or the device that grandma emails on. They don't upgrade every year or every second year. But they'll upgrafe eventually. And until then, they'll keep using iTunes store and the AppStore, and grow Apples market share and a mindshare with developers that the competition doesn't have.
Nah, doubt it. The Kindle is almost exclusively a U.S. phenomenon. Regardless, they're most likely already tied to the Amazon ecosystem and would be hard to win over. Customers that are this price sensitive aren't really worth it in the long run either, unless you're Amazon.
Why not? I pay full retail and usually update every year. If you save 25$ a month you got an upgrade every two years.
The way I can afford it is through the high resale value of Apple products. I keep my phone in a case and can sell it next year for 3/4 of what a new phone costs.
I live in Europe, and in many cases yes. Though it also depends on what country we're talking about.
In many countries they have contracts like in the US, but with the contract capped at 12 months or 6 months. The carrier still subsidizes the phone though, by anywhere from 33-100%.
You also see the carrier partnering with a bank or a credit union to offer a new phone for 0% or X% down, and the rest to be paid off over 1-3 years.
Dont forget that the plans are a little cheaper here too, which leaves a bigger budget for a new phone.
(Personally I pay 20$ for 10 hours outgoing calls, 10gb LTE data and unlimited messages and incoming calls.)
Actually, the iPhone 6 Plus has several advantages over the iPad. For starters, it fits in pants pockets. Second, the size of the screen negates the need for any sized iPad for many people, myself included, which is why I sold my Air. Third, why carry two devices when one can do it all. Furthermore, with the upcoming razor thin fan less12" MacBook Air with Retina Display due out this quarter, which can meet the needs of virtually everyone, why buy an iPad at all? My guess is that the iPad will be relegated to educational and business models, used in the classroom, by physicians in hospitals, on the back seats of airplanes, etc. For consumers, the newness factor has worn off, and the "must have" reaction is in the rearview mirror.
One link doesn't mean it's rare. I'm pretty sure people don't write stories about Apple ads in YouTube. This is just to show you Apple has advertised on YouTube before. No heat.