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iPad Fever Is Officially Cooling
Hugh Pickens DOT Com (2995471) writes "Christina Bonnington reports that the public is not gobbling up iPads like they used to. Analysts had projected iPad sales would reach 19.7 million but Apple sold 16.35 million iPads, a drop of roughly 16.4 percent since last year. 'For many, the iPad they have is good enough–unlike a phone, with significant new features like Touch ID, or a better camera, the iPad's improvements over the past few years have been more subtle,' writes Bonnington. 'The latest iterations feature a better Retina display, a slimmer design, and faster processing. Improvements, yes, but enough to justify a near thousand dollar purchase? Others seem to be finding that their smartphone can do the job that their tablet used to do just as well, especially on those larger screened phablets.'
While the continued success of the iPad may be up in the air, another formerly popular member of Apple's product line is definitely on its way to the grave. The iPod, once Apple's crown jewel, posted a sales drop of 51 percent since last year. Only 2.76 million units were sold, a far cry from its heyday of almost 23 million back in 2008. 'Apple's past growth has been driven mostly by entering entirely new product categories, like it did when it introduced the iPod in 2001, the iPhone in 2007, and the iPad in 2010,' says Andrew Cunningham. 'The most persistent rumors involve TV (whether a new Apple TV set-top box or an entire television set) and wearable computing devices (the perennially imminent "iWatch"), but calls for larger and cheaper iPhones also continue.'"
While the continued success of the iPad may be up in the air, another formerly popular member of Apple's product line is definitely on its way to the grave. The iPod, once Apple's crown jewel, posted a sales drop of 51 percent since last year. Only 2.76 million units were sold, a far cry from its heyday of almost 23 million back in 2008. 'Apple's past growth has been driven mostly by entering entirely new product categories, like it did when it introduced the iPod in 2001, the iPhone in 2007, and the iPad in 2010,' says Andrew Cunningham. 'The most persistent rumors involve TV (whether a new Apple TV set-top box or an entire television set) and wearable computing devices (the perennially imminent "iWatch"), but calls for larger and cheaper iPhones also continue.'"
Larger pocket assistants that just so happen to have cell phone capabilities.
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Cook cited one reason for the decline: He said that last year the company started the second quarter with a backlog of iPad mini orders; fulfilling those goosed the quarter's sales. This year, he said, the company has been able to keep supply and demand in better balance.
http://www.macworld.com/articl...
Overall sales were excellent though.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
I suppose someone has to mention obvious things, so you have this article. I had an iPad 2 and it was great and lasted me several iterations. I only just got a new one for Christmas this year. So... yes. People who have one already aren't going to run out and just get a new one because it's new. And there are some decent Android ones out there for people who don't want an iPad.
Same with the iPod, everything can play music now. My iPad and phone included, so sure. The idea of an iPod that ONLY plays music is sort of a dated concept. My wife loves her nano and small iPods for the gym, which makes sense for working out and instances where you only need music. But in general, things like browsing the web or running apps is basically expected now, regardless of the ecosystem or OS. Now, I don't want to _have_ to buy a phone to play music, but when I can store it all on a device that I'm already carrying around, why would I bother with an extra device like an iPod (or any music player).
I will shred my adversaries. Pull their eyes out just enough to turn them towards their mewing, mutilated faces. Illyria
So why would I want to use a new one yet? Apple has set a new standard in lifespan & reliability.
Apps are becoming progressively worse, not better, over time. In the early days there were a lot of cool apps written by people who just wanted to write cool apps for a cool new tool.
Now with the preverse incentives of the app market, the app store is saturated by apps trying to squeeze a maximum amount of money for a dwindling amount of useful application.
In app purchases, in particular, are well on their way to completely destroying gaming at all levels.
Every free app you download any more is ususally worthless until you shell out significant amounts of money in IAP to make it usable, and then its still usually still not good
I'm all for paying software and content developers for their efforts but the methodologies for achieving this in app stores and on the Internet in general has completely failed.
Increasingly the only thing I use my tablets for is an ereader. They excel at that, but for just about everything else the app comcept has failed.
@de_machina
Once technology becomes "good enough" for a substantial chunk of the market and a substantial chunk of the market already owns such a "good enough" device, people are no longer so eager to spend globs of cash on incrementally better devices. The threshold for "good enough" is now starting to move down the price point ladder so interest in premium-priced models will likely fade in the near-future - it becomes difficult to justify spending over $500 on a tablet when you can get most of the same features on $150-250 models.
Calling a modern mobile device a "cell phone" is like calling your car "a horse".
...when the public is calling for larger cell phones.
A wise man once said "The greatest thing about smartphones is that you don't have to use them for phone calls." Once you start down that path, you really wish they had a proper screen.
I got a Sony Xperia Z Ultra (6.44 inch phablet), best purchase I ever made. Allowed me to ditch my phone and tablet for it. Bonus: It is CyanogenMod supported.
I'd so wish to see the tank of my car filled up after leaving it parked all day in the field.
I'd so wish to see the tank of my car filled up after leaving it parked all day in the field.
I'd settle for being able to shoot it and eat it if it gave me trouble.
Hmm. iPad sales:
Q2 2014 - 16.35 million.
Q2 2013 - 19.5 million.
Yes, that's a drop in sales.
But, it's after the following:
Q1 2014 (includes holiday shopping) - 26.0 million.
That's the all-time high sales volume for iPads in a quarter. 2nd best is Q1 2013 at 22.9, significantly less.
In my mind, the way to interpret these recent iPad sales numbers is that there was a huge buying spree for the holidays that somewhat satiated demand. (Only somewhat - Q2 2014 is still the 4th best quarter for sales.) These numbers don't suggest to me that the "fever is officially cooling." Maybe it is, but more than just one quarter of numbers is needed to show that.
Agreed. I have an iPad and an Android smartphone, and I am thinking of dumping the smartphone for the dumbest of dumb phones, which can only make phone calls and send SMS - and only needs to be charged once a week
As we know, it never succeeded, but this was the design with the BlackBerry PlayBook. The PlayBook tablet was wirelessly 'twinned' with a much smaller phone. It was pretty cool when it was all working.
The smartphone market has been flooded with iPhone copies for years now, yet iPhone sales continue to grow. Their Mac division is still profitable and growing, despite it being decades old.
I agree that Apple get a huge first-mover advantage - this is to be expected. But I think you're dead wrong about Apple being reliant upon it. Apple will still be making money hand over fist with the iPhone when it's a decade old. They don't need to move away from old products at all.
Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
The cost of an iphone is cheaper than the cost of an ipod PLUS a second device to make phone calls and surf the web.
If you're willing to drop the requirement to surf the web while outside of Wi-Fi range, an iPod touch plus a dumbphone supporting only voice and SMS costs less than an iPhone, and its service costs less per month than iPhone service.
Am I the only person in the USA with kids under 10 who has not bought an iPad (or any pad?). I know they're great pacifiers but I tend to avoid pacifiers. No cell phone that can play games either. When I take my family to dinner, we talk, joke, and draw with crayons and pencils. When we're at home, the kids play inside or outside. They don't sit and stare at iPads or cell phones in either context.
I'm trying really hard not to be judgemental because I know that everyone has their own way of doing things and there is no single right way. And certainly a moderate amount of pad/phone use is fine, similarly to how just about everything in moderation is fine.
But when I go to restaurants and I see 90% of the kids just sitting there watching or playing on a pad and not interacting with anyone, I just can't help but feel like there is something wrong. And when my kids go over other kids houses and I see how much of those other kids lives revolves around playing games or watching things on handheld devices like pads and phones, I conclude that for some kids, being pacified with these devices is a regular part of the daily routine.
And so to avoid ever even being able to get into that rut, I haven't bought any such device and do not intend to do so.
Once again, trying hard not to be judgemental, but as everyone who has kids probably knows already, child rearing decisions are some of the hardest things *not* to be judgemental about, as they are so personal and the stakes feel so high.
YMMV.
Holy hell, how did you get a "+5, Insightful" for getting it exactly backwards? Apple's strength is doing things WELL, not doing things FIRST.
1998 - iMac - first all-in-one? No.
2001 - iPod - first digital music player? No.
2003 - iTunes Store - first place to buy digital content online? No.
2007 - iPhone - first touchscreen smartphone? No.
2010 - iPad - first tablet computer? No.
> Apple's entire business is based on breaking new
> ground with an innovative new product
Their innovation is making you say "wow, a cool tech product that isn't a giant piece of shit! This is what I wanted when people first started talking about _______!" They do this by innovating key refinements, usually with the goal of "ease of use."*
And given that there are plenty of shitty, underserved markets out there, I think they'll continue to do OK.
* I.e., they didn't make the iPhone with a capacitive touchscreen and hardware-accelerated GUI just because those specs look cool when listed on the side of the box -- they did it because it made the (properly-designed) interface extremely responsive, natural, realistic, and therefore easy to use.
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Apple's entire business is based on breaking new ground with an innovative new product, exploiting that products uniqueness before the rest start copying them and flood the market with "me too" devices. Then Apple has to move on to something else.
Which is why they've stopped making iPhones now that the market is flooded with cheap Android devi... oh, wait, they didn't.
Apple continues to improve its products, and it also makes fairly high quality stuff. My next desktop computer will be a Mac in part because I happen to prefer OS X over the abomination that is windows and the amateurish copycat that is the Linux desktop (not talking about servers here, all my servers run Linux), but also because of all the desktop computers I've ever owned, only my old C64 was more reliable and lasted longer.
This "running to stand still" existence cannot go on indefinitely.
Why not? Whether or not its true, there are other companies and even entire industries that work the same way, for example the fashion industry, and plenty of people have had a lifetime of employment from that.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org