9.7-Inch iPad Pro Is Apple's Last Chance To Save the iPad Line (bgr.com)

An anonymous reader writes from an article written by Yoni Heisler on BGR: The iPad occupies a unique place in the annals of tech history. Upon its release in 2010, Apple's first stab at a tablet quickly set sales records. Not only did early iPad sales outpace early iPhone sales, but the iPad quickly became one of the fastest selling consumer electronics products of all time. The iPad's once-auspicious journey, however, would eventually take an unexpected detour. In what seemed like a blink of an eye, soaring sales began to taper off, even as Apple began to introduce newer and more advanced models. Today, iPad sales are still slumping. During Apple's most recent earnings report, the company revealed that year over year iPad sales fell by 25% while iPad related revenue dropped by 20%. Hardly an aberration, iPad sales have been dropping for well over two years at this point. And whereas Tim Cook once took to earnings conference calls to praise the iPad, he now finds himself forced to defend the iPad against a barrage of analyst questions. Yesterday, Apple released a new 9.7-inch iPad Pro and it stands to reason that this is Apple's last chance to truly inject a bit of life into a faltering product line.

Comments

Maybe increase the product longevity

[Kazuma-san]

If your product does not offer any improvements over the one the consumers already have, and if it has to compete with an ever more crowded market space sales of course will dwindle. Apple might consider increasing the live cycles of their products. After all, there is no point in offering a product with better performance if hardly anybody wants it. I myself am an Android user. Changing from Motorola Droid to Galaxy S2 and than to HTC M9 were always great improvements. But now with the M10 on the horizon I cannot imagine why I should want one.

Re:Maybe increase the product longevity

[Anonymous Coward]

iPad sales were huge in the beginning because . . . DUH . . . . the market for tablets was wide open. Now, nearly 6 years later, the market is saturated. Everyone who wants one, has one, and because the iPad is so over-priced, people are not going to rush out to buy a new one, they're more likely to stick with what they have.

A "more powerful" iPad doesn't really get you much. It's still strictly for content consumption and niche functions. For the same price as the top of the line iPad I can buy a laptop that beats it in every meaningful category -- screen size, CPU power, RAM, storage space, etc. -- AND is actually powerful enough to run real software and do real work.

Re:Maybe increase the product longevity

[dgatwood]

The thing is, build quality has always been part of what made Apple great. They build products that last. That's a big part of why people are willing to pay a premium for them. Sure, Apple could start building junk that doesn't last, but the moment they do, they stop being Apple, and all that's left is a race to the bottom.

The real problem is that nothing has really changed since the first model other than CPU speed and RAM. What would make me consider upgrading an iPad? Make it just a little thicker and double the battery life. Give it front-facing stereo speakers. Beyond those missing features, until the CPU requirements of apps exceeds the hardware's capabilities, a tablet is like a TV set. It is going to get many years of use, and unless you drop and break it, upgrades are unlikely.

So if Apple really wants to drive people to upgrade hardware, they have to provide a reason for developers to build serious, CPU-hungry apps for the devices. That means they need more storage to accommodate such apps. They need better ability to import and/or acquire media. And so on. And realistically, the sorts of apps that demand this don't lend themselves to tablets very well, so they'll probably need to add a full-size slide-around keyboard, too. By the time you get to that point, you basically have a laptop. In other words, an iPad is unlikely to ever truly be "pro" by the traditional definition. The very core of its design is contrary to things like video editing, RAW photo editing and photo library management, etc.

In other words, I don't think there's anything Apple can do about this. The nature of markets is that they eventually mature into a zero-sum game, and this market is there already. The best thing Apple can do is come up with new product categories, whether we're talking about accessories, cases, thermostats, lighting control systems... things that integrate well with iPad, and use those both as additional sources of revenue and as ways of selling more iPads.

Re:Maybe increase the product longevity

[shmlco]

I was tempted by the 12" iPad Pro due to its Pencil support, but went to a store and tried one and the silly thing was just too big for the majority of my use cases (reading, news, documentation). The new 9.7" version, however, may be just the ticket.

I also just checked and I can sell my current Air 2 model for about 80% of the original purchase price on Amazon.

Which is another thing with iPads: Not only do many of the original models work just fine, but every user that upgrades essentially puts another one on the market and takes out another potential buyer.

IMHO THAT"S a major, major factor in regard to flattened sales in the tablet market. And as you pointed out, that's why Apple is pushing keyboards and pencils and other accessories to the niches that might need (or simply want) them.

Re:Maybe increase the product longevity

[bangular]

There was a time in this country that building a quality product that lasted a long time was seen POSITIVELY by your investors.

Yeah, a "failing" 7 billion dollar item

[goombah99]

Revenue on ipads is 7 billion and that's just last quarter. So yeah it's down from 8 billion. boo hoo. It's only several times Tesla's revenue. The difference being it's profitable and Tesla isn't.