GigaOm:
Yes, the quarterly sales are down from the prior three months and the year-ago period. Apple sold 16.3 million iPads in the first three months of this year and 14.6 million in the fiscal third quarter of 2013. Look at the iPad sales data since Apple’s tablet debuted and you can see a broader view of the same thing: The iPad sales growth rate overall has slowed of late.
I don’t think this is cause for alarm. Expecting iPad sales growth to mirror that of the iPhone, which is still on a relatively stronger upward direction, is unreasonable for a number of reasons.
People are slowly coming to the realization that maybe, just maybe, the sky isn’t falling.
As this article and many others have pointed out, for a lot of people, there’s no great rush to upgrade or update their iPads.
There’s all sorts of little stories in that data that aren’t being told. See that surge? A lot more people got iPads in Sep 2013 quarter (Q1 2014) vs. Sep 2012 quarter (Q1 2013). The products are interesting, too: “2013”‘s product lineup included the iPad mini; “2014”‘s included the iPad mini 2. Remember how the nerds thought Retina was critical?
I have no idea what these little stories add up to, though, it’s just interesting.
No one really thinks the sky is falling. But like apps, music and accessories, punditry is part of the Apple ecosystem. Some, like Yukari Kane, like to exaggerate how bad things are. Some are over the top zealous fanboys. It’s no different than sports or politics. To make a living as a pundit, hyperbole is a tool.
I’m one of them. I have a perfectly good and well working iPad 2. I have no desire to update as of yet. I’m using it right now. I barely use my iMac at home anymore, this suits my home needs quite well. Touch ID is not something I desire for the iPad either. Maybe for my iPhone, but I have an iPhone 5 and that’ll be lasting a while too I’m sure.
Absolutely. I know at least a dozen of people still using an iPad 3, which works perfectly fine with iOS 7 unless you try to play any A7 optimized games. “Retina” was a huge argument to update, the A7 and a lighter body were not creating the same urge for people not needing them.
I (nutcase) had every single iPad so far (except for the Retina Mini) and love my iPad Air. I don’t think an A8 and TouchID would really make me upgrade this year (unless there’s more). The Air is more than fast enough, and I don’t unlock my iPad that often. Of course, if a lot of Apps will use TouchID, I might change my tune 🙂
With no desire for a larger phone and potentially nothing urging me to get a new iPad, this might be the cheapest iDevice year since 2007 for me. C’mon Apple: screw me with a 4k iMac.
I think it’s iOS 7, which made iPhone much worse, but made iPad much, much, much worse. They also made iPad look more like the cheap, generic, Android tablets that have maybe 1% of the functionality. It should look like a Mac, which is the only high-end PC that is available. iPad needs to communicate that it is a mobile Mac, not that it is a big Android phone.
I know from my own experience, I went into an Apple Store at the end of last year to upgrade my iPad and I was appalled at how bad iOS 7 was on the iPad, and then the demo unit crashed on me. Stability is the thing I value most about the iPad, so I left the store without buying a new iPad. That is something that I would never have imagined doing before iOS 7. So I helped to reduce those iPad sales numbers, and it was completely about how much iOS 7 sucks.
There is a lot to like about OS X Yosemite — I am hoping that the next step is to make iOS 8 look and feel more like Yosemite. The icons in Yosemite are about 1000x better than in iOS 7, the data hierarchies are 1000x better than in iOS 7, and dark mode is sorely needed in iOS 7. Right now, iOS 7 is set on stun, with the unobstructed device backlight wide open, burning holes into your retina. That is not what Retina Display is supposed to mean.
I was in the same boat as you, but I got an offer for my iPad 2 and the upgrade price came down to $250.00 so I decided to upgrade. It’s faster and lighter, but you are right, the iPad 2 had the same functionality than the iPad Air. Maybe I got Siri too, but I can’t think of a time I have used it since upgrading.