“On the whole, Apple’s June quarter was a huge success. The company posted record revenue for the quarter and delivered earnings per share that blew analyst expectations out of the water,” Yoni Heisler writes for TUAW. “Quarterly iPad sales, however, were somewhat disappointing. Apple during the June quarter sold 13.3 million units, a 9.2% drop from the same quarter a year-ago and well below analyst expectations of 14.16 million units. What’s more, iPad sales growth has been stagnant two straight quarters now.”
“The resulting problem with iPad sales estimates is that they rest on frameworks that were originally crafted to examine completely different products categories. The iPad has different use cases than smartphones and traditional PCs. It has its own pricing structure and naturally carries with it a different refresh cycle.,” Heisler writes. “Though the iPad is essentially a cross between a modern day smartphone and a PC, people seem to expect iPad sales growth to more closely mirror the iPhone than the Mac. And by and large this has proven to be the case amidst modest Mac growth over the past few years. But with the tablet market maturing, perhaps a recalibration is in order.”
“Perhaps the issue isn’t waning iPad interest, but rather the simple fact that consumers are less inclined to upgrade to a newer iPad model as they are with an iPhone,” Heisler writes. “Consumers don’t need a tablet in the same way they need a traditional PC and a smartphone. The iPad’s strength has never been its ability to completely supplant the PC in all computing environments, but rather as a new product category capable of fusing the power of a desktop with the mobility of a smartphone. To that end, the iPad’s very strength is also its weakness, which is to say that it’s not as powerful as a PC nor is it as portable as an iPhone.”
“Notably, Tim Cook addressed slumping iPad sales during Apple’s earnings conference call, explaining that ‘this isn’t something that worries us,'” Heisler writes. “He also said that there’s more innovation Apple can provide in the tablet space.”
Read more in the full article – recommended – here.
Not slumping. They’re “pining for the fjords”. Norwegian Blue. Lovely plumage. 😉
Great reference.:)
Hey! I realize I was cribbing lines from Monty Python without due credit, but you just hijacked my exact message from another thread. If you want to be original steal your own lines or you’ll be joining the choir invisible yourself. I may have to take you for a scrape ’round to Dinsdale’s, and you know what that means… sarcasm! I’ve seen grown men chew their own heads off rather than see old Dinsy.
Word
dmz
Bought an iPod Touch (They make great VoIP Phones- BTW) yesterday, but no new iPad for me until after the next update. The iPad Air will go to Gazelle like previous models.
Well, yes, the iPad’s sales are slumping. Down almost 10-percent the past quarter, and down 16-percent before that.
How is that not a ‘sales slump?’
And absolutely no one is waiting for the next iPad iteration.
What’s more, no iPad owner buys every other new iPad.
As a result, iPad sales will drop out of sight this time next Wednesday.
iPads and iPhones are different creatures. Thanks to the clueless bumpkins, morons, shills, and general all-around goobers who “analyze” and write about the tech industry (who either can’t or won’t think anything through to logical conclusions) nor provide useful, meaningful information, we have “news” pushed into the media cesspool that is at best inaccurate and at worst, willfully, intentionally false.
If, as Daniel Dilger (and many others) suggest, one were to count iPads as “computers”, things look very, very bright for Apple. But this thinking would mess up the memes adopted by other tech companies and their paid-for shills, so iPads are called “toys” and “media consumption devices”. Anything to denigrate and marginalize.
Journalism in general is pathetic these days, but tech “journalism” is an utter joke.
Mac sales were up YOY. iPad sales have been down YOY for several quarters now. That’s a slump.
I thought the same thing. I guess it’s down to semantics. The definition of “slump” is “a sudden severe or prolonged fall…” If you go by that definition, is a 12 percent drop “severe?”
Yes, significant
And yet through this so-called slump, Apple has been able to continue significant growth in revenue and profit.
Doomed. Definitely doomed.
The original rate of growth was insane.
The world is just taking a breather while it figures out what it can do with its new toy. 😛
Couldn’t agree more. In the table space, Apple is selling 13-14M a quarter even with this so-called slump. And these are ending up in user’s hands, not sitting in some warehouse somewhere. How many companies would give up their CEO’s first born to have one such franchise? Apple has three, and its ecosystem is generating tons of revenue, as well. Tim Cook has a right not to worry. (Nonetheless, I’ll bet he grinds every day on what he can do to make Apple better.)
Very interesting article. A very prescient Steve Job’s who pushed work ahead on the iPhone and held back the iPad. These little key decisions have had such a huge impact on Apple.
The iPad is a new product type and what we are looking at is early adaptor sales. The iPad is a mobile tablet, not a PC tablet. A tablet built on smartphone hardware and software. Microsoft has been pushing a tablet based off PC hardware and software for a decade. They are not the same. The iPad is a new category and like every other new tech it takes the early adaptors to find the uses for the product: and we are. The new IBM deal is bigger than people realize. This is where portable tablets find their place in the work space. Where a lot of non tech people are given one and become comfortable with it. Where people start making money with it. When the CD first came out it was only a few people who got one. Then the PC people started using them for something other than playing songs and it took off. The early adaptors found new uses for it in the work space. Then almost everyone got a CD player. This is not a slump, it is the start of phase two.
I am still using my second generation iPad that seem like I had for 5 years but I don’t think they have been out tat long. Anyway this winter I’m upgrading everything iPhones iPads and going to get a 27″ iMac and mode as well get the TV it’s because this stuff last forever. I have a Mac Classic somewhere that I no still works
Ipad sales are down no matter how you define them (doesn’t matter if they are “PCs” or “smart phones”). Yes, Apple still sells heaps of them and make loads of money, but 10% down remains 10% down, and that is a significant drop. The fact that it’s down for the second quarter is simply not a good sign. Cook will obviously claim that this is nothing to worry about (it’s his job to claim this), but he should (and he will) worry about it (to not worry would be to be in denial, and the guy is no idiot…). Also, guess how the new iphones with larger screens will affect the sales of the insanely lucrative ipad mini… Ouch…
Having owned two of these marvelous devices already, I think DED has a point that the iPad life-cycle is a little longer than the iPhone. People tend to change iPhones every two years because their contracts allow them to. For the iPad, I dumped the first-gen and go the third-gen because I could see the writing on the wall for the first-gen, but I haven’t felt much need to sell my third-gen and get an Air.
Obviously I’d like something lighter, but I might as well wait to see what the iPad 6 looks like before deciding what to do (get a refurb’d Air? A Retina Mini mark 2?). Going forward, I can easily see a three-to-five year life cycle for iPads.
I finally became an iPad owner last December. I can’t see replacing it until I start to see performance issues or the new OS won’t run on it. On average, that means 3-4 years.
My wife got one of the original 2010 iPads, and didn’t replace it until late 2013. The motivation then was some new games that wouldn’t play on her old iPad.
It’s not like the iPhone, where new bells and whistles entice you to get a new one as soon as your contract expires.
——RM
Original iPad, iPad 2 iPad 3 owners probably all refresh with the next new iPad.
I love giving away iPads to nephews and nieces.
They love it too.
we were just so excited when ipad, iphone came out few years ago. now we have various models to choose from apple to other android. as we know, this market is already full. it will slowly decline next few years. oh, I am sure. nobody wants to buy the same design, the same technology phone or tablet anymore. now Samsung profit is dropped due to cheap Chinese phones. it is applied for Apple as well even it got unique OS. apple is not like what it was supposed to be now.