“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.