“Apple Inc is expected to unveil thinner and more powerful iPads on Thursday ahead of the holiday season but may struggle to arouse passion for tablets among consumers already over-supplied with hand-held, touch-screen devices,” Bill Rigby reports for Reuters.
“Tablet sales are set to rise only 11 percent this year, according to new forecasts by tech research firm Gartner, compared to 55 percent growth last year, even as smartphone sales continue to soar and PC sales trickle back,” Rigby reports. “Tablet sales for Apple, which defined the category with the iPad just four years ago, have fallen for two straight quarters. Investors remain focused on the iPhone, Apple’s main revenue generator, but a prolonged downturn in iPad sales would threaten about 15 percent of the company’s revenue.”
“More than 50 percent of households in the United States, for example, already have one or more tablets, and are waiting longer to replace them. ‘Going beyond 50 percent will take a while,’ said Mikako Kitagawa, an analyst at Gartner,” Rigby reports. “Tablets now find themselves squeezed from below by ever-larger smartphones, such as Apple’s new iPhone 6 Plus… and from above by the latest lightweight laptops. Gartner is forecasting that this ‘ultramobile premium’ segment – for example Apple’s MacBook Air… will be the fastest-growing device category next year, rather than tablets.”
Read more in the full article here.
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I think tablets probably need a hike in abilities to regain their sales growth moth people accept them as an additional device as opposed to a replacement device while bigger phones are being touted as a tablet replacement device. That said i still think this is but a plateau before another big move ahead when people see the point in replacing the one they have due to added capabilities. Smart phones have hit similar blocks despite much greater incentive to replace one or two years in. iPads tend to be double that I would guess.
Exactly, they need USB ports 🙂
Far too often, some clueless person assumes that old tech is the solution to all their problems. Can’t you imaging any other solution that is better? (think WiFi or Bluetooth or Cloud or . . . )
And Floppy Drives!
Days of physical connectivity is going going gone… iPad growth is limited by the excellent quality of iPads.
If iPad was from Apple without iPhone then we would see much more powerful CPU, more RAM, HD and 4K compatible resolution management, TouchId, NFC, more advance memory management for better multi-tasking, multiple app running on the screen, larger screen, more API for connecting corporate security controls, to name a few. iOS has opened up the OS in many ways including additional security capabilities for corporate mkt which has not been talked about much and I think that is because Apple is waiting to do that tomorrow.
64Bit CPU came about to allow addressing larger display, they really did not need 64bit for instruction sets. Apple should grow iOS to become more advance OS (it has the CPU power and it has the memory capabilities).
I believe Apple’s deal with IBM should help Apple see how to grow iPad lines.
The new iPad will feature a 12.1″ screen which will drive demand for an additional 3 million unit sales in 2014.
Correction: Gartner’s estimate is that tablet sales will rise 31% this year, due to demand for the new iPad.
Thinner means more “Bendgate” nonsense
At least they won’t fit in your back pocket. Now the morons will end up sitting on them instead and blame Apple because they didn’t make them moron proof, unless there’s an app for that. 😛
I thought the same thing. Morons bending iPads for YouTube hits and making money doing it.
When the 12.9″ iPad comes out, I think that will attract people who are looking for a bigger screen. My iPad 2 is nearly 12 inches in diameter and is a comfortable size to hold. However it has a 1 inch bezel. By expanding the screen size, narrowing the bezel, and making it thinner, a 12.9″ iPad would be similar in physical size to an iPad 2 (in regards to holding it), but visually would seem much bigger.
Happy with my iPad Air (1). Powerful enough to last me for a number of years. Hell, my iPad 3 is still going strong (it’s my son’s now).
I love my iPad and don’t see life without it, but I have to recognize it’s a limited device as compared to, say, a MacBook. While the iPad makes a fine companion to a full computer, it in no way fully replaces a computer.
No file storage structure, insufficient RAM, websites default to mobile versions…
I love using the iPad for reading, watching and even playing music (can’t do that on a MacBook). But try to use the iPad to work with hundreds of photos while on vacation then post them to the web. It’s an exercise in frustration. iMovie is the app that comes closest to replicating the OS X experience, but importing the video to an iPad isn’t nearly as effortless as it is on a PC.
As laptops get thinner and lighter, the only thing that’ll move iPad sales is lower pricing.
Such nonsense! Constantly exploding sales is not the measure of success, Bill. So they flatten off at some point. Duh.