“On the eve of the Apple Event scheduled for tomorrow morning, Gartner rains down and states that the tablet trend is on a steep decline as growth has gone from 55% in 2013 to a measly 11% in 2014,” Jack Purcher reports for Patently Apple. “While Apple’s iPad sales have been down for the last two quarters, the tide could begin to turn as early as tomorrow if Apple could deliver something that brings back that original iPad magic.”
“Gartner’s report states that ‘tablet sales growth is slowing in 2014 as new hardware buyers turn to alternative devices and existing users extend the lifetime of their tablets. Gartner, Inc. estimates that tablet sales worldwide will reach 229 million units in 2014, an 11 percent increase from 2013, representing 9.5 percent of total worldwide sales of devices in 2014. In 2013, tablet sales grew 55 percent,'” Purcher reports. “It’s a troubling trend.”
“Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has viewed the drop in tablet sales as just a breather in the market or a bump in the road as he pounding the table last quarter that there was significant innovation on the way,” Purcher writes. “I don’t know if Cook was referring to the iPad Plus or iPad Pro (however they brand it) that’s on the drawing board for early 2015 or something refreshing that we might expect to see roll out tomorrow.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Yeah, uh, about Gartner’s prognosticative abilities*:
Gartner: Microsoft Windows Phone market share to surpass Apple’s iOS in 2015 – April 7, 2011
*or lack thereof
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lynn Weiler” for the heads up.]
So what if it slows. They are still selling millions and making more money than the Droid companies.
Nothing to see here, just the usual stock manipulation.
Let’s be clear on this, by “slowing sales” they mean “increasing sales, but not by as much as last year.” So “declining rate of growth” somehow becomes a “troubling declining trend” and suddenly we should cower in fear of the coming apocalypse?
This is the standard doomsaying folks. The iPad is not the iPhone – not in terms of unit sales and not in terms of average refresh period. But it is still a great business on its own, and a substantial revenue and profit generator for Apple. The new models will spur sales in the holiday quarter and beyond. Tablet growth may never reach 55% YoY again… in fact, I doubt that it will come close. But a healthy slice of the most lucrative portion of 229M units (and still growing annually) is a great business. The only thing troubling about it is that I do not own more AAPL.
Wouldn’t we expect iPad sales growth to slow as they approach market saturation? Eventually almost everyone who wants one will have one. Plus, people don’t replace tablets as often as they replace phones.
In other words, this is all normal and expected. I doubt Apple is worried in the slightest.
——RM
Apple is not afraid to cannibalize its own product lines. Sales have slowed due to the anticipation of the new iPhones. The iPhone 6/6+ series is likely going to take away iPad sales, but That’s OK.
Because FUD never sleeps……..
(Never mind that the PC industry would kill its own mother for an 11% growth rate)
Interesting post on the import of the IBM partnership, here:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/2321785-apple-and-ibm-connecting-the-dots-part-2-hidden-implications
This will probably be an important part of the media event tomorrow.
If the story is FUD, then the headline should say so.
Don’t bury FUD for the punchline.
Survey companies forget something very critical to end users when they issue these reports.
The iPad 1 is still eminently useful for a huge % of users!
My wife will upgrade when she thinks she needs something more some way. I’ll ad units in the business when more employees come on board.
Try that Samsung!
Apple needs to mature the iPad experience if they wish to move it past a media consumption and casual gaming device.
Printing is a total mess on iOS compared to a Mac for example. Why should this be at this late date?
Hey MDN, it’s not 2015 yet! 😉
Apple sold more iOS devices in iPhone 6 and 6 Plus’ launch month than Microsoft will sell Windows Phones for the entire year. Gartner needs several acts of God for their prediction to come true.
Personally, I’d much prefer a laptop with a physical keyboard and a mouse. Can’t STAND touchscreen devices. Can’t wait for that first iPhone with a blackberry like keyboard.
As said above, there is NO DECLINE in sales; there is, however, a decline in growth rate.
Selling 20 million in the first year, then another 20 million in the second year represented 100% growth. Selling 205 million in the fifth year, then 229 million in the next represented 11%. Growth rate dropped from 100% to 11%. But they sold 25 million MORE devices from last year to this, compared to the growth in the first year.
Yes, growth rate is declining, but the tablet business is still growing. Of course, when you read this article, the message you take away is the opposite…