“Last quarter, Apple’s iPad business — after suffering a long string of declines — returned to growth; unit shipments were up 15% year-over-year and revenue was up 2% year-over-year,” Ashraf Eassa reports for The Motley Fool. “Tt’s an encouraging start.”
“I think that Apple’s iPad business has a real chance of delivering sustained, if rather modest, growth over the long-term, even if the overall tablet market remains weak,” Eassa reports. “Many tablet vendors have cut back their investments in the product category, if not outright exited the market. Additionally, many of the remaining vendors appear locked in a race-to-the-bottom, with the focus being on cost rather than on innovation at higher price points.”
“Unlike its competitors, though, Apple hasn’t taken its foot off the gas in terms of iPad technology innovation,” Eassa reports. “Apple seems to be doubling down on building iPad-specific features into its iOS operating system, rather than redirecting its research and development efforts elsewhere. All this indicates that Apple is thinking about iPad for the long term, rather than about the category in terms of the kind of near-term financial return that it’ll drive.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Since its inception, iPad has always been the future of personal computing for the masses, it just really needed what iOS 11 will soon deliver to fulfill its promise!
SEE ALSO:
Apple’s iOS 11-powered iPad vs. the Mac – August 21, 2017
Apple’s iOS 11 turns the iPad Pro into the only device your family needs – June 28, 2017
Apple’s iPad Pro is now a true photographer’s tool – June 26, 2017
10.5-inch iPad Pro: Back on an Apple computing device, but not in the form I anticipated – June 23, 2017
Apple’s powerful, new 10.5-inch iPad Pro is a typing champ – June 22, 2017
Apple’s iPad Pro and iOS 11 will finally kill the MacBook Air – June 21, 2017
How Apple’s iPad Pro’s 120Hz ProMotion technology works – and why it’s awesome! – June 21, 2017
Tim Bajarin: Apple’s iOS 11 finally brings Steve Jobs’ vision for the iPad to life – June 20, 2017
Macworld reviews Apple’s 10.5-inch iPad Pro: ‘If any iPad replaces the MacBook, it’s this one’
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
CNBC review: In the market for a new tablet? You should buy Apple’s new 10.5-inch iPad Pro – June 17, 2017
TechCrunch reviews new 10.5-inch iPad Pro: ‘Apple pays off its future-of-computing promise’ – June 14, 2017
Apple’s game-changing 12.9- and 10.5-inch iPad Pros arrive in stores – June 13, 2017
Jim Dalrymple reviews Apple’s new 10.5-inch iPad Pro: Highly recommended – June 12, 2017
LAPTOP reviews Apple’s new 10.5-inch iPad Pro: Amazingly fast performance beats most Windows laptops – June 12, 2017
Ars Technica reviews Apple’s 10.5-inch iPad Pro: Much more ‘pro’ than what it replaces – June 12, 2017
These go to 11: Apple makes iOS more Mac-like and iPad’s promise is finally realized – June 9, 2017
Apple inc. has never taken their “eye off the ball” with the iPad!
How come, you may ask?
The iPad “declining sales” were all down to two clear factors:
1) iPad was so well designed that the replacement cycle was longer than initially anticipated
2) larger screen iPhones ate into the iPad mini sales
All this time, Apple inc. has continued to provide innovative and incremental updates to the iPad hardware, software and overall experience.
Truth is there is really only one table market worth a fig, the “iPad market”, the rest is junk!!
Everyone is blaming Apple for the iPad sales decline and I don’t understand why. It’s obvious most consumers want a nice cheap tablet like what Amazon is offering. People are using tablets to consume content and they’re not willing to pay a premium price. I don’t feel Apple should simply build a cheap tablet to boost sales. Apple has its own standards and if consumers don’t want to pay for quality, that’s not Apple’s fault.
I’m sure Apple’s tablet revenue was still the highest in the business, but all anyone ever seems concerned about is declining market share. If there are Chinese manufacturers willing to sell low-quality $50 to $100 tablets and there are consumers happy to buy them, then there is nothing Apple can do except building cheap junk to compete with them. However, why should Apple build cheap junk just to sell more tablets? That’s not how Apple does things. Sometimes a manufacturer who sells good products has to take a beating because consumers are indifferent. Saying Apple isn’t doing enough to increase iPad sales is just being stupid. There can be many other reasons. Maybe expensive tablets simply fell out of favor to other versatile computing devices. Although I think iPads are nice, I rather pay more for a keyboard-equipped notebook computer that runs OSX. That’s just my preference and not a failing on Apple’s part.
iPad Pro + Apple Pencil = marriage made in heaven for people like me.
I once owned an iPad now I don’t. Why? The lack of a centralised file browser that makes inter-app sharing of files easy was a major drain on my productivity using it. I’ve been using a Mac in the meantime.
Now that Apple seems to have made iOS 11 a serious contender on the productivity front, I’m willing to give the next iPad a closer look.
I totally agree.
iPad Pro is now the best mac out there in my opinion and with iOS11 the iPad Pro is a total winner.
I deliberately waited for the 2nd 12″ iPad Pro before buying one and am amazed how fast it is.
Being a business owner and designer I can literally do everything I need in it to run my business and design my conceptual design work!
Yes it’s expensive but you pay for what you get – that’s one thing I learnt many years ago when buying t chnology, always buy the best that you can afford!