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Apple: iPad Sales at High End of 'Internal Expectations', 2/3 of Users New to Device

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Apr 12, 2001
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During Apple's earnings call today, Apple shared new details on the state of the iPad, including information on sales expectations, the launch of Microsoft Office for the device, the education market, and the use of the tablet compared to competitors.

ipad_air_family_20136.jpg

While the company's 16.35 million in iPad sales fell short of analyst expectations, Apple notes that sales came in at the high end of its internal expectations. Company executives cited two main factors: an increase in iPad channel inventory in the March 2013 quarter which artificially increased sales and that was "significantly" reduced this year; it also mentioned that it ended the December 2012 quarter with a substantial backlog of iPad mini orders that didn't shipped until 2013. The company added that it hit iPad supply/demand balance earlier in the launch cycle this year.

Apple also noted that two-thirds of people activating an iPad in the last six months were new to the device, while half of people registering an iPhone had never owned one before. Citing research from App Annie and Chitika, the company stated that the iPad generated four times the mobile web traffic as all Android tablets combined, and that two-thirds of US consumers that planned to purchase a tablet in the next 3 months would be purchasing an iPad.

CEO Tim Cook commented on the recent launch of Microsoft Office for the iPad, stating that the addition of the productivity suite "helps" and that it would have been financially beneficial for Microsoft to release the program "earlier". Overall, Cook noted that customers were "responding well" to Office in a field of many alternatives that were brought to the market, including Apple's own iWork suite for the iPad as well as competitors from other developers.

Cook also noted that Apple has a 95% share in the education market and that the company's focus was on getting more iPads into classrooms. He says the iPad is "the fastest growing product in Apple's history", and that the company is determined to stay focused on the things "we do best" and said that the company focuses on getting the details the right as opposed to simply being the first to launch.

Apple is expected to introduce updated models of the iPad Air and Retina iPad Mini this year, with some rumors suggesting that the company will add a larger "iPad Pro" to its tablet lineup in the near future.

Article Link: Apple: iPad Sales at High End of 'Internal Expectations', 2/3 of Users New to Device
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/04/23/ipad-high-end-expectations-2-3-users-new/
B

billystlyes

macrumors 6502a
Jul 5, 2004
569
6
Sold my iPad Air. It had the worst screen of all the iPads I've had. It feels cheap almost like plastic. It makes cheap, hollow, tappy sounds when you use it too. Very annoying.
 
R

Rodster

macrumors 68040
May 15, 2007
3,177
6
This is nothing but a corporation putting a good spin on declining sales. The competition offers better products for less if you want a different ecosystem. I prefer iPad's but the whole product line has gotten too predictable and stale.
 
K

KPOM

macrumors P6
Oct 23, 2010
18,024
7,867
Rodster said:
This is nothing but a corporation putting a good spin on declining sales. The competition offers better products for less if you want a different ecosystem. I prefer iPad's but the whole product line has gotten too predictable and stale.
Click to expand...

iPad is simply a maturing product. It still has most of the profits. After all it's. It like anyone else has done anything interesting either, unless you consider a clunky 13" device to be "innovative."
 
Iconoclysm

Iconoclysm

macrumors 68040
May 13, 2010
3,121
2,545
Washington, DC
Rodster said:
This is nothing but a corporation putting a good spin on declining sales. The competition offers better products for less if you want a different ecosystem. I prefer iPad's but the whole product line has gotten too predictable and stale.
Click to expand...

And this is nothing but speculation and ignoring facts that were put in front of you.
 
Tankmaze

Tankmaze

macrumors 68000
Mar 7, 2012
1,707
351
CEO Tim Cook commented on the recent launch of Microsoft Office for the iPad, stating that the addition of the productivity suite "helps" and that it would have been financially beneficial for Microsoft to release the program "earlier". Overall
Click to expand...

Tablet is not as fast moving as smartphones, my ipad 2 still works fine and fast for the task that I do.

I think Tim is right, productivity apps is the one that will leverage tablet uses.
 
69Mustang

69Mustang

macrumors 604
Jan 7, 2014
7,895
15,043
In between a rock and a hard place
"While the company's 16.35 million in iPad sales fell short of analyst expectations, Apple notes that sales came in at the high end of its internal expectations. Company executives cited two main factors: an increase in iPad channel inventory in the March 2013 quarter which artificially increased sales and that was "significantly" reduced this year..."

That's quite interesting to me.

This on the other hand: "Citing research from App Annie and Chitika... and that two-thirds of US consumer that planned to purchase a tablet in the next 3 months would be purchasing an iPad." was just funny.
 
G

G4DP

macrumors 65816
Mar 28, 2007
1,451
3
Iconoclysm said:
And this is nothing but speculation and ignoring facts that were put in front of you.
Click to expand...

iPad sales are down 16%. The market is saturated. Cook ha to put as positive spin on things it's his job. As for the rest of the bollocks about stock being undervalued, well he's just lying.
 
Crosscreek

Crosscreek

macrumors 68030
Nov 19, 2013
2,892
5,793
Margarittaville
The IPads is really getting saturated. IMHO it needs a file system, multitasking and more integration with OSX.

It was groundbreaking when it was released and it needs a do over to make it groundbreaking again.
 
J

JAT

macrumors 603
Dec 31, 2001
6,473
124
Mpls, MN
G4DP said:
iPad sales are down 16%. The market is saturated. Cook ha to put as positive spin on things it's his job. As for the rest of the bollocks about stock being undervalued, well he's just lying.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure you know the significance behind "market is saturated" if you think "spin" is necessary because of it.
 
Elbon

Elbon

macrumors 6502a
Jan 9, 2008
574
367
Boston, MA
billystlyes said:
Sold my iPad Air. It had the worst screen of all the iPads I've had. It feels cheap almost like plastic. It makes cheap, hollow, tappy sounds when you use it too. Very annoying.
Click to expand...

Agreed. The thing is too thin. The screen on my iPad Air spontaneously cracked. I'm guessing it was due to flex. I don't think the body is rigid enough. The 4th gen is noticeably heavier but feels much more solid.

----------
Tankmaze said:
I think Tim is right, productivity apps is the one that will leverage tablet uses.
Click to expand...

Not unless they improve the user experience. I bought an iPad Air as a laptop replacement and ultimately switched back to the laptop. The lack of full keyboard support on the iPad is a major drawback.

----------
John.B said:
Have I mentioned iPads w/ Touch ID integrated with user profiles would fly off the shelves? I have? Really? OK. Carry on.
Click to expand...

That would definitely be a useful feature, but it wouldn't be a major selling point for me. I'd much rather see improved keyboard and multitasking support.
 
M

mcarling

macrumors 65816
Oct 22, 2009
1,292
180
newyorksole said:
I wonder if the iPads will get TouchID this year...
Click to expand...

I think you're onto something here. I expected the iPad Air and the Retina iPad mini to sell better. I suspect a lot of people may be waiting for TouchID to come to the iPad. I love TouchID on my iPhone 5S.
 
kdarling

kdarling

macrumors P6
Jun 9, 2007
17,373
5,924
First university coding class = 47 years ago
Iconoclysm said:
And this is nothing but speculation and ignoring facts that were put in front of you.
Click to expand...

What facts is he ignoring? What facts are you ignoring?

Even going along with Cook's explanation of how they shipped far more units a year ago than were sold to end users (yes, the silly shipped-vs-sold thing often works against Apple as well), iPad sales were still down 3% year-over-year.

And Cook said that was at the "high end of our expectation". Makes one wonder how much lower they had expected sales to drop.

It's not just market saturation. I think Apple needs something new. Perhaps take a cue from Android tablets, and add features like multi-user Touch Id profiles for families, and pen digitizers for artists.

In other words, Apple needs to give people some decent reasons to upgrade.
 
I

iolinux333

macrumors 68000
Feb 9, 2014
1,798
73
mcarling said:
I think you're onto something here. I expected the iPad Air and the Retina iPad mini to sell better. I suspect a lot of people may be waiting for TouchID to come to the iPad. I love TouchID on my iPhone 5S.
Click to expand...


I'm waiting for Touch ID *and* more RAM.
 
newyorksole

newyorksole

macrumors 603
Apr 2, 2008
5,086
6,381
New York.
mcarling said:
I think you're onto something here. I expected the iPad Air and the Retina iPad mini to sell better. I suspect a lot of people may be waiting for TouchID to come to the iPad. I love TouchID on my iPhone 5S.
Click to expand...

I NEVER use passcodes, but TouchID works soooo freaking well that now I'm always going to have it on. Very convenient and very secure.
 
I

iolinux333

macrumors 68000
Feb 9, 2014
1,798
73
mcarling said:
I can understand a desire for more storage, but why do you think you need more RAM?
Click to expand...


I've seen so many complaints I've decided that the lack of ram problem on the iPad is probably real. It may not be but I don't want to take that chance with $800 of my dollars.
 
J

JackieInCo

Suspended
Jul 18, 2013
5,178
1,601
Colorado
iolinux333 said:
I've seen so many complaints I've decided that the lack of ram problem on the iPad is probably real. It may not be but I don't want to take that chance with $800 of my dollars.
Click to expand...

After owning the Retina Mini since December, I decided the amount of ram in the iPad was not an issue and also bought an air. Best buying decisions I made in the last six months. :)
 
M

mcarling

macrumors 65816
Oct 22, 2009
1,292
180
iolinux333 said:
I've seen so many complaints I've decided that the lack of ram problem on the iPad is probably real. It may not be but I don't want to take that chance with $800 of my dollars.
Click to expand...

I think those people are superstitious. The iPad either has enough RAM to run iPad apps or it doesn't.

"Although Mac OS X supports a backing store, iOS does not. In iPhone applications, read-only data that is already on the disk (such as code pages) is simply removed from memory and reloaded from disk as needed. Writable data is never removed from memory by the operating system. Instead, if the amount of free memory drops below a certain threshold, the system asks the running applications to free up memory voluntarily to make room for new data. Applications that fail to free up enough memory are terminated."

Source: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2732434
 
R

Rodster

macrumors 68040
May 15, 2007
3,177
6
iolinux333 said:
I've seen so many complaints I've decided that the lack of ram problem on the iPad is probably real. It may not be but I don't want to take that chance with $800 of my dollars.
Click to expand...

Some believe RAM is a problem others don't. Either way you made a wise decision as $800 is a decent amount of money. I would wait for the iPad announcements in the Fall because the next iPad's will get some sort of spec bump. Who knows if they'll surprise us with an announcement at WWDC.
 
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