Apple Launches New 'Everything Changes With iPad' Site

[Constable Odo]

I'm not sure why there is always an obsession with 'growing' sales.

The iPad isn't something you need to constantly replace. I have the Air, I'm not willing to spend $600 or so to get the Air 2 just so it will go slightly faster and have the Touch ID.

I'm sure I am among millions of happy iPad owners who are not going to rush out out buy every new version that comes out.

I'm fairly certain Tim Cook said that is a Wall Street obsession of constantly growing iPad sales. Wall Street is run by a bunch of greedy jackasses. Any one with any common sense would realize Apple's profit margins are higher if they sell larger iPhones in place of iPads. So why should Tim Cook and Apple get all bent out of shape if iPad sales are declining. It's not as if consumers are dumping their older iPads for new Android or Windows tablets. They're simply holding on to their older iPads which are still useful to them. It's Wall Street that believes Apple should be able to sell all of its products in equally high numbers which I say is fairly impossible. I don't think every consumer needs every product in the Apple lineup and definitely not multiples of the same product. That's just Wall Street greed gone wild.

I believe there are a finite number of consumers who NEED tablets and eventually sales decline will stabilize. I'm not sure who is stupid enough to think that sales of all products grow indefinitely, even in theory. Right now there's large-display smartphone growth and in time iPad sales may start to increase again. What's the big hurry? Consumers can't or shouldn't be forced to just keep spending money on products they don't really need. That's not necessarily Apple's fault although some people think it is.

I'd thought Apple would be able to greatly increase iPad sales through educational institution means, but that seems to be at a dead end. I guess schools are going with computers using physical keyboards instead of tablets with their virtual keyboards.

 

[teslo]

this microsite could have waited til the iPad pro.. otherwise, it's preaching to the choir methinks.

 

[ttss6]

I hope with WWDC 2015 they announce a new iPad OS similar to how they have a distinct variation of iOS on the Watch called Watch OS. Adding more hybrid features between OS X and iOS would reinvigorate iPad sales

 

[swingerofbirch]

I wonder how many of the sales they do have are from schools.

This is anecdotal of course but the only people I know with iPads (and most people I know are tech-oriented) are my mom and sister who both got iPads for personal use through their school. At my mom's school they have carts of iPads for each classroom that are never used. They just never came up with any curriculum for them. And my mom just found out that they are all being replaced with brand new iPad Air 2s. I think it's not so much that the school wants them but they're turning away free money if they don't take them. It has something to do with a state-wide technology fund. This is not a dig at teachers because they aren't compensated well enough for what they do, but in my mom's case she uses hers at home for watching movies and TV shows, etc. She does use it for e-mail with school and doing grades, as well, so I guess in that way it's less expensive than if she were given a laptop for those uses. But what about those cart-loads of iPads that are never used? I'm not saying that iPads couldn't be useful in schools, but at least in this case it's more of a bureaucratic mechanism that keeps the schools buying these whether they've planned to use them or not.

 

[RJCP]

1) no one cares about more ads.
2) optimise the operating system to take advantage of the bigger display instead of giving people an up scaled version of the phone OS.

3) SHIP THOSE WRETCHED WATCHES!!!

 

[Piggie]

The funny thing is, when you think about it.

THE very people who are most lightly to buy tablets, over say a Laptop ARE THE very people that are the most disinterested in computers in general, and will be the least lightly to be on a upgrade for the sake of it path.

It's like you have picked a product and sold it to the people less lightly to want a new version.

When it comes to other computing devices for different market sectors, they are gagging for new and better products.
Tablet users, by their very nature don't want/need or are interested in more and more power and features.
If they were that type of person, then they'd not be buying Tablets.

I know this does not apply to all, but I'd say it has a strong bearing.

Myself, I agree with an earlier poster here, and have been saying the same for years!
iPad had become boring as Apple have done nothing with it.
If anything they have made the UI even more embarrassing and iphone like.

I find it amazing, such a company cannot think of what to do with a 10" screen.

 

[Tiger8]

I'm not sure why there is always an obsession with 'growing' sales.

Because the category itself is growing, and if you are not growing at least as fast, then you are losing market share, i.e. shrinking, even if your year over year is the same (or even slightly higher)

 

[kodos]

Meh, we are replacing all of our iPads with Surfaces at home. The kids love their Surfaces - particularly because they can plug in ... a MOUSE.

Just got my wife a Surface 3 last night to replace her iMac.

If Apple could crack that same market, they'd have a sure-fire-winner for our household. The sad part of going to the Surface was leaving behind all of the cool apps that we have on iOS.

BUT, this was the right move for us. An iPad Pro that ran iOS but had more computer friendly features for productivity? That would be the real end of the laptop for most people.

But it's a tricky walk, and I'm not sure that Apple's current software team is up for it, they seem to be making misstep after misstep. Apple Hardware continues to be excellent, but their SW seems to be getting more buggy as of late. We'll see.

But for us - no more iPads until something changes with its OS.

 

[mantan]

I'm fairly certain Tim Cook said that is a Wall Street obsession of constantly growing iPad sales. Wall Street is run by a bunch of greedy jackasses. Any one with any common sense would realize Apple's profit margins are higher if they sell larger iPhones in place of iPads. So why should Tim Cook and Apple get all bent out of shape if iPad sales are declining. It's not as if consumers are dumping their older iPads for new Android or Windows tablets. They're simply holding on to their older iPads which are still useful to them. It's Wall Street that believes Apple should be able to sell all of its products in equally high numbers which I say is fairly impossible. I don't think every consumer needs every product in the Apple lineup and definitely not multiples of the same product. That's just Wall Street greed gone wild.

I believe there are a finite number of consumers who NEED tablets and eventually sales decline will stabilize. I'm not sure who is stupid enough to think that sales of all products grow indefinitely, even in theory. Right now there's large-display smartphone growth and in time iPad sales may start to increase again. What's the big hurry? Consumers can't or shouldn't be forced to just keep spending money on products they don't really need. That's not necessarily Apple's fault although some people think it is.

I'd thought Apple would be able to greatly increase iPad sales through educational institution means, but that seems to be at a dead end. I guess schools are going with computers using physical keyboards instead of tablets with their virtual keyboards.

So now we are shifting the blame to Wall Street?

I'm sure that everybody who owns Apple Stock (or an investment vehicle that has Apple stock in it) wants the stock value to increase. And that comes with more sales/revenue/profit...even though they are insanely profitable and have been for years.

The heat really should be on what is Apple doing to continue their success into the future with updated or new products. The phone line reinvented itself by finally moving to larger devices. The tablet line is stale. The jury is still out on the watch. At some point they have to keep feeding the monster...not stock price grows by the company saying 'hey, we had an awesome few years...so we are just gonna coast while....'

 

[Four oF NINE]

One of my favorite uses for the iPad is to have more screen space. I can set up the iPad next to my MacBook and have significantly more screen real estate.

 

[teslo]

...THE very people who are most lightly to buy tablets, over say a Laptop ARE THE very people that are the most disinterested in computers in general, and will be the least lightly to be on a upgrade for the sake of it path.

It's like you have picked a product and sold it to the people less lightly to want a new version.

When it comes to other computing devices for different market sectors, they are gagging for new and better products.
Tablet users, by their very nature don't want/need or are interested in more and more power and features.
If they were that type of person, then they'd not be buying Tablets.

I know this does not apply to all, but I'd say it has a strong bearing...

i'd say you have it entirely backwards, that your statement represents the minority, not the majority. people who buy tablets are complimenting their main computer, whether they think they need one or not. i don't know anyone who uses a tablet above all else, and from what i've read in the last few years, i think this is mostly true across the board. i know you did actually mention 'people who would pick a tablet over a computer', but then you seemingly implied this is a vast number of people.

 

[HenryDJP]

I'm not sure why there is always an obsession with 'growing' sales.

The iPad isn't something you need to constantly replace. I have the Air, I'm not willing to spend $600 or so to get the Air 2 just so it will go slightly faster and have the Touch ID.

I'm sure I am among millions of happy iPad owners who are not going to rush out out buy every new version that comes out.

Oh here's some news for your sir. Maybe Apple isn't trying to market to you and maybe, just maybe, not everyone owns an iPad as of yet. You'd never make it as a business owner. Saying a company is obsessed with trying to grow the sales of a particular product is utterly ridiculous.

 

[RenoG]

The iPad isn't something you need to constantly replace. I have the Air, I'm not willing to spend $600 or so to get the Air 2 just so it will go slightly faster and have the Touch ID.

I'm sure I am among millions of happy iPad owners who are not going to rush out out buy every new version that comes out.

You can add me in this camp too, I still have the iPad 3. Even though I wouldn't mind having an AIR I have no real compelling reason to upgrade my fully functioning 3. I just don't, especially while owning a iPhone 6+
At this point my iPad would literally have to be bricked or shattered or something before I could justify buying a new one.

 

[HenryDJP]

1) no one cares about more ads.
2) optimise the operating system to take advantage of the bigger display instead of giving people an up scaled version of the phone OS.

3) SHIP THOSE WRETCHED WATCHES!!!

Not everybody cares what you have to say either since you feel the need to speak for everyone. That being said I couldn't disagree with you more. I'm certainly not interested in that silly little iWatch toy.

 

[ericgtr12]

Did apple mention that the iPad iOS is exactly the same as the iPhone with no extra capabilities taking advantage of the screen size and 2GB RAM?

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2GB RAM in iPad Air 2, I can have 5-6 tabs open and 4-5 apps open without any refresh

I have the iPad Air, I can have a single page open (even without tabs), leave and come back and it will refresh every time. Totally unusable for anything other than surfing.

 

[Pupi]

Everything changes with iPad.

1536*2048 display
Sweet desktop class 64bit chip
2GB of RAM

Start typing an email and can't attach a couple of iWork created files. Good grief.

More than done with this product until it gets a serious software revamp. At this point it feels like internal sabotage.

People say that it's a class of device you don't need to upgrade so often. There can be some truth to that, but I've had 3 iPads total, sold my last one 1 year ago and feel no need to go back.
Especially after iPhone 6+.

 

[576316]

I'm not sure why there is always an obsession with 'growing' sales.

The iPad isn't something you need to constantly replace. I have the Air, I'm not willing to spend $600 or so to get the Air 2 just so it will go slightly faster and have the Touch ID.

I'm sure I am among millions of happy iPad owners who are not going to rush out out buy every new version that comes out.

Same here. Had an Air since launch day and still very happy with it. Bought my girlfriend an Air 2 for her birthday as she was still using a 1st gen iPad mini and I felt bad for her, but still can't see a reason to upgrade, plus it's a little late now anyway. If I was in the market to buy a new iPad, I'd just wait for the Air 3.

 

[manu chao]

That's true but then again why are Mac sales flourishing? That's a product you shouldn't have to constantly replace.

The Mac has been around long enough that the peoples' position in their personal replacement is almost completely smoothed out (rising numbers of actual Mac users do tilt things to some degree). For the iPad, there are still a lot of people that haven't reached the end of their first replacement cycle. It's like a human or animal population where a significant portion of the individuals hasn't reached the typical age for producing offspring yet. Ie, you have several years worth of iPad purchases that haven't produced any offspring yet (if you forgive me mixing the metaphors). Significant percentages of buyers of iPad 2, 3 and 4 still haven't bought their first iPad replacement (less so for iPad 1 buyers I would think as it is it limited to iOS 5 whereas from the '2' onwards iOS 8 runs on them). This also shows that except for the original iPad, being able to run the latest OS has not been an upgrade motivator yet (running it well might have been though).

Of course, this assumes that the personal replacement cycle length settles down to a roughly stable value, ie, that replacement cycles are not getting longer over time. And this whole theory doesn't account for the numbers of first-time iPad buyers compared to let's say the numbers of first-time iPhone buyers. If the latter number is rising (or stable) but the former number is falling than iPads and iPhones do have a systematically different relative appeal (as in their appeal to non-users or users of competing products).

 

[duepeak]

So true. It's like a folder on iPad holds 9 icons. Just 9 icons. It's like they didn't bother to tweak the iPad version from the iPhone version. I get that's just one little thing but it's a bunch of these little things that make iPad feel under-utilized. Plus, Apple is usually big into detail - so missing a bunch of little tweaks/details is disappointing.

I assume your talking about the number of icons you can view at a given time? Because a folder can hold however many icons you want, not just nine.

 

[manu chao]

2) optimise the operating system to take advantage of the bigger display instead of giving people an up scaled version of the phone OS.

While the OS might not be, the apps shipping with it do, even if only via the 'split-screen' mode in landscape orientation (eg, list of emails in a column on the left, with the current email on the right).

----------

THE very people who are most likely to buy tablets, over say a Laptop ARE THE very people that are the most disinterested in computers in general, and will be the least lightly to be on a upgrade for the sake of it path.

Yes and no. Yes if the iPad is their sole 'computer', less so for people who don't need a portable computer for professional reasons and get an iPad for travel (or even commute) in addition to their desktop computer.

 

[Piggie]

i'd say you have it entirely backwards, that your statement represents the minority, not the majority. people who buy tablets are complimenting their main computer, whether they think they need one or not. i don't know anyone who uses a tablet above all else, and from what i've read in the last few years, i think this is mostly true across the board. i know you did actually mention 'people who would pick a tablet over a computer', but then you seemingly implied this is a vast number of people.

Let's be brutally honest here for a moment.
People who choose Apple to start with, are not going to be THE most computer literate people anyway.
I know this is going to upset many me saying it, but let's be honest with ourselves.
People who love tech, love computers, and going to be more PC based.
Apple focuses their products on the typical consumer who just wants something easy to use for their internet and social/photo work.
They've aimed at this market for years now.

I've seen many posts even here, on the tech site, where some Apple users have admitted to hardly touching their laptops since getting iPads, and this is a very tech area.

Tablets users are a subset of a subset.

I'm being very general I know and many exceptions to the rule.

I just wish Apple had more balls, and did not continually worry about one product may take sales from another product.
Or just take the tablet seriously.

 

[manu chao]

Until they address the memory limitations, these will never be ready for anything more than casual surfing. Ever try filling out an online form with more than a few fields? Web pages automatically refresh between tabs and its inability to work with two applications at the same time pretty much cripple it in real world usage.

They should at least give webpages with 'active' forms (ie, forms with user-entered content) preferential treatment when it comes to memory. That shouldn't be to hard to implement.

----------

Agree.
We went from the iPad 1 to the 4 and the user experience is the SAME.
Yes, the pixel density is higher but the same issues with Safari crashing still EXISTS!

The original iPad had 256 MB of memory, the iPad 2 512 MB and the (retina) iPad 3 had 1 GB (which to some degree just compensated for higher-resolution screen). The '4' and the first Air stuck with 1 GB. The Air 2 is the only one with more memory (relative to screen resolution) for a long time.

 

[thekeyring]

Between iPad 3 and iPad Air 2 there doesn't feel like a huge difference.

Yet between iPhone 4S and iPhone 6 it feels like a world of difference.

Even though both products have got thinner, lighter, much faster, better cameras, new designs, Touch ID, and Apple Pay. Both arguably have advanced together. Yet you don't feel it with iPad. I'm sure this perception comes down to marketing.

As I've said before: Apple's iPad events used to be completely iPad focused: As well as hardware there'd be some new apps and everyone would be talking about or lusting over the new models. It felt like the company really believed it was the future of computing.

I know sales have dropped and I can't work out whether Apple has a) changed to reflect falling sales or has b) caused sales to fall by changing.

Or whether c) all this analysis is in my head, and I'm completely out of touch with reality.

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I just wish Apple had more balls, and did not continually worry about one product may take sales from another product.
Or just take the tablet seriously.

I don't think they do worry. They've always said that if someone's going to cannibalise sales of an Apple product, it might as well be Apple.

Worrying about iPad mini didn't stop iPhone 6 Plus. Worrying about iPad Air didn't stop the new MacBook.

 

[manu chao]

Exactly. I believe that iPad sales are slowing because people are holding onto them longer. I believe that Mac sales are growing because people are switching from pcs.

But it seems people are not switching from non-Apple tablets (Android largely) to iPads in the same proportion. Because non-Apple tablet sales are outperforming iPad sales, the reverse of what it true in the computer market. Meaning, longer replacement cycles cannot explain the falling iPad sales alone (unless the relative increase of non-Apple tablet sales is only due to shorter replacement cycles for non-Apple tablets.)

 

[RogerWilco]

I'm not sure why there is always an obsession with 'growing' sales.

They have to grow sales and EPS because AAPL is now equivalent to a bond in many institutional portfolios. Why do you think they are repurchasing so many shares?