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iPad Momentum Falls Flat as Tablet Market Experiences First Year-Over-Year Decline

iPad saturation they must have seen coming a mile away, hence looking for lightning to strike twice with the Apple iWatch.
 
Freyqq said:
Probably didn't help that the ipad mini 3 is the same exact thing as the ipad mini 2
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I thought about upgrading then decided against it. iPad mini WiFi is so weak that I don't need another sit by the router device.
 
2IS said:
Apple has never really been afraid to implement this type of fragmentation though. They introduced SIRI with the 4S but didn't make it available on the 4. The iPhone 6S has features that the 6 does not also. Just seems like they are getting exceedingly lazy and stubborn with iOS development. There are tons of ideas out there for them, they just aren't doing anything with it. I don't know if it's because they don't want to appear to copy Android, or if they're being stubborn by trying to adhere to the SJ mentality of they know what consumers want better than consumers know what they want. Whatever the case may be, they aren't coming up with any original ideas for the last several years.
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I agree. There are features missing (for example, autocorrect doesn't work with a Bluetooth keyboard) that are just glaring omissions and really make Apple appear to be stubborn or lazy in development.

Why can't I attach a file to an email using the document picker like in the Dropbox app!?
 
Tablets are at best a niche product or a novelty/luxury item. The niche market is medical uses et al which are serious but not exactly a huge. In the home people use tablets to browse the web and watch videos but they're competing with many other entertainment products in that respect and their use there can easily decline sharply when the next new fun gadget comes along.

Long term, the iPad is toast. It'll always have a market, but you can only fool all of the people some of the time with "magical and revolutionary" products that have few real uses.
 
Rogifan said:
So you've used one and know the battery dies at 6pm? Because you've spent all day using your watch to duplicate what you do on your phone?
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Is it possible to block users, cos I'm getting really bored of seeing the 'Rogifan' everywhere.
 
Tablets aren't just niche products though.

Right now I'm in a lounge at my university waiting for my strategic business class using my ipad to catch up on reading primers for that class.

I coudl do this with a laptop, but it would far more cumbersome and awkward.
 
Don't get me wrong, I dig the iPad.

For 'reading stuff online' and consuming media it's brilliant. There are also some more powerful apps I love like Beatmaker 2 (my favourite way to make electronic music now) and Procreate to name but two.

What frustrates me is that when I've tried to use it as a 'laptop replacement' it's just too fiddly for mainstream computing tasks.

Thus iPad remains a gimmick. A really nice gimmick. But a gimmick all the same.
 
I don't want a new tablet. The 4:3 aspect ratio annoys me, the hamstrung OS is irritating, my 5.5" iPhone 6 plus does everything I used to use my tablet for.

It's a media consumption device that I don't think I need.
 
Freyqq said:
Probably didn't help that the ipad mini 3 is the same exact thing as the ipad mini 2
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MaulRx said:
Touch ID so not exactly..
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The iPad 3 was the same as the iPad 2, except for the retina display.
The iPad Mini 3 is the same as the iPad Mini 2, except for the Touch ID.

Must be a trend (or soon to be -- we'll see if the :apple:Watch 3 is the same as the :apple:Watch 2, except for a gold crown, or something).
 
You can sell millions of anything with enough hype, but at some point it all comes back to earth.
 
Fishrrman said:
Mildredop wrote:
[[ Tablets never made sense to me.
Laptop - full blown OS, does everything, fits in a bag
Phone - cut-down OS but fits in your pocket, makes phone calls.
And then there's tablets. Cut down OS but doesn't fit in your pocket, needs to go in your bag, can't make phone calls. They're just a gimmick. ]]

and peterdevries replied:
[[ You comment does not make sense, and is bordering on trolling. ]]

Nope, not trolling.

I've been a Mac user longer than 98% (ok, so I just made that up) of the folks in this forum -- since April of 1987. I'm as much of a Mac fanatic as anyone here.

I've -never- owned an iPhone, and in all likelihood will never own one (I don't like cell phones of any type and refuse to pay for them).

I've -never- owned an iPad, and will likely never buy one (for the exact reasons Mildredop wrote above).

I do own three Macs (Mini, iMac, MacBook Pro). Anything I need to do, digitally, I do with them.

There's some folks who just don't want or need "pad" devices.

Eventually, just about everyone who does want an iPad is going to get one. Since they actually seem to be well-built, and last a while, the market is going to saturate, at least in the Western world.

That still leaves the non-Western world, but Apple may have to lower prices to keep them selling in those markets.
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While my choice of computer operating systems has evolved somewhat I agree the tablet form factor really doesn't offer anything compelling. If I've got to carry a bag I'd just rather carry my computer than a tablet.
 
MacDarcy said:
The ipad pro better be able to do something amazing like run OS X and do true multitasking...and not just be a "larger" ipad with extra speakers. That won't help improve sales IMHO.
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Oh believe me it will

All Apple has to do is:

Make a LARGER screen iPad,
Fit stereo speakers (as it should of had since day 1)
Fit a good quality camera (as it should of had since day 1)
Fit a flash unit for the camera (as it should of had since day 1)

And watch buyers go crazy to upgrade to the new model.

Sure, more can be done to make it a better device to create with, but just those 4 things above will make mass sales pick up.

You see. :)
 
Piggie said:
Oh believe me it will

All Apple has to do is:

Make a LARGER screen iPad,
Fit stereo speakers (as it should of had since day 1)
Fit a good quality camera (as it should of had since day 1)
Fit a flash unit for the camera (as it should of had since day 1)

And watch buyers go crazy to upgrade to the new model.

Sure, more can be done to make it a better device to create with, but just those 4 things above will make mass sales pick up.

You see. :)
Click to expand...

These stereo speakers... How would that work on a device that can be used in multiple orientations?
 
nutjob said:
You can sell millions of anything with enough hype, but at some point it all comes back to earth.
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I have 3 iPad at home, all of which are used continuously. I'm not sure selling 21 million devices a quarter is "hype", since it's almost 4 times as many Macs that Apple sold that quarter.

I think that most companies on earth would love to sell 21 million of something that expensive ever quarter.

Hype? That's a word that people use to mean "I don't have any use for it." Luckily for most people, your lack of imagination has no real impact on their lives. The Apple ][, Mac, iMac, iPhone, iPod, and iPad were all "hype" too. Apple itself has been called a Hype machine, and look where they are today.

"Why would you buy a BMW when you could get a Crown Vic?"
 
I'd happily upgrade from my iPad 2, but Apple refuses to fix the dreadful multitasking, along with the abysmal way we are forced to work with files/documents across various apps. I won't be buying another iPad until there are major improvements in these areas.

-ITG
 
It is quite clear that the iPad replacement cycle more resembles the laptop cycle than the phone. This means that growth is inevitably going to slow. I tend to doubt the market share numbers given the revelations this week from the Apple Samsung trial. Where is the analysis of Amazon and Samsung usage numbers. You did an admirable job explaining your growth numbers using the usage data for Apple but somehow missed doing the same for your Android marketshare analysis. Funny thing.
 
2IS said:
These stereo speakers... How would that work on a device that can be used in multiple orientations?
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Either side in landscape mode will be fine.

Portrait mode, the speakers are not far enough apart to give you stereo, but having a speaker at the top and bottom will of course be better than just at one end only.

But when in landscape mode, as most games are programmed for, and all video's would be viewed in, then you will get the full benefit.

This should of been done this way on launch day of iPad1 if it was not for bloody jobs.
 
Michael Goff said:
Since when is 2.42 (that's with keyboard) more than 2.96?
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My bad: I really was certain but you're right. I've looked up the specs and the 11'' MacBook air is only lighter when you include the keyboard and pen with the Surface. Obviously no competition. Surface is lighter.

However, my general point about trade offs was right. 0.96 pounds for the iPad Air 2 vs 1.75 pounds for the Surface.

We'll also see if the new MacBook Airs don't slim down to past surface thinness.

Again, sorry for being wrong, thanks for the correction.
 
MaxinMusicCity said:
THAT was the screwup. The Mini 3 SHOULD have had the same bumps as the Air 2. I would have upgraded if THAT had been done. The fingerprint feature alone just wasn't enough to make me move up :(
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Likewise.

Touch ID and ram upgrade would have likely compelled me to upgrade. Just the touch ID wasn't enough. A 1:1 upgrade would have made it a no brainer.
 
Piggie said:
Oh believe me it will

All Apple has to do is:

Make a LARGER screen iPad,
Fit stereo speakers (as it should of had since day 1)
Fit a good quality camera (as it should of had since day 1)
Fit a flash unit for the camera (as it should of had since day 1)

And watch buyers go crazy to upgrade to the new model.

Sure, more can be done to make it a better device to create with, but just those 4 things above will make mass sales pick up.

You see. :)
Click to expand...

I don't believe so, as the iPad market seems to be saturated and now with the iPhone 6 Plus being a decent iPad replacement for many, it's even "worse".

Anecdotal stuff: Personally, I did enjoy upgrading iPads for the first few generations but I haven't had too much interest in replacing my "new iPad / iPad 3" or my first gen iPad mini and even less so since I've bought the iPhone 6 Plus. We had 8 friends over for Xmas, each one of them has an iPad - and among them was only one iPad Air first gen. The interest in upgrading is about as big as the interest of wii buyers upgrading to a wii U - a simple "why should I upgrade" seems to be the consensus.
 
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