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

IbisDoc said:
This is all about lack of innovation at Apple, a concern that has reportedly been discussed as high as the Apple board level. Milking profits out of their current products is a great short term strategy, but a failure as a long term strategy. And no, a watch that displays time for less than 3 hours a day won't solve the innovation problem.
Click to expand...

No, this is down to perception because Steve Jobs isn't presenting keynotes anymore.

Read Steve Jobs' biography. It clearly shows how, when he returned to Apple, he ensured the company would last without him. It mentions things like Steve's belief that a company can be more innovative than one person.

People's utter inability to see past Steve Jobs' charm (or present day lack of it) and look at products, company practices, etc as a whole astounds me.

Here's a blog post from 2009 discussing how Steve stepping back could spell trouble: http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1870502,00.html

Not one person has said "Yeah, Apple started to lose it in 2009" but instead talk about how uninspiring the iPhone 5 was (when we know Steve Jobs worked on the iPhone 5).
 
We dont want to upgrade our iPads every year, or even every 3 years for that matter. Id like my iPad to be more long term, 5 years is good. Secondly, Id like a real OS on a tablet, I cant handle anymore of this phone OS nonsense!
 
There is nothing to relate the iPad with work tasks! The surface has better tools and a better association with work tasks .
How many pixels are left when you use pages, numbers, and you don't count the keyboard?

Ok they have a deal with IBM. lol, so strangely executed! for pilots for examples! There's a huge population and a real eye opener for the rest of us!
Even when the hardware is years advanced, the interface is inadequate for most common work tasks.

For reading on it on the toilet, in the bed or with a kid, the iPad 2 is still ok
 
iPads aren't seen as a "must-have" like the iPhones. Many people I know upgrade their iPhones every year, but those very same people are still sporting the iPad 2 and 3.
 
mi7chy said:
It's the post-iPad era.

Smart consumers want value and versatility and Lenovo delivers.

$699 for an iPad Air 2 limited toy with 2GB DRAM and 128GB storage.

Or, $419 Thinkpad 10 with 4GB, 128GB storage and Wacom pen which is a full blown computer in tablet form factor.

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/tablets/thinkpad/thinkpad-10/?menu-id=thinkpad_10
Click to expand...


I am not trying to defend the iPad here, and I do agree with your point about how people need a full blown OS.

Just wanted to share some details though.

iPad Air 2 is more powerful than the Lenovo thinkpad in CPU and GPU power.
And is only about half of the thickness.
 
IbisDoc said:
This is all about lack of innovation at Apple, a concern that has reportedly been discussed as high as the Apple board level. Milking profits out of their current products is a great short term strategy, but a failure as a long term strategy. And no, a watch that displays time for less than 3 hours a day won't solve the innovation problem.
Click to expand...

You use the words innovation and strategy, but it is clear that you do not understand the two concepts.
 
I can see it. The market is saturated with iPads now, and the majority of people don't replace them like they do iPhones. Personally, I don't plan on replacing mine until it dies or ceases to function due to damage.
 
Software is the Issue

Software is the only thing that holding back iPad sales. You can use iPad as a toy to its full capacity, but when it comes to productivity, you start hitting roadblock after roadblock. As simple as putting some images onto an iPad from the office computer instead from your home computer, you will keep scratching your head. And there a hundred such limitations.
Limitations dont hamper iPhone much as there's not much productivity happening on it, though one can do a lot on iPhone, but its not like if you want to write novel you will consider a phone to write on, but you will definitely consider a tablet.
Larger size brings in more productivity, which means people need a bit more freedom to put their device into multiple usage.

Scenarios:
1. You have a pdf in your iPad and want to get a printout from a local shop...? not possible.
2. Have some docs and images in your iPad Air and want to share with your colleague having an iPad 2 (i guess Air too). not possible.
3. You are on the way, you get an email to download a file. you need to download it, sort it and email it to some one else. not possible.

many more such situations i have been with my iPad Air which is power enough to do all of above, but software just let it down.

Rightnow, i don't bother of thinking of doing much on my iPad anyway. all i do is read some pdfs and ebook and surf. I have no idea why we need 64bit processor or retina display and the reason to spend 730$
 
Personally, I am quite uncertain the future of tablets/iPads.

The drop in this past year and past quarter is mostly due to market saturation, and that the tablet market has not reached maturity so it is going to fluctuate. the smartphone market is close to maturity, however the phablets are rocking the boat a little bit. However, I do think iPads are going to continue to decrease slightly over the next 2-3 years. Its going to bounce around a lot, since it is not mature, however over all a general decrease for now. Hard to say what things will be like in a couple years.

Also, I think it should be very clear that the decrease in iPad sales this past year is NOT due to a lack of hardware and software improvements. And If apple is to update the iPad's hardware and software and add some cool new features, which they certainly will do it will NOT result in increase sales.

Sales will go up and down, however very very little of that will depend on what apple does with the iPad. I am having trouble trying to explain what I am trying to say here, I have to go. But I will edit this post later.\


In a note about tablet marketshare, we see that Apple and Samsung have severely lost marketshare to "other." Its hard to say what that is, but it seems the tablet market is going to look more like the Mac market. Where will apple will have small market share overall, but extremely high market share for premium tablets. Similar to the desktop/laptop market. These numbers are by unit, and not by revenue.

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akbarali.ch said:
Software is the only thing that holding back iPad sales. You can use iPad as a toy to its full capacity, but when it comes to productivity, you start hitting roadblock after roadblock. As simple as putting some images onto an iPad from the office computer instead from your home computer, you will keep scratching your head. And there a hundred such limitations.
Limitations dont hamper iPhone much as there's not much productivity happening on it, though one can do a lot on iPhone, but its not like if you want to write novel you will consider a phone to write on, but you will definitely consider a tablet.
Larger size brings in more productivity, which means people need a bit more freedom to put their device into multiple usage.

Scenarios:
1. You have a pdf in your iPad and want to get a printout from a local shop...? not possible.
2. Have some docs and images in your iPad Air and want to share with your colleague having an iPad 2 (i guess Air too). not possible.
3. You are on the way, you get an email to download a file. you need to download it, sort it and email it to some one else. not possible.

many more such situations i have been with my iPad Air which is power enough to do all of above, but software just let it down.

Rightnow, i don't bother of thinking of doing much on my iPad anyway. all i do is read some pdfs and ebook and surf. I have no idea why we need 64bit processor or retina display and the reason to spend 730$
Click to expand...


Software is not holding back the iPad, I will explain why when I come back to the computer in an hour or 2
 
dec. said:
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.
Click to expand...

Irrespective of what you think a LARGE screen iPad will sell very well.

And even an iPhone 6+ is tiny compared to a tablet screen.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
akbarali.ch said:
Software is the only thing that holding back iPad sales. You can use iPad as a toy to its full capacity, but when it comes to productivity, you start hitting roadblock after roadblock. As simple as putting some images onto an iPad from the office computer instead from your home computer, you will keep scratching your head. And there a hundred such limitations.
Limitations dont hamper iPhone much as there's not much productivity happening on it, though one can do a lot on iPhone, but its not like if you want to write novel you will consider a phone to write on, but you will definitely consider a tablet.
Larger size brings in more productivity, which means people need a bit more freedom to put their device into multiple usage.

Scenarios:
1. You have a pdf in your iPad and want to get a printout from a local shop...? not possible.
2. Have some docs and images in your iPad Air and want to share with your colleague having an iPad 2 (i guess Air too). not possible.
3. You are on the way, you get an email to download a file. you need to download it, sort it and email it to some one else. not possible.

many more such situations i have been with my iPad Air which is power enough to do all of above, but software just let it down.

Rightnow, i don't bother of thinking of doing much on my iPad anyway. all i do is read some pdfs and ebook and surf. I have no idea why we need 64bit processor or retina display and the reason to spend 730$
Click to expand...

Your entire argument is based around a single usage case - the inability to share files in the traditional way. In 4 years of using iPads I can't think of a single time this was a meaningful concern for me...
 
Aluminum213 said:
Wrong, and please show me where to buy a 9.7" iPhone
Click to expand...

"about" as big. Also, there are smaller tablets than 9.7"

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Mildredop said:
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 the Apple Watch will be the next one.
Click to expand...

I don't understand why anyone would want ANY watch.
 
Mattsasa said:
I am not trying to defend the iPad here, and I do agree with your point about how people need a full blown OS.

Just wanted to share some details though.

iPad Air 2 is more powerful than the Lenovo thinkpad in CPU and GPU power.
And is only about half of the thickness.
Click to expand...

The people who buy Thinkpads are professionals. The last thing on their mind is useless synthetic benchmarks. All they care about is if it can run their professional software and real world performance. iPad can be the fastest thing on earth but it's useless if it doesn't run the full Office, Visio, Photoshop, AutoCAD, OrCAD, Pro/Engineer, Inventor, SolidWorks, etc. Even for consumption it blows away my Galaxy Note and iPad since it can stream 1080p popcorn time wirelessly to Chromecast dongle. Perfect combo for business travel.
 
Tablets and specifically iPads are not going away. A total of 63 million sold in one year may be a drop from the previous year, but it is still a helluva lot of tablets. Thank goodness that Apple makes a quality product that lasts a few years. In the short term it hurts them because consumers don't replace them every year or two. In the long term it helps them retain their customers who pay for a quality product.
 
It's really simple to understand what's happening to tablets.

They're caught in between smartphones and laptops but aren't as productive as a laptop and not a necessity that everyone feels like they have to have like a smartphone. As such the people who have purchased them do not feel the need to upgrade them like smartphones. What can the iPad Air 2 do that the iPad 2 cannot? Nothing, it's just faster. That's why we're seeing people hang on to their iPads for several years like computers instead of constantly upgrading like iPhones. It's not some innovation issue or anything like that.

There's really nothing Apple can do short of cutting prices to increase sales. This theoretical iPad Pro isn't it. Split-screen multitasking on the current iPads isn't it either. Then with Mac sales at all time highs do people really think Apple wants to push the iPad into its territory by giving it full blown OS X?

Tablet sales will continue to decline until they get plateau point where the number of people upgrading them is enough to maintain the current sales levels of that time. The only growth is from those "free" to $99 junk tablets and we all know Apple will never compete with that.
 
Rogifan said:
Does anyone besides Apple actually disclose sales figures? If not where does IDC get their figures from?
Click to expand...
No other company discloses these numbers. What IDC presents is their best guess of what the manufacturers have shipped and pretend this is fact.
Numbers that include almost half of all shipments in the "other" category, with unidentified manufacturers, who are together twice the size of the market leader are doubtful at least. So this is good input for a rumors site, but nothing more.
 
akbarali.ch said:
Scenarios:
1. You have a pdf in your iPad and want to get a printout from a local shop...? not possible.
2. Have some docs and images in your iPad Air and want to share with your colleague having an iPad 2 (i guess Air too). not possible.
3. You are on the way, you get an email to download a file. you need to download it, sort it and email it to some one else. not possible.
Click to expand...

All those scenarios will be solved once people start keeping their documents in the cloud, or perhaps on a secure corporate cloud, instead of wasting bandwidth and storage copying stuff between devices whether needed off-line or not. The power apps can all run in the cloud as well unless high-interactivity (gaming, 3D modeling, etc.) is needed.

Thus the biggest competition for tablets won't be laptops, but something more like chromebooks, which have already beaten out iPads in some school districts already due to ease of IT maintenance. Laptops are just walking corporate security leaks waiting to happen.
 
A lot of people already have an iPad and they don't want to upgrade every one or two years, considering the price involved.
For Apple to catch the attention of existing iPad owners, they need implement new and revolutionary features on any newer models they plan to release.
Better CPU, GPU, slimmer size, etc. are characteristics that many people don't care about or understand.
 
Traverse said:
Still, I wanted to clarify that I DO think tablets are useful and productive if you make them. I see alot of posts dismissing tablets as "just a reader" or other such posts.

Here is a quote from me in a productivity thread.
Click to expand...

You, sir/ma'am, understand what today's tablet is for and use it appropriately.

While some of us may want a laptop in tablet form, you have illustrated various ways that the current tool is best used.

Thanks for sharing.
 
firewood said:
All those scenarios will be solved once people start keeping their documents in the cloud, or perhaps on a secure corporate cloud, instead of wasting bandwidth and storage copying stuff between devices whether needed off-line or not. The power apps can all run in the cloud as well unless high-interactivity (gaming, 3D modeling, etc.) is needed.

Thus the biggest competition for tablets won't be laptops, but something more like chromebooks, which have already beaten out iPads in some school districts already due to ease of IT maintenance. Laptops are just walking corporate security leaks waiting to happen.
Click to expand...

The cloud is not the be-all end-all answer to this lack of file sharing capability.

especially for productivity side of things. I have documents that will never, EVER be put on the cloud due to legal restrictions.

We've tried using iPads here before without any success. Anyone who tried has since moved to either full laptops or Surface's because of the software limitations.
 
mi7chy said:
It's the post-iPad era.

Smart consumers want value and versatility and Lenovo delivers.

$699 for an iPad Air 2 limited toy with 2GB DRAM and 128GB storage.

Or, $419 Thinkpad 10 with 4GB, 128GB storage and Wacom pen which is a full blown computer in tablet form factor.

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/tablets/thinkpad/thinkpad-10/?menu-id=thinkpad_10
Click to expand...

This is probably one of the reasons. The article doesn't seem to talk much of the substantial growth of Lenovo and "Other", which are likely mostly Windows-based tablets or hybrids.

Like others have said, the iPad is so limited it cannot replace a laptop for most people. It lacks a lot: external displays/docking, mouse input, USB port, digitizer for active stylus, user accounts, etc.

Windows 10 and the Broadwell chips are probably going to dent the Samsung/Apple parade pretty hard. The next generation of Windows tablets will offer a ton of things professionals and students want and can't get with the iPad.

Hate to say it, but the long game will have paid off by the looks of it. Apple should react but they have remained static for so long, it will be interesting to see when they do.
 
I still use my iPad 2 and iPad mini first generation. Sometimes slow, but perfectly usable - and comfortable - for the everyday tasks I ask them: browsing the web, reading and annotating PDFs, writing short texts, recording vocal or dictated notes, making diagrams, drafting notes.

When a really light and inobstrusive model is released, I'll switch. Until they follow the pixel race, I wait.

Paolo
 
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