The Apple iPhone 6 could kill already low iPad sales
The numbers are in for the iPad: this year’s sales fell short by a whopping 1.4 million units compared to last year’s earnings. Is Apple worried? Hardly.
Admittedly, Tim Cook ‘s response to the latest quarterly earnings was that they did meet his expectations, which should come as no surprise to anyone who follows Apple’s production trends.
The Apple iPad has been struggling, and shrinking its size didn’t help. The first attempt was the iPad Mini.The iPad Air, lighter, thinner, somewhat better than its predecessors could have been successful, if word of an iPhone phablet didn’t spread so quickly.
Now Apple users are faced with a somewhat rhetorical dilemma: getting a phone almost the size of a mini-tablet that can do everything an iPad does, or choose a small tablet that can do less?
Looking at the tablet market overall, both from a consumer, and enterprise standpoint, iPad sales have been shaky, with 62% of tablets and ultra-mobile sales dominated by low-cost Android devices in 2013. This is not at all an indication that iPads are inferior, but rather a very strong clue that tablets, no matter the make, are in essence a secondary product, something that most consumers will love, as long as they can buy it on the cheap.
Android tablet makers, such as Amazon and Samsung, have done a wonderful job at keeping the price tag as low as possible, sometimes even in spite of performance. Smartphones, on the other end, are all about performance. The higher-end, the better. Smartphones are rapidly becoming the ultimate ultra-mobile, and the ones who will benefit from the best technology, even before laptops do, and right before wearable tech becomes the mainstream.
Having said that, Apple and IBM are teaming up in an effort to conquer the enterprise sector, and by that token, the iPad may get a slightly better chance. The business world always had a place for the iPad, after all. Air crews flight bags, mobile POS solutions, catering and hospitality, and ultimately, the medical field, have come to adopt the iPad as a reliable productivity tool, with every indication they will continue to do so in the future.