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Apple iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3 launch: New releases show Tim Cook’s strategy
Tim Cook called it a speed bump: Apple's global quarterly iPad sales were down to 13.28 million in the last quarter, the lowest they'd been since Q2 2012.
Read about the iPad launch here.
So rather than panic, Apple seems to have decided it just needs to refine its product. As Ernest Doku, telecoms expert at uSwitch.com, puts it:
According to Apple, making the number one selling tablet better means making it thinner than a pencil, and gold, apparently. Let’s just hope it doesn’t bend.
Will it work? Stats from recent releases seem to imply it will. Last quarter may have been slow, but the first quarter of 2014 was the biggest ever.
What is more, these techniques have worked in the past, as Doku points out.
The addition of Touch ID, more exciting colourways, an improved camera and a snappier processor all worked for the iPhone 5S, so could be enough to convince iPad owners to turn their current one into a hand-me-down.The iPad Mini 3 might have been introduced as a more affordable afterthought but, by not phasing out any of the earlier models, Apple has instantly created a broader range of tablets to suit all price points and budgets – a bit like Samsung.
What remains to be seen is if these new improvements constitute big enough leaps do persuade iPad owners to upgrade. Without the structure of a contract, as customers have with iPhones, bigger, flashier must-have factors are required to persuade people to shell out again.
Launching new tablets every year with minor improvements won't do it. Only giant leaps forward will provide the wow factor needed to drive new sales in an increasingly saturated market.
Doku said.