Why People Aren't Buying iPads Anymore

[rxmom03]

Originally Posted by HarryT

All my iTunes music is already in MP3 format. That's not the issue.

The issue is how can I seamlessly transfer music from my iTunes library to an Android phone, browse what music I currently have on the phone, etc? If you can answer that I'd be most appreciative.

I have 2 programs, iSync (which is on my computer) and Rocket (on my Samsung phone). iSync will transfer everything from iTunes (music, videos, podcasts, etc) to Rocket and then you can play them on your android device. I actually still use iTunes even though I have had an android phone for the last 3 years. There were only a few songs that didn't transfer over--I had bought them when iTunes still had DRM on their songs. I think that you can pay a little extra for any songs like that you might have and get the un-DRMed version but I haven't been interested enough to try (it's only 4-5 songs in my collection).

I think that there are more programs of this type available, this is just the one recommended to me when I first switched to android. I was able to figure it out easily and kept with it

Mary

[ApK]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

My conclusion, at least in this area, that there is more incentive to build a solid app for IOS because it is more profitable. People will pay a higher amount. The Android port can hold off for a while because they are not going to sell as many at the more profitable price point.

I suspect that this same logic applies across apps.

Toss in that when you program for Android, you have to program for how many different variations of Android? It is a time suck and time is money.

And then there is the annoying, time consuming Apple approval process that decreases the likelihood of an app going boom.

As I am in process of learning both iOS and Android development, I will add:
There are more hurdles to getting started in iOS development than Android development.
1. You need a Mac
2. You need to know Objective C which is not a particularly easy language to learn, and is not used much outside the Apple world.
3. You need to pay money for an Apple dev account to make stuff publicly available in the App store.

By contrast,

1. The Android dev environment is available for just about any system...Windows, Mac, Linux.
2. Android dev is done in Java which has an easier learning curve, and is already to familiar to a very large pool of devs.
3. Anyone can make an .apk that can be distributed to end users. I think devs need to pay to get in the Play Store or the Amazon App Store, but .apks do not NEED to be distributed through those sources, since Android supports side loading. iOS devices would need to be jaillbroken to sideload.

So devs need to be a bit more serious before trying to offer an iOS app to the public.

(BTW, Apple is releasing a new, more Java-like, language for iOS development called Swift. I'm looking forward to that.)

[HappyMartin]

Pity this had to turn into an Apple vs Android debate. Anyway.

I am still using an iPad 2. I am a little more fond of upgrading than I should be and frequently upgrade tech devices on very flimsy grounds. However in this case I honestly can't find a good reason to upgrade. The now old IPad works very well. Battery life seems unchanged and all apps are supported.

I will most likely upgrade when I can no longer install the latest iOS.

That I believe is why people are not buying iPads. It's because they already have one that works.

[Shane R]

Originally Posted by HappyMartin

Pity this had to turn into an Apple vs Android debate. Anyway.

I am still using an iPad 2. I am a little more fond of upgrading than I should be and frequently upgrade tech devices on very flimsy grounds. However in this case I honestly can't find a good reason to upgrade. The now old IPad works very well. Battery life seems unchanged and all apps are supported.

I will most likely upgrade when I can no longer install the latest iOS.

That I believe is why people are not buying iPads. It's because they already have one that works.

I think most people expected the iPad market to be the same as the iPhone market - marked by the same rocket growth and the same rapid consumer turnover. But they are very different type of devices, with different uses and thus different market performance. Irregardless of analyst expectations, it looks like it's a fantastic business for Apple to be in. And their PC's saw a bump in sales too. I wonder if that was driven by iPad/iPhone users staying in the Apple family?

[ApK]

Originally Posted by HappyMartin

Pity this had to turn into an Apple vs Android debate. Anyway.

A thread about whether Apple is losing sales to Android turned into a discussion of Apple vs. Android? Wow. Yeah, totally uncalled for. Can't people just discuss Apple vs. Android without resorting to discussing Apple vs. Android?

That I believe is why people are not buying iPads. It's because they already have one that works.

Apple made a mark by convincing their customers they needed to upgrade whether their current devices worked or not. Those people waiting in line at Apple Stores on product launch day are not all first time buyers, nor are they all people with broken devices.
I don't think that argument holds up to historical evidence.
If people are slowing down in upgrading because their old devices still work, then this is a radical new situation for Apple.

If people are slowing down buying iPads, it's either because Apple has failed to continue to convince their core customer base that each new version is a must-have,
OR....
because of viable competition, which quite honestly, they did not have until recently.
I may think Apple is overpriced, too entrenched in it's fashion-branding, and too militant in it's walled-garden approach, but in terms of product quality, and OVERALL CONSUMER EXPERIENCE for the masses of non-technical users who want products that 'just work', the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad simply had very little real competition in their particular classes, until recently.

Now they do.

And as for 'saturation?' No, sorry, no such thing. There are new young people becoming first-time buyers everyday in every single market, except maybe the Vatican, and there are new markets developing all the time in today's world.

[Shane R]

Originally Posted by ApK

Apple made their mark by convincing their customers they needed to upgrade whether their current devices worked or not.

I think that's an extremely narrow description of the company and more than a little unfair to Apple users and customers.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Shane R

I think that's an extremely narrow description of the company and more than a little unfair to Apple users and customers too.

I will amend it to "made a mark."
It certainly wasn't their only mark, nor their most significant, but it was notable.

[Rizla]

I know people who will only buy iphone even though a comparable Android phone is much cheaper and quite possibly better. It's brand snobbery. They have to have the iphone to impress certain people, or so they they tell me.

[Shane R]

Originally Posted by ApK

I will amend it to "made a mark."
It certainly wasn't their only mark, nor their their most significant, but it was notable.

Which devices were these? iPods?

People of all stripes (iOS and Windows and Android) generally change their phones out on a two year schedule to coincide with their carrier contract (at least in the US). I don't think you can paint Apple alone with that brush.

And this thread and it's testimony from iPad users is prima facie evidence that that's not true either. It's certainly not true for their laptops either. People keep those forever because they pay a premium for them and they're built to run forever. Apple upgrades them even more slowly than it does their other devices.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Shane R

Which devices were these? iPods?

People of all stripes (iOS and Windows and Android) generally change their phones out on a two year schedule to coincide with their carrier contract (at least in the US). I don't think you can paint Apple alone with that brush.

iPods, iPhones, and iPads.
Even in phones, the rush to get in line to pay full price to replace a perfectly good <2 year old iPhone with a newer one seems to have predated the concept in the Android world by several years. The bulk of contract-term upgrades in the Android world are often a matter or "why not" because the subsidized phones are so cheap. The group that constantly gets the latest expensive Android phone each cycle is small enough that I don't know any of them personally.

We won't talk about Windows Phone users. I'll assume they'll keep upgrading until they finally get one worth keeping. ;-)

And this thread and it's testimony from iPad users is prima facie evidence that that's not true either.

My sister has upgraded her iPad three times, and, unlike with her many phones, it wasn't because she kept losing them.

Others report their experience and observations, I'm reporting mine.
This thread is anecdotal. That's fine. It's why we're here. But half a dozen posters saying they like their old iPads proves nothing more than my sister's upgrading does.

It's certainly not true for their laptops either. People keep those forever because they pay a premium for them and they're built to run forever. Apple upgrades them even more slowly than it does their other devices.

I'm speaking only about consumer iThings. I know little about the Mac world. I only recently got my first Mac, a used 2008 Macbook pro. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll be able to use the next version of XCode and do iOS 8 development on it, so I truly hope you are correct.

[HappyMartin]

[QUOTE=Shane R;2885645]I think most people expected the iPad market to be the same as the iPhone market - marked by the same rocket growth and the same rapid consumer turnover. But they are very different type of devices, with different uses and thus different market performance. Irregardless of analyst expectations, it looks like it's a fantastic business for Apple to be in. And their PC's saw a bump in sales too. I wonder if that was driven by iPad/iPhone users staying in the Apple family?[/QUOTE

Not sure if that was the cause of the bump in PC sales. Despite people claiming Apple have us all on a treadmill of rapid upgrades wether we need them or not the reality is there has been no upgrade to the Mac tower for about 2 years. Actually I think it might be even longer. This year a new tower was released and I know quite a few graphics professionals that were tempted by the new offering. I certainly was. I think that's why they saw a surge in PC sales. Can't do everything on an iPad.

I suppose the phone and tablet market is different but one of the reasons I buy Apple Mac is because of the longevity. My oldest Mac currently running is 8 years old. Does hard labour running a print rip. Used to be my primary post production retouching machine. Runs smooth and sweet. Just like my old iPad.

[twowheels]

Originally Posted by faithbw

The iPad market is likely saturated at this point. The people who buy cheap Android tablets were likely never in the market for an iPad to begin and thus, probably aren't affecting iPad sales nearly as much as people deciding to keep their older model iPads. What do you all think?

The mixed curse of making an awesome product. I still use an iPad 2 daily and it's all that I need and works great. No reason to upgrade any time soon.

That said -- I'll definitely buy another iPad when the time comes. We have a much newer Android tablet that I won in a work raffle and nobody in the family will use it except as a last resort.

[tompe]

I think it is because phones now are so good that you can do things on them as easily as on a tablet. I really do not use my iPad2 or Nexus7 so much nowadays. I use my phone Nexus 5 all the time and my small XPS13 laptop when I need a keyboard.

I think a good phone and a chromebook is a better configuration nowadays then having a phone and a tablet. And people that upgrade have phones left over that can be uses at home as a tablet.

[Josieb1]

I've already been lambasted in this thread for saying I don't like Android but i honestly feel I have to justify my love of my iPads (and yes I personally have two) because the view of some posters is I'm a fool.

I did have an Android tablet, it cost me £200, with apps bought and a case that added another another £70 so £270 in total, probably more. I gave that tablet away after 9 months as I couldn't get it to be what I wanted it to be and I bought a retina iPad mini instead which cost nearly £500. I have absolutely no regrets, it does exactly what I want and during the week I don't even turn my laptop on.

I won't upgrade every year, i'll see how I feel when the Applecare runs out but even if I upgrade then this one will go to a family member. iPads just work, seamlessly and quietly, no fuss they just do what I want.

I work for a living, I have done for 35 years so I refuse to apologise for how I spend my hard earned wages. It just seems impossible to discuss tablets or phones without it becoming a bashing thread.

iPads sales have slowed because they work, for years, it's as simple as that. Plus more choice means everyone should be able to find what they want.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by tompe

I think it is because phones now are so good that you can do things on them as easily as on a tablet.
[...]
I think a good phone and a chromebook is a better configuration nowadays then having a phone and a tablet.

Hmm. There may be something to that.
It's certainly the case for me.