The Apple iPad: renew or die

The iPad is five years old, but it is a bittersweet birthday. Its brilliant entry has been followed by an almost as brilliant fall, with sales figures much lower than what the tablet had us used to. While the iPhone is getting stronger and breaking all sales records, the iPad seems to be running out. Is the post-PC era over? Is it the beginning of the end of the iPad? Nothing better than analyzing the data to be able to draw our own conclusions.

Sales fall and average selling price falls

The figures offered by Apple this past Tuesday are more than evident: the iPad is still in free fall and not even the strongest quarter of Apple sales has managed to change the trend: 21,4 million iPads sold. This means that they are already four consecutive quarters with a drop in sales compared to the same period of the previous year. And this occurs despite having the largest catalog of devices and prices in its history.

The cheapest iPad costs € 239, a laughable price compared to what an iPad model cost in its golden age, so we cannot say that its price is an impediment to purchase. As the iPhone rises in price year after year, and continues to break records year after year.

Many also claim that the problem with the iPad is that the iPhone 6 Plus is too similar and people already opt for the Apple phablet instead of the iPad. This should have an influence, in fact I have checked it myself on my meats, since since I have the iPhone 6 Plus I hardly touch any of my iPads. But it is not enough reason for such a major fall, since the average selling price of the iPad has fallen, being at just over € 350 per unit sold. This means that many people opt for the iPad Mini, cheaper than its bigger brother, the iPad Air, and with a smaller screen.

The iPad is renewed less

Apple's problem is that the iPad lasts too long. When I mean it lasts too long, I mean "too long for what Apple would like." And the main culprit is Apple, obviously. Not only because it makes a quality product, whose battery behaves like a champion despite the passage of time, and with a performance that continues to maintain good levels despite the passage of time. Now is when readers with an iPad 2 rise from their seats and throw the iPad at my head. Okay, iPad 2 was launched almost four years ago, an eternity when we talk about technology, although of course, if someone bought it a year ago, this explanation will be of little use to them.

The point is that those who buy an iPad do not have the need to renew it every year, not even every two years. My iPad 3 is almost three years old and I have not yet considered its renewal, and I am an Apple "geek" who likes to have the latest of the latest.

This has been exacerbated with the launch of the new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Two larger smartphones that allow a user experience closer to that offered by an iPad, perhaps even better in some respects, since they are lighter and easier to hold with one hand. Here comes the big Apple iPad problem: What does an iPad offer me that an iPhone 6 or 6 Plus does not?

The iPad has been classically a device for consuming content: watching movies, web browsing, games ... functions that the new iPhones perform almost to the same level as the Apple tablet. Apple must rethink the iPad that it has to stop being the device to consume and become the device to produce.

The iPad Pro may be the solution

Much is being said about the iPad Pro, although little we know about it, but today it seems that it is the last burning nail that Apple can grab to save its tablet from burning. A bigger iPad is not enoughIt must be a better iPad, more useful for the professional sector, and more useful for the domestic sector, who can really consider abandoning their laptop to switch to using an iPad.

The much-rumored hybrid between iOS and OS X I do not think it will arrive so soon, but it is the path set by Microsoft and the one that Apple will hopefully also have as its goal. A tablet that allows me to be productive effectively, but that is also comfortable to consume content. Maybe the iOS - OS X fusion is something far away at this point, but an iOS very different from the one we currently have on the iPad that really differentiates it from the iPhone can (or rather, should) be a reality soon. The iPad should definitely stand out from its little brother, with exclusive functions that give several extra points that make us the current owners of an iPad raised the change. Moreover, it makes current iPhone owners want to have an iPad because the screen is not their main differentiator.

On February 24 we could have the solution that Apple is looking for. That day is, according to rumors, when Apple will show us the Apple Watch (again), the new iPad Pro and the new 12-inch MacBook Air. We will be very pending.