[Swordmaker]

The iPad's installed base is now over 300 million and steadily growing. It is far larger than the installed base of the 100 million to 150 million user base of the Mac according to industry analyst Horace Dediu. Customer satisfaction is greater than 95% for all models of the iPad, and the iPad dominates the over $200 market for tablets with 85% market share in that market segment. This refutes the arguments that the iPad is "merely a fad" that some were attempting to make on a previous thread — PING!

Apple iPad Installed Base 2 to 3 Times
the Size of the Installed Base of the Mac
Ping!

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[Pentagon Leatherneck]

I, for one, use my iPad every day, as my phone is too small for tired eyes to see and the virtual keyboard is easy for arthritic fingers. Rate me “satisfied”.

TC

[ctdonath2]

Remember, we’re looking at the sales numbers for a whole new product category, as compared with a decades-old one. The massive sales rise reflected a whole new product category being bought into for the first time, and significant updates being rapidly switched to, followed by stabilization of product and increased long-term suitability. To wit: the “tablet” was introduced, sales went skyrocketed as people discovered the Neat New Thing (TM), then flattened as the market was saturated, stayed high for a bit as people swapped iPad 1 & 2s for significantly better models, then started falling off as everyone finally had one and were increasingly content with their iPad Air or so. The super-dramatic spikes are clearly during gift-giving season, showing the product is cheap enough & attractive enough to be considered a gift item.

That vs notebook sales, where the market was already saturated & satisfied where the graph starts, slowly ticking upwards as the competing market (Windows notebooks) was encroached and total market population just increased. The lack of spikes reflects the fact that a product with a 4-digit price tag isn’t really considered a giftable item.

All this leaving the dramatic graph as “well, yeah.”

[lacrew]

I’ve wondered if the high quality of tablets (and phones) would result in a slowing of sales. People are starting to accumulate ‘spare’ deviced, which makes it difficult to justify buying a new one.

[Biloxibird]

IMHO Ipad sales are declining because Apple’s business model is to sell you an expensive product and then abandon support for that still working model of the product. One must assume Apple expects you to purchase the newest version at that point. Why? Apple will just continue to discard us, over and over. This household says, “no more!” Apple can pound sand!

[AlaskaErik]

My primary use for my Air 2 is for displaying my topo map when going off road. I also use it when I travel, as wifi is pretty much everywhere.

[Kommodor]

I swore I’d never buy Apple again after they dumped on my beloved Apple ][ GS, but ... yeah, I’m on my 4th Ipad (mini) now.

What the graph looks like to me is that the market has been pretty much saturated, and purchases are now on more of an upgrade/replacement basis.

Which I’ll probably be hitting sometime soon as it just seems like 16GB isn’t quite enough anymore. Go fig.