Tim Cook: iPad sales slump is just a speed bump

By

Tim Cook onstage at the 2014 WWDC. Photo: Roberto Baldwin/The Next Web
Tim Cook onstage at the 2014 WWDC. Photo: Roberto Baldwin/The Next Web

The state of the tablet industry has not been promising lately. Over the last few months Apple reported slumping iPad sales, Best Buy’s CEO declared that tablet sales are “crashing,” and many analysts and pundits have eagerly declared the tablet fab is coming to an end, but Recode’s Walt Mossberg has a few points to make in defense of the tablet.

While IDC expects tablet sales to flatline by the end of 2014, Tim Cook indicated to Mossberg that the future of tablets is still bright, calling the current lull in sales a mere “speed bump.”

“We couldn’t be happier with how we’ve done with the first four years of the iPad. I’d call what’s going on recently a speed bump, and I’ve seen that in every category.”

Apple sold 13.2 million iPads in Q3 2014 but that number is down from the 16.3 million sold Q2 2014, and the 14.6 million sold in Q3 2013, while sales of the machine the iPad is designed to replace, the Mac, saw its sales increase to 4.4 million Macs in the previous quarter.

Speed bump or not, there’s no denying that the iPad has become one the biggest products ever created by Apple. So big in fact, that if the iPad were a separate company, it would be bigger than Facebook, Telsa, Twitter, Yahoo, LinkedIn and Groupon combined.

To make the iPad lineup more alluring for professionals, Apple is reportedly preparing to launch a 12.9-inch iPad in early 2015. Successors to the iPad Air and iPad mini are expected to be annnounced this fall. The iPad Air is rumored to get a anti-reflection coating for easier reading, as well as 2GB of RAM, TouchID, improved cameras, and a super-fast A8 processor.

Source: Recode

Newsletters

Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.

  • The Weekender

    The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" -- Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" -- Kenly Xavier.