 |
What’s
the point of an iPad? Who needs a tablet in this era of big phones and
ultraportable laptops? And even if you do want a tablet, do you really
need the premium tablets Apple is making — devices that sell for a
couple of hundred dollars more than the pretty capable tablets made by
Amazon, Google and many other rivals?
Those are the tough questions Apple has to answer at the event it will hold on Thursday to unveil its new line of iPads.
The company is
expected to do pretty much what it does every year: Show off tablets
that are faster and thinner than the previous ones. Apple will also
probably add its Touch ID fingerprint scanner and Apple Pay, its online
payment system, to the tablets. But are these features enough to give
new life to the iPad?
That remains a tricky
question. Apple’s iPad business is huge, and it isn’t on the verge of
death. Jan Dawson, an independent technology analyst, has pointed out
that Apple’s iPad revenue exceeds $30 billion a year, a business bigger
than McDonald’s. But Apple reported slight declines in iPad sales in
its last two quarterly earnings reports. That is a vivid contrast from
just a few years ago, when the iPad line was growing faster than the
iPhone, and it seemed poised to become Apple’s next big thing. What happened?
Many things. The iPad,
which was always an in-between device, is under attack from all sides.
Phones have become much more capable in the last few years, and much
bigger, so the iPad seems superfluous. Meanwhile, most laptops are far
cheaper than the iPad, and many are nearly as thin and light, too.
Apple’s rivals have also figured out ways to make pretty good tablets
for little money. If you use your tablet mainly for watching media, for
instance, Amazon will sell you a very good one that does just that for
less than $100. Apple’s cheapest iPad goes for $299.
But the iPad’s biggest
problem is that it does not serve a distinct purpose in a world full of
lots of other screens. I know many people who love their iPads, but
I’ve heard from readers and friends who say their iPads just aren’t as
useful as other devices they carry. Sammy the Walrus IV, a clever,
pseudonymous technology analyst who writes the blog AAPL Orchard,
pointed out recently that part of the problem was the lack of innovation
in iPad apps. Whether its Uber, Instacart or Facebook, scores of
start-ups are trying to make better smartphone apps, but the well of
interesting tablet apps is drying up. “If I have no interest in
downloading or even using iPad apps, I view that as an ominous sign for
its future,” Sammy wrote. “My interest is moving elsewhere, namely to iPhone, and soon Apple Watch.”
For Apple, solving
this problem — giving the iPad a distinct purpose, a reason to exist
that stands apart from phones and PCs — will have to be a long-term
effort. But we may start to see the scale of Apple’s response to the
issue on Thursday. Or, we may not, and we’ll be left wondering, once
more, what the iPad is for.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/16/apples-ipad-problem-does-anyone-really-need-a-pricey-tablet/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
Post a Comment