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ipad sales level off: due to PC tasks or phone capabilities?

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From the «look like a moron while taking photos» department:
Title: On the Leveling-Off of iPad Sales
Author: John Gruber
Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2014 17:04:05 -0400
Link: http://www.mondaynote.com/2014/04/20/the-ipad-is-a-tease/

Jean-Louis Gassée, on the widespread expectation that year-over-year iPad
sales have leveled off:

Despite the inspiring ads, Apple’s hopes for the iPad overshot what the
product can actually deliver. Although there’s a large numbers of iPad-only
users, there’s also a substantial population of dual-use customers for whom
both tablets and conventional PCs are now part of daily life.

I see the lull in iPad sales as a coming down to reality after unrealistic
expectations, a realization that iPads aren’t as ready to replace PCs as
many initially hoped.

In short, Gassée is arguing that tablet sales have hit a wall, and that the
iPad needs to grow more Mac-like capabilities for advanced tasks.

Gassée’s piece spawned an interesting thread on Twitter[1], in which Benedict
Evans argued[2]:

Posit: slow iPad sales are worse news for the PC market: implies phones can
take the greater share of PC use cases.

I find that compelling. We might have overestimated the eventual role of
tablets and underestimated the role of phones — and the whole argument is
further muddled by the industry-wide move toward 5-inch-ish phone displays.
★ [3]

Links:
[1]: https://twitter.com/gassee/status/457953543349993475 (link)
[2]: https://twitter.com/BenedictEvans/status/458091975627907073 (link)
[3]: http://daringfireball.net/linked/2014/04/21/gassee-ipad (link)

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ipad sales level off: due to PC tasks or phone capabilities? RS Wood  <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-04-22 11:51 +0000
  Re: ipad sales level off: due to PC tasks or phone capabilities? Oregonian Haruspex <bob_davis_retired@yahoo.com> - 2014-04-22 16:23 -0700
    Re: ipad sales level off: due to PC tasks or phone capabilities? RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-04-23 15:22 +0000

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