Apple iPad sales drop by DOUBLE DIGITS in Europe

Apple fondleslab sales tumbled after the buying frenzy around its third generation iPad died down, Context numbers reveal. Stats from the bean-counter, which tracks distributor shipments, show that the total number of iPads flogged dropped 22 per cent in April across Western Europe compared to the previous month. Broken down …

[Anonymous Coward]

no breathing room

Can't find this report on their website. I can only find this one: "Apple continues to leave no breathing room for competing tablets"

That report only mentions increased sales - maybe there's a special skeptics part of the site that repels anyone suspected of fanboi-ism

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: no breathing room

@FatsBrannigan: "maybe there's a special skeptics part of the site that repels anyone suspected of fanboi-ism"

Or maybe someone isn't reading carefully - note that the drop is relative to huge peak in sales that occurred when the new iPad was released, quote: "total number of iPads flogged dropped 22 per cent in April across Western Europe *compared to the previous month*"

It would be astounding if they could match that level of sales every month, especially at this time of year.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: maybe someone isn't reading carefully

My point was that the this report (at the time of posting) wasn't available on their website. Thanks for your inattention

[Anonymous Coward]

Kindle fire still MIA in Europe

It's still early days for rational commnets on how the tablet market looks like shaping up. Kindle fire grabbed market share in USA but not clear if or when Amazon will make a real play for tablets by going beyond a novelty market specific device.

Will be interesting to discover how the landscape changes over the next year. Easy to predict iPad market share will go down as a percentage while the sales numbers continue to increase. Beyond that, anyones guess is as good as the self styled 'analysts' opinions.

[Anonymous Coward]

Premakumar said the rise of Samsung has been more marked since the autumn, "predominantly driven by the Galaxy Note"

Anonymous Coward said the rise of Samsung has been more marked since the autumn, "predominantly driven by more and more people getting seriously pissed off with Apple"

[Anonymous Coward]

Sour Grapes for sale

LOL, yeah sure Samsung total tablet sales when including a phone <100k per month, Ipad sales > 4 million. Take your sour grapes somewhere else.

[Kevin7]

Is there really an endless market for 400+ quid devices that refresh yearly with few operator subsidies or cheap contracts? It is a great device but when you have to buy it outright won't you keep it much longer than something on a contract?

[Random Handle]

>Is there really an endless market for 400+ quid devices that refresh yearly with few operator subsidies or cheap contracts?

Not in the EU - in fact here operators are bracing for the impact of huge numbers of defaults on Credit Agreements for high end phones and tablets....likewise the downward spiraling credit scores of the unwashed masses is impacting directly on new pay monthly contracts.

[andreas koch]

@Kevin7 - Is there really...

Yes, there is.

Just like there is a likewise unsaturable market for similarly priced handbags. We're not talking about power tools here, not about fridges or roof tiles; I think we are talking fashion and jewellery: goods that the vast majority of the population doesn't really need and only buys because "that's what you gotta have nowadays" and "the Jones's have that and I got to keep up".

It's a combination, I think, of a not completely useless gizmo, peer pressure and the Veblen-Effect.

Respect to Apple for making their goods so well-selling in a market that was, in former times, almost impervious to this kind of sales pitch.

Will I buy one? No.

[Random Handle]

Re: @Kevin7 - Is there really...

>Just like there is a likewise unsaturable market for similarly priced handbags...........goods that the vast majority of the population doesn't really need and only buys because....

Past tense required, you're describing a consumer boom - now credit and disposable income no longer flow so freely. Its a bad time to be selling tablets, but a much worse time to be flogging fashion handbags......

[Anonymous Coward]

You could just as easily ask if there is an endless market for 400+ quid TV's. Or any CE device.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, there is really a market for these devices

Or do you not have a laptop or PC? Both are refreshed all the time, though the more major refreshes tend to occur roughly yearly to match Intel's tick tock cadence. Do you have a TV? Most are refreshed on yearly cycles. Do you have an automobile? Most are refreshed on yearly cycles, and like iPads and iPhones, get some small refreshes on a yearly basis plus bigger refreshes a bit less often.

Just because Apple introduces a new iPad or iPhone, or Samsung introduces a new Galaxy S, doesn't mean that your older model is suddenly worthless. Those who buy these as a fashion item may want to have the latest model, but that's a rather less expensive affliction than those who insist on having the latest fashion in clothes or whom trade in their car for the newest model every two years like clockwork.

Operator subsidy, or lack of same, is also irrelevant. It would really only matter if you bought a model with cellular, which I don't see as being all that necessary for a tablet. All it does with phones is hide the true cost, which is not really all that different than how people who buy a new car every two years think (i.e., trade the old one for a new one in exchange for essentially adding two more years worth of the same payments you were already making, which means its "FREE" lol)

I don't even understand the point of your complaint. Are you saying that tablets should never be updated, so you can buy one and never need another one until it breaks, like how you buy a washing machine or a hammer? I'd prefer some technological advancement, and am willing to accept the risk that my product will become (gasp!) outdated in comparison with what else is out there over time.

[Alan Firminger]

Yes I have a TV, and I replace it when it fails.

[streaky]

Re: Yes, there is really a market for these devices

"Or do you not have a laptop or PC? Both are refreshed all the time, though the more major refreshes tend to occur roughly yearly to match Intel's tick tock cadence"

Yeah but people only buy every year in Apple's "special" little world all of their own, which is why you can't really use say Dell v Apple sales figures and determine market share. Or Samsung V Apple sales figures in phones; people don't buy an android phone every year, because oddly enough they last longer than that ;)

It can't last because at some point the stupid-train crashes right? I mean it's happened before with Apple. I'm not saying it isn't impressive in it's own way. As somebody said people buying Apple products like they buy handbags - oddly enough from a guy with absolutely no fashion sense whatsoever (before he died).

All it would take is one mistake for the fashions to have a fashion-fit.

[streaky]

Re: Yes, there is really a market for these devices

I know I typed that as fashionistas.. My point was simply to say most people that buy them have no taste of their own and tend to buy Apple products and flash them around to cover that up. You won't agree - because you are one of these people.

Not *everybody* but most.

[Tidosho]

Re: Yes, there is really a market for these devices

"Or do you not have a laptop or PC? Both are refreshed all the time, though the more major refreshes tend to occur roughly yearly to match Intel's tick tock cadence. Do you have a TV? Most are refreshed on yearly cycles. Do you have an automobile? Most are refreshed on yearly cycles, and like iPads and iPhones, get some small refreshes on a yearly basis plus bigger refreshes a bit less often."

You're forgetting that (standard) laptops and PC's have a longer lifecycle when in the hands of knowledgeable owners like myself. They can have the CPU, RAM and HDD upgraded to add a few years extra life on to them.

Most Apple products like the MacBook Pro cannot be as extensively upgraded as some of the components like the CPU are soldered in, only the HDD and RAM can be upgraded. The MacBook Air has everything all soldered on to one circuit board, like the iPad and iPhone they're more throwaway, once Apple stop supporting it and software updates for older phones and pads get stopped this FORCES you to buy a new phone or iPad/Air, because the rework/reflow soldering and new chip costs from vacuum rework engineers like me would cost too much for upgrades or extensive circuit repairs once all warranties are up.

I like hardware I can get 4-5 years out of by upgrading it, not being forced to buy a full new device every year because Apple have new devices to sell by force stopping software support.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Yes, there is really a market for these devices

I don't know a single person that has ever upgraded the CPU in their laptop. And that's said as someone who has built every PC I ever owned, dating back to 1997. The vast majority of people would be deathly afraid of the idea of removing the two screws on the bottom to upgrade the RAM, and wouldn't even know where to begin when confronted with the concept of upgrading the hard drive, so the idea that not being able to upgrade the CPU in a laptop matters to anyone to the 1% of people who are hardcore geeks is laughable.

I remember a few years ago how Apple haters thought the iPhone's non replaceable battery (it actually is replaceable, but the difficulty of doing so is comparable to upgrading the CPU in a desktop PC, so few people would dare try it) was a terrible terrible thing. Funny how that's a criticism that's rarely levelled anymore since some Android phones started doing the same thing.

Similarly, I am amused by the idea of a Mac laptop's inability to get a CPU upgrade as being a problem, especially since PC makers are pushing ultrabooks, every one of which has the CPU soldered onto the motherboard just like in Macs! Pick something that matters to complain about, like the loss of the RJ45 port, or the apparent discontinuing of the 17" model...

[Andrew James]

At the end of the year i'll be ditching the smartphone in favour of a dumbphone and an iPad with a data contract. Not a best-fit for everyone, but for me this will work just fine. I'm not getting into the how and why of all that, but I've given it some thought and decided its an option that will work for me.

I will be tied to a 24 month data contract, just like with a smartphone. So every couple of years i will upgrade the tablet just like i would a phone. The only difference being the iPad will be more useful for the kids to play with than would be the case with an old phone.

[the-it-slayer]

What!?

"Premakumar said the rise of Samsung has been more marked since the autumn, "predominantly driven by the Galaxy Note whose sales through distribution has increased by over twenty times between October and April".

Back in October Samsung sold 3,519 Notes but this had soared to 73,390 by April, accounting for 75 per cent of Samsung's total tablet sales.

Readers may dispute that the Note is a fondleslab but Context categorises any device with a five inch screen size or larger as a tablet."

The Samsung Note is NOT a tablet. Jesus. It's held with one hand the size of hulk or people who wish to receive the lovely fate of arthritis early. If the Note was classed a smartphone, it would be a failure in terms of sales being swamped by the masses of fandroid devices. We might as well class the new SIII as a tablet as it's so close to 5 inches in size.

Anything past 7" is definately tablet territory. All this merky water categorisation is just painful to watch when Samsung and the like don't even know what they want these products to do. "Oh, a mixture of a phone and tablet is cool - let's get on the train before it rides past us".

Anyway, non-news to most of us when this is the same pattern as any other Apple launch. Next please El Reg - you must be having a slow news day.

[ratfox]

Re: What!?

A friend of mine just got a Note, which he uses as a phone. He does have hulk-sized hands...

You probably need military-style pockets also.

[Svantevid]

Re: What!?

"The Samsung Note is NOT a tablet."

I agree. My sister has it - and she's ecstatic over it, good job Samsung - but I don't see how could you classify it as a tablet. It's just too small.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: 'and she's ecstatic over it'

Good thing they have a wipe-clean surface

[BorkedAgain]

Re: What!?

Have you actually seen a Note?

I'd classify mine as a phone first, but it does everything I'd need a tablet to do as well, so I'm happy to call it a tablet if that suits the conversation. It's both. So what?

Oh, and if that's seven inches then I guess you must be pretty impressively endowed, right?

[the-it-slayer]

Re: What!?

I took a look at one whilst waiting in the Three shop for them to do some SIM transfer trickery. Just like the Dell Streak a tech I knew had an old job. Yes, he did have hands the size of hulk; but it was such a clumbsy device.

There's no such thing as a phone/tablet (or foneslab as El Reg calls them as I saw mentioned. If you had a phone module that you could physically take out of the tablet, then yes. The Samsung Note is just a huge phone. It's primary function is a phone and it has the intelligent touch screeny bit with it making it a smartphone. My iPhone does everything my iPad does (minus phone calls/texts/MMS), but it isn't a tablet.

As I said before, it's bandwagon jumping/merky jargon being done by the typical criminals in tech.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: What!?

Love all these posts from people on their high horses about what size determines a tablet.

Prey tell me what is this:

http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/04/040428.tablets-026-sm.jpg

For more Google Image search Ancient tablet.

[Svantevid]

Re: What!?

"Prey tell me what is this:

http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/04/040428.tablets-026-sm.jpg"

---

It's a piece of clay. 8-)

There must be a limit somewhere, otherwise I can call my iPaq hx2110 a tablet too. So the limit is simple for me: if I can fit it in a shirt pocket - and I can fit a Note there - it's not a tablet.

[mrh2]

surely what matters...

...is sales to actual customers, not sales to distributors? And using that measurement all signs are Apple/iPad own far more of the tablet market than this report suggests.

Sales of the Playbook and HPs TouchPad to distributors didn't result in sales to end buyers...

[Anonymous Coward]

The Note is a joke - it only 'just' got Ice Cream Sandwich despite being promised for months and months and months...

[BorkedAgain]

Re: The Note is a joke

I don't get it.

[Andrew Peake]

Please explain your comment to me, for I am hard of Thinking.

Did it not work before Ice Cream Sandwich?

[jamesb2147]

Unrelated

Can we please go back to having article titles and subtitles/subtext/w/e in standard (and classy!) black font instead of... w/e color scheme this is? It not only hurts my eyes (srsly!), it's distracting. I had a ridiculously hard time reading the article because my eyes kept drifting up to the title.

:(

[Powelly]

Is there some kind of Daily Mail-esque statistical blunder in this article?

""iPad sales in March grew 134 per cent compared to February"

So the volumes in March were 234% of those in February - i.e. much more than twice as many?

In which case:

"the total number of iPads flogged dropped 22 per cent in April across Western Europe compared to the previous month."

Means that they still sold 182% of the number sold in February?

Even if that first stat should read either "grew by 34%" or "were 134% of those in February", this is still means that they sold 104% of the February numbers, so it's hardly the sales disaster that the article seems to want to suggest.

Of course it's entirely possible it's me making the schoolboy error - it is Friday after all. That coupled with having a new baby at home means my brain is pretty much BSOD.

[a_been]

You maths looks about right. It seems El Reg has decided that lying for page views is the way to go. The most interesting thing about this story and the real news is that Samsung sells less than 25,000 tablets a month once you exclude the note.

[Oliver 4]

Accuracy of figures

Does the data include direct sales from apple? I'm not convinced it does.

[The Nameless Mist]

Pricing

Maybe if Apple grasped the concept that adding GBP£100 to cover the cost of the "allegedly but its not" 4G slot was moneyraking and reduced their prices overall to match the competition they'd sell more slabs.

A US iPad3 WIFI+Cellular 16GB costs USD 629

same item in UK costs GBP 499 equiv USD 722.

So apple, who sets pricing policy is gouging the UK by nearly USD $100 per unit.

You want us to buy the tech, then play fair on the pricing.

[sleepy]

Re: Pricing

Ten years ago your point was valid. But excluding vat, the UK price is $643. And you could say the cost of stronger EU consumer legislation justifies an extra $14.

[Shadowmanx2009]

Re: Pricing

Seriously?? Sell more product?

The company has over $100 billion dollars in cash in the bank, and you think they're worrying about a *possible* dip in sales? Link: http://techcrunch.com/2012/04/24/apple-q2-earnings-apple-now-has-over-110-billion-in-cash-reserves/

I think most of the tech industries would love to achieve these figures.

[Anonymous Coward]

the Note is a fondleslab

Actually, I think it's a phondleslab.

[Danny 14]

hmm

Fairly useless data without context. Im not fan of apple but without hard numbers this is utterly useless information. TBH in the month of april a 22% drop in overall sales may be absolutely fine.

Say apple sold 100 in march then only 78 in april, that would be a 22% drop. If samsung only sold 50 in march then 50 in april although they had flat sales they still sold less overall. Apple could have sold PHENOMINAL amounts of new ipads initially which would be very hard to maintain, 22% of PHENOMINAL might be FANTASTIC which is still better than OK.

Same as sun reporting with 100% more voters this year!!2! when in reality it could have been 10 people voting instead of 5.

[Anonymous Coward]

Incomplete data

The overall conclusion is flawed without verifiable data from all channels to market (included internal Apple data). Of course, to use limited data to grab headlines implying it's all over for Apple might be exactly what El Reg wants to publish to appease it's readers.