Ideas to improve the sales of ipad

[Kostas3000]

I love my iPad and I do believe that it represents the future of personal computing. Although many people use iPads, the sales of the iPad do not reflect the wide use of ipad. There are two reasons for that:
A. Old iPads are still very good. So, no need to buy a new iPad to replace an older one. My wife still has the first retina iPad and she doesn't want to change it
B. Low budget consumers prefer to buy a pc or a Mac, because there are still some functions or apps that are not available in iPad.

I have the following ideas for Apple. The first group of ideas address cause A
1. Promote pro apps that require the processing power and ram of newer iPads.
2. Enhance the multitasking by allowing more than just 2 apps running simultaneously. This would be a huge boost for productivity and it would promote the acquisition of the newer, faster iPads.
3. Allow multitasking by wireless "live" connectivity of several iOS devices. E.g. one iPad will be showing app A, while the second iPad will be showing app B. Both ipads will be connected live as though they were two different windows on a Mac. This option will make it more meaningful to have more than one iPad.
4. Use Oled screens. They have some advantages, but only one negative aspect: they fade out after some time. This fading out will also lead to a shorter iPad replacement cycle.

The second group addresses cause B.
5 . Allow a virtual, cloud environment where we can run macOS apps. This can be done now, by an individual set up with a Mac mini. I see no (technical) reason why Apple cannot offer that now through a cloud service. This would allow people to buy just an iPad and for the 5% of things that still (or never will) cannot be done on iOS, then you will have the virtual, cloud macOS.
6. Laptop are still much better than iPads in text input. The Smart Keyboard is not as good as my macbook's keyboard. Perhaps you can find good keyboards but they negate the portability of iPad. Two possible solutions: I) improve the dictation to make the keyboard unnecessary. Given the use of slang, scientific terms, accents, dictation will never be perfect. One option is to be given by iOS word options of best matches, live while you are dictating. This has to be done fast in order to minimize interference with your stream of thoughts. II) I love typing with my pencil on the screen keyboard. I can type very fast this way, however the keyboard is optimized for finger input, so a newer version with smaller, more tight keys might allow a very rapid typing with the pencil

 

[darksithpro]

IMO I see the tablets going in the direction the iPod went.

1. iPads don't need to be updated nearly as much as a phone does, because it's not used as extensively and they last a lot longer than a smartphone. For many people their 2-5 year old tablets work just fine for what they use it for.

2. Smartphone screen size has been on the rise. We're now approaching 5.8 inches for regular screen size and 6+ inches for the phablets because of the bezels being removed. At this point it doesn't make much sense for a 7 inch tablet when your phone screen is almost as big.


I think for Apple to pick up sales they need to make the tablets bigger, because of the phone screen sizes are getting bigger. They should also think about including a full fledged Operating System like MacOS just like Microsoft did with the Surface Pro devices by putting Windows 10 on them. Even though iOS is really nice it's still very limiting to a real OS like OS-X and Windows. Putting MacOS on a tablet would open up a lot of possibilities for customers.

 

[Channan]

I think the biggest problem is that in the last several years iOS hasn't really improved to make the iPad more productive. The people who can replace their laptop with an iPad now could have done so years ago. There haven't been any major new features added to convert more people besides split screen multitasking.

Apple is causing their own problems. They won't take the iPad's software seriously enough to give it the features and UI improvements it needs, and instead only focuses on iPhone features and then just enlarging them for the bigger screen.

 

[tibas92013]

The other day I tuned-in the Podcast "Mac Break Weekly" in which they cited a Computer Writer Specialist Newsletter that overall the IPads are presently doing A-Ok in sales, however, it is the iPad Mini that is driving-down the Apple Sales statistics for iPads. It appears that many Consumers are now switching to the iPhone with the larger screen capacity and not buying the iPad Mini.

 

[Channan]

The other day I tuned-in the Podcast "Mac Break Weekly" in which they cited a Computer Writer Specialist Newsletter that overall the IPads are presently doing A-Ok in sales, however, it is the iPad Mini that is driving-down the Apple Sales statistics for iPads. It appears that many Consumers are now switching to the iPhone with the larger screen capacity and not buying the iPad Mini.

Which is a shame, because I prefer having a small phone and two tablets, a big one and a small one.

 

[DNichter]

It's all about the software. They need to differentiate iPhone software from iPad software. Both are obviously going to be iOS, but I need to see more desktop-like features added to iPad before I buy another. I have bought and sold 4 iPad's mainly because they lose appeal after a short while.

 

[Fattytail]

Agree with all who say it's the software. Make a Surface Pro competitor running iOS and iPads will convert a whole bunch of people previously using PCs. The problem is the hardware isn't quite there yet to do something like that without major compromises like weight and battery life. But we're definitely getting close. We may in fact already be there and may see iOS enhancements for iPad this year.

 

[Cheffy Dave]

I love my iPad and I do believe that it represents the future of personal computing. Although many people use iPads, the sales of the iPad do not reflect the wide use of ipad. There are two reasons for that:
A. Old iPads are still very good. So, no need to buy a new iPad to replace an older one. My wife still has the first retina iPad and she doesn't want to change it
B. Low budget consumers prefer to buy a pc or a Mac, because there are still some functions or apps that are not available in iPad.

I have the following ideas for Apple. The first group of ideas address cause A
1. Promote pro apps that require the processing power and ram of newer iPads.
2. Enhance the multitasking by allowing more than just 2 apps running simultaneously. This would be a huge boost for productivity and it would promote the acquisition of the newer, faster iPads.
3. Allow multitasking by wireless "live" connectivity of several iOS devices. E.g. one iPad will be showing app A, while the second iPad will be showing app B. Both ipads will be connected live as though they were two different windows on a Mac. This option will make it more meaningful to have more than one iPad.
4. Use Oled screens. They have some advantages, but only one negative aspect: they fade out after some time. This fading out will also lead to a shorter iPad replacement cycle.

The second group addresses cause B.
5 . Allow a virtual, cloud environment where we can run macOS apps. This can be done now, by an individual set up with a Mac mini. I see no (technical) reason why Apple cannot offer that now through a cloud service. This would allow people to buy just an iPad and for the 5% of things that still (or never will) cannot be done on iOS, then you will have the virtual, cloud macOS.
6. Laptop are still much better than iPads in text input. The Smart Keyboard is not as good as my macbook's keyboard. Perhaps you can find good keyboards but they negate the portability of iPad. Two possible solutions: I) improve the dictation to make the keyboard unnecessary. Given the use of slang, scientific terms, accents, dictation will never be perfect. One option is to be given by iOS word options of best matches, live while you are dictating. This has to be done fast in order to minimize interference with your stream of thoughts. II) I love typing with my pencil on the screen keyboard. I can type very fast this way, however the keyboard is optimized for finger input, so a newer version with smaller, more tight keys might allow a very rapid typing with the pencil

1,2,4,5

 

[B.A.T]

I've got an iPad mini 2 and it still works great for web browsing/email/videos etc. I use it all the time around my house and the occasional road trip. I won't personally buy a new pro model until it can run Lightroom and photoshop. That's what's holding me back.

At my office they are planning to give me a new Dell that looks exactly like a surface pro to my eyes. 16gbs of ram, i7 and a chance to use photoshop on a tablet. While the specs sound great I'm doubtful that I will be impressed but if I am no new iPad for me

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

iPads don't have to be replaced every year or even every 3 years. Sales have slowed because the upgrade cycle is very different to a mobile phone. Nobody expects 80 million iPads to be sold annually.

 

[TheRealAlex]

It's all about the software. They need to differentiate iPhone software from iPad software. Both are obviously going to be iOS, but I need to see more desktop-like features added to iPad before I buy another. I have bought and sold 4 iPad's mainly because they lose appeal after a short while.

Apple is trying. IPAD is Apples best touch screen PC

Add quad speakers check
Add best CPU and GPU check
Add best display ever check
Add best input device Apple Pencil
Add support for an amazing keyboard
Add wireless charging check Apple Smart connnector

What's missing ?

Add support for Bluetooth mice so I can navigate the web with a Mouse please.
Add support for high quality Audio AptX HD and or Bluetooth 5.0 AAC, FLAC or MP3 192khz 24-bit
Quad Core A11X CPU
3GB DDR4 RAM

 

[DNichter]

Apple is trying. IPAD is Apples best touch screen PC

Add quad speakers check
Add best CPU and GPU check
Add best display ever check
Add best input device Apple Pencil
Add support for an amazing keyboard
Add wireless charging check Apple Smart connnector

What's missing ?

Add support for Bluetooth mice so I can navigate the web with a Mouse please.
Add support for high quality Audio AptX HD and or Bluetooth 5.0 AAC, FLAC or MP3 192khz 24-bit
Quad Core A11X CPU
3GB DDR4 RAM

Those are all appreciated hardware upgrades, but I think for the iPad to lose it's current stigma, they need to open up the software a bit more and really differentiate it from the iPhone. Right now it's just a large phone. Huge potential, just not there yet.

 

[Mad Mac Maniac]

I agree with what most people are saying here.

I really think the $329 iPad might do wonders getting some price sensitive people into iPads and pushing iPad 2,3,4 users to finally upgrade. I do think the upgrade window is longer than Apple hoped, but it really is getting time for some upgraders.

And then there's the software... When iPad was announced running (originally) iPhone OS, I was excited. Not because I even cared necessarily about iPad, but because I presumed that selling a computer running iPhone OS would drive apple to innovate in software features. Basically iPad would raise iOS, and iPhone would come along for the ride. Unfortunately, it's mostly been that iPhone has been dragging down software improvements to iPad (or at least that's the appearance). I think Apple is finally starting to take iPad s/w seriously and I'm expecting (hoping) iOS 11 has some big enhancements for iPad functionality.

For what it's worth, I've been disappointed in the size of my iPad mini 2 (I thought I would like the portability, but honestly my 6+ provides the portability. I want iPad for a more roomy experience), so when I found a refurbished iPad Pro for $380 on eBay, I jumped on it.