Daniel Eran DilgerApple was widely expected to sell more iPads than Macs this quarter as demand for the new tablet exploded beyond expectations. That resulted in talk of the iPad cannibalizing Mac sales and even of Apple's eventually replacing its desktop operating system with the stripped down iOS.
However, Apple surprised pundits by selling a new record number of Macs this quarter, reaching 3.47 million units. That's a 33% year over year quarterly increase, and kept its desktop platform slightly ahead of the 3.27 million iPads the company sold.
Apple's chief operations officer Tim Cook pointed out that while outsiders like to focus on the negative with talk about cannibalization, Apple prefers to think of iPad sales as an opportunity for spillover "halo" growth.
Cook noted the dramatic rise in Mac sales that accompanied the success of iPod over the past several years, and while saying, "I don't want to predict it," Cook commented on a parallel potential for new Mac sales due to "more customers we can introduce to Apple through iPhones, iPod, and iPad."
At the same time, the upside to having lower market share with the Mac among generic PCs, Cook pointed out, was that the iPad has great potential to cannibalize PCs. "There's a lot of PCs to cannibalize," Cook said.
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18 Comments
I think it's important to realize that they are completely different beasts. People just want an iPad for quick and dirty media consumption. A computer will always be in a different bracket than the iPad / iPhone. Especially with the way the OS is set up on both.
Apple prefers halo effect over fears of iPod cannibalization of Macs
Asked about the potential for iPad sales to cannibalize Mac sales...
You guys need to hire a proof reader.
I think it's important to realize that they are completely different beasts. People just want an iPad for quick and dirty media consumption. A computer will always be in a different bracket than the iPad / iPhone. Especially with the way the OS is set up on both.
Yes but--in the distant past (before iPad), when someone wanted something for "quick and dirty media consumption" their choices were between a fully functional laptop or an inferior feeling netbook. Many people were buying laptops who really wanted something like the iPad. To say "well, they really are totally different products" misses that point completely.
I am quite certain that the iPad has cannibalized MacBook sales. However, I am also quite certain that it has cannibalized MORE non-Apple netbooks AND has increased apple's standing in the eyes of the general public (AKA halo).
I know iPad owners who never owned Mac computers who now have purchased or are talking of purchasing MBs or MBPs for other family members.
Remember, for a great many people, Macs are still mysterious products. iPods and iPhones have helped, but I think the halo potential of the iPad is much larger because it is closer to a computer in function and use. It really brings home what OSX can offer (and that Windows really isn't necessary).
iPad won't cannibalize Mac.
For me it's for reading and some gaming...
At the same time, the upside to having lower market share with the Mac among generic PCs, Cook pointed out, was that the iPad has great potential to cannibalize PCs. "There's a lot of PCs to cannibalize," Cook said.
Besides, if the iPad represents a new wave of computing towards tablets, then it's far better for Apple to be in the forefront of that new wave and cannibalize its own computers than to let some other tablet take the lead. They'd still be eaten but the revenue would be in someone else's pocket....