The iPad is doing all sorts of butt-kicking right now, and it’s taking away from the laptop market. At least that’s what the Wall Street Journal is saying:
Best Buy’s strong results for the three months ended Aug. 28 were due to tight expense controls, increased sales of cellphones and services such as connecting televisions with home networks, and a stock repurchase program that reduced total shares outstanding.The earnings also underscored the trends buffeting consumer electronics retailers heading into Christmas. Best Buy said smartphone sales continued to rise compared with a year ago, as did portable computer totals, buoyed by the iPad.
However, television sales fell despite the rollout of new 3D models, with both average prices and total volumes notching “low-double digit” declines compared with last year. Mr. Dunn also said internal estimates showed that the iPad had cannibalized sales from laptop PCs by as much as 50%.
50%? Sounds sketchy to me, but maybe that’s the case at Best Buy. Either way, if iPads are moving off the shelf, that’s good news for Apple fans. The big rumor I’ve been reading recently is that the next iPad is coming out before Christmas. If that’s the case, then it might pick up holiday sales as well. For the record, I’ve still got my bets on January.
2 thoughts on “iPad is Kicking Butt and Taking Names”
There’s only one name I want to see taken and that’s Microsoft Windows 7. Anything that can partially stop the flow of Windows 7 OEM licenses is a feather in Apple’s cap. Even a temporary slowdown of just a couple of earnings quarters will slow down the mighty Microsoft train enough to give corporations pause about renewing Windows PC licenses without considering alternatives.
I think people are going to look back and remember Steve Jobs’ comment at D8: PCs are going to be the trucks of tomorrow. Not everyone’s going to use or need one.