Boston, MA 09/02/2014 (wallstreetpr) – International Data Corporation or the IDC had slashed its Tablet projections for the current year 2014 by about 46% citing leveling off of demand in the developed markets from its earlier estimation. At a time when Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is gearing itself to launch a new model of iPhone 6, the IDC projections come as a setback since the cutback had come from the matured markets where it had a strong presence.
Tablet Estimations Cut
The research organization had slashed its Tablet forecast to 6.5% growth in the current calendar year of 2014 from its earlier projection of 12.1%. In terms of volume, it is predicting 233.1 million units globally, IDC data revealed.
IDC stated that the second straight quarter of softer than expected Tablet demand had forced them to reduce its projections for tablet plus 2-in-1. The research firm said that though the global picture could suggest the slowing down of the Tablet market, its digging into regional dynamics indicated that there was still a solid appetite for this product.
While the mature markets such as the North America and Western Europe put together would witness flat unit uptick of Tablet, the rest of the region would produce 12% growth in the current year of 2014. In the year 2013, Tablet achieved 25% uptick in North America and Western Europe, whereas it had surged 88% in the other regions.
Average Selling Price
IDC also expects average selling prices to stabilize at $373 in the developed markets as the consumers resort to shifting of bigger screens and cellular-enabled tablets, it will be further down at $302 in the rest of the world market thus indicating an annual drop of 10%.
Apple’s iPad
In the last two quarters, i.e. March and June, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iPad had witnessed a year-over-year volume drop of 16% and 9% respectively to 16.35 million units and 13.276 million units respectively. For the first six-month period of the current year, iPad unit sales witnessed a drop of 13.1% to 29.626 million units.
The IDC’s projection of mature markets witnessing a flat growth would certainly be a bad one for Apple’s iPad. The company’s Tablet had already witnessed de-growth compared to the research organization’s uptick projections. It is quite unlikely that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iPad would be in a position to completely offset the first six-month weakness in the second half of the current year. The availability of cheap Tablets would make iPad sale a difficult commodity in the emerging markets. Therefore, its Tablet volume would most likely be lower than the first half of the current year during the second half if the trend is any indication.
