Tag: ipad sales

Yesterday, Apple unveiled new and improved tablets.

The electronics giant showed off its new iPad Air 2 its iPad Mini 3 and new iMac with retina display at the Town Hall Auditorium within the company’s Cupertino HQ campus on Thursday, October 16, 2014.

The new tablet design is thinner and faster.

The iPad Air 2 is slimmer and faster than its predecessor and it s a quarter inch “thin”. More specifically it is 6.1 millimeters, making it 18% thinner compared to the original iPad Air. It is equipped with many features previously available on iPhones, such as the ability to take slow-motion video and burst shots. The rear camera has been enhanced from 5 megapixels to 8 megapixels, just like the cameras in iPhones. Also, instead of unlocking the device with a passcode, it can now be unlocked with a fingerprint ID, making it more secure.

In addition, Apple’s new 27-inch iMac, dubbed the “Retina 5K” model has a shaper display with seven times the pixels found on standard high-definition TV sets. This may make the new high-resolution iMac appealing to consumers who primarily watch television over the internet. It went on sale Thursday.

The company also released its new Yosemite operating system for Macs, which was made available as a free download starting Thursday. The OS update includes new functionality, such as a one-stop search tool for online resources and locally stored documents, as well as the ability to make telephone calls with a nearby iPhone.

iPad Air 2 will be facing competition from cheaper tablets.

Apple has had a drop in iPad sales. During the first half of 2014, the company shipped 29.6 million iPads, which is a 13% decrease from the same time in 2013. Part of the reason for the decrease in sales is there has been a slowdown in tablet demand.

Also, Apple faces competition from cheaper Android-powered tablets. In fact, on Wednesday, Google announced its 8.9 inch Nexus 9 tablet which runs off Android’s newest operating system Lollipop and will be available next month and is $100 cheaper than the latest version of the iPad Air. However, Apple did announce that it will be lowering the prices of the earlier version of its devices, making them “more affordable”.

According to Apple’s senior vice president, Phil Schiller, the iPad Air 2 will cost US$499 and the iPad Mini 3 will be US$399. Advanced orders for the devices will start today and the tablets will be shipped next week.

Walmart and Best Buy are already pulling out all the stops when it comes to selling the latest Apple device.

The Apple iPad Air will officially be available for purchase as of Friday, November 1, 2013, and many companies are already getting ready for the tablet commerce battle of the year to make sure that they will be the ones that will make the most sales from these highly coveted devices.

In fact, many retailers have been preparing themselves for a sales war unlike any that they have ever experienced.

In the spotlight, at the moment, are the tablet commerce efforts being made by Walmart and Best Buy, which have aggressively stepped up their games in order to secure their hold on the iPad sales market. They are both seeking to draw the largest number of buyers for the first wave of sales of these devices.

This includes tablet commerce efforts to offer these gadgets at a lower price than the competition.

For instance, Walmart has announced that for the product launch, it will be offering one of its “roll back” promotions so that the iPad Air will be available for $479. However, this hardly suggests that the retail giant will be the only place that a deal can be found to purchase this device. Other retailers – particularly Best Buy – are well aware of that company’s tactics and are making moves to ensure that their own offers are more appealing to consumers.

In this light, it has been rumored – though not yet confirmed (that is expected very soon) – that in the effort to lead the way in tablet commerce, Best Buy will agree to match the price of any competitor that is selling the iPad Air.

When all is said and done, that first weekend will clearly be offering consumers a range of different tablet commerce savings opportunities while they comparison shop to be able to purchase the latest gadgets from Apple. Even Apple, itself, has announced its own effort, saying that its shops will open their doors an hour earlier than usual in order to help to accommodate the rush of shoppers.