Worldwide tablet sales may be slowing but Apple appears to be doing just fine – on eBay.
In its June quarter tablet shipments estimates, analyst firm International Data Corp. (IDC) reported that rising popularity of large screen smart phones continue to impact tablet sales and that while Apple Inc.’s iPad maintains its lead in the worldwide tablet sales shipments of the product line is declining.
However, “the other Apple economy” appears to show no signs of slowing down.
Nearly $2 billion worth of iPad, Mac, iPhones and even iPods were sold on eBay over the past 12 months in the United States alone, according to Apple, according to a report from online technology puiblication Computerworld.
The worldwide tablet market actually grew 11 per cent year over year to 49.3 million units but declined two per cent from the March quarter. Apple held on to the top tablet market share holder at 26.9 per cent shipping some 13.3 million iPads for the period. However these numbers represent a decline from 33.0 per cent (14.6 million units) a year ago and its 60.2 per cent share (17 million units) in 2012.
“Until recently, Apple, and to a lesser extent, Samsung, have been sitting at the top of the market, minimally impacted by the progress from competitors, according to Jitesh Ubrani, IDC reseach analyst for the Worldwide Quarterly Tablet Tracker. “Now we are seeing growth amongst the smaller vendors and a levelling of shares across more vendors as the market enters a new phase.”
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This is not likely to hurt Apple’s iPad, according to a report in the online financial Web site Forbes.com,
Gross margins of the iPad have been relatively steady, according the the publication’s Chuck Jones. He also pointed out that the device has been able to maintain its average selling price over the past five quarters, only decreasing sligthly from US$499 last year to $444 in June of this year.
In its earnings call earlier last week, Apple reported a revenue of $37.43 billion. Unit sales of iPads was 13.3 million down nine per cent against the expected unit sale of 13.8 million units.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said the iPhone and iPad sales on eBay likely has a low cannibalization factor on Apple sales because the auction site attracts people who are “much more price-sensitive.”
He said it’s a “great thing” though to know that Apple products have a much higher resale value that other products.
The transactions on eBay involved both new and used Apple devices, although used goods dominate the market.
According to the report iPhones accounted for a majority of the sales accounting for 55 per cent of the $1.94 billion annual sales of Apple devices on eBay. This was followed by Macs, at 20 per cent and iPads at 19 per cent. The iPod accounted for one per cent of Apple eBay sales.