47% of iPad mini sales to new customers, cannibalization concerns called 'overblown'
A new survey of iPad mini buyers has found that nearly half are new to the platform, suggesting the smaller form factor will help grow Apple's market share in a big way.
The data comes from a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. consumers published on Monday by Morgan Stanley and AlphaWise. Analyst Katy Huberty said although iPad mini sales are clearly cannibalizing some full-size iPad sales, she believes concerns over this trend are "overblown."
The survey found that the iPad mini has accounted for 34 percent of planned iPad purchases, making the 7.9-inch tablet a "key demand driver" for the platform.
However, the poll did indicate that the iPad mini is currently attracting slightly fewer new users than the full-size 9.7-inch iPad. While 47 percent of iPad mini buyers said they were new to the platform, 56 percent of those buying a 9.7-inch iPad were new customers.
Huberty said these numbers show her that the cannibalization risk Apple faces with the iPad mini is "manageable."
The survey also found that Apple grew its tablet installed base the fastest of any company, and its shipment share it expected to stay flat at 50 percent in the U.S. next year. It also found that Apple again has the strongest retention rate in the industry, with 81 percent of iPad owners saying they will stick with Apple.
Among those polled who own an Amazon Kindle Fire, 7 percent said they plan to switch to an iPad, while 2 percent of Samsung tablet owners say they'll buy an Apple tablet. Thirty-six percent of those with no tablet also said they plan to buy an iPad.
37 Comments
Wall Street is always telling publicly traded companies to bring in that money no matter what. So if the mini is eating away at the sales of the larger iPad , so damn what. As long as every growing revenues enter into the cofers of Apple people shouldn't be bitchin. I gave my iPad 2 to my gf and I picked up the 32 gig wifi only mini. AWESOME. Now wait until the mini gets the retina treatment and that A6 chip next year. DAMN!
Surely the question that should have been asked is: if the iPad mini wasn't available, would you have bought a standard iPad instead? Surely that's the only way to measure cannibalisation?
1000 survey answers is likely far from statistically sound when you considered that tens and hundreds of thousand iPad have been sold in the past few weeks. That said, I suspect the comment about fears being overblown are true. Yes the iPad 4 numbers might be down a bit but that could be simply that folks already got the 3 and see no reason to change from a device that is still under the base warranty.especially when we don't know if this Fall release was a change in calendar or the start of a new six month cycle.
I'm surprised to see the new to platform buyers higher for iPad than iPad mini. Also surprised the other tablets are growing while the Kindle Fire interest is decreasing.
Two different parallel universes exist apparently. In one universe we see articles like this one and others showing Apple is just as popular and powerful as it ever has been. In the other universe Apple is finished, dead and buried with its stock price plummeting the company into oblivion. Choose your universe and live there? Is there no reality for Apple?