Mu guess would be that iPad sales are down simply because a) hundreds of millions have been sold already, b) even more competing (primarily Android-based) tablets have been sold, and c) contrary to smartphones, tablets aren't typically bought on contract and replaced every few years, and they don't add nearly as much utility as a smartphone for someone who didn't have one before.

These 3 things combined indicate the market for tablets has been nearly saturated, and the majority of people who want one (and can afford it) already have one. The iPad has moved from 'growth market' into 'replacement market'. I know many people who are still using iPad 2's or even the original iPad, for example my mom still used the iPad 1 I gave her when I upgraded myself, so I'm not surprised Apple doesn't sell nearly as many iPad Air 2's as they sold iPad 1 or 2.

The article itself is pretty dumb if you ask me, and far too hung up on the truck/car analogy, and the premise that a device can only be useful or enjoyable if it replaces some other device like a phone or a laptop. I have a smartphone, tablet, laptop and a fixed desktop at home, but if my tablet died I would get a new one the same day. My laptop and desktop are far more likely to be replaced by a single device than my laptop/tablet or smartphone/tablet.

Just looking around I see iPad's everywhere, all the time. I see people who hate computers but love their tablets. The idea that declining sales imply they don't have a use is quite ridiculous.

I agree with your point about market saturation and should have touched upon it in my original comment when I quoted the sales drop. One point that stood out for me was that the Ipad was originally envisioned to be something bigger than what it is turning out to be. It's a great device for consumption but not so much for creation (obviously there are exceptions). For creating stuff, people still need to turn to laptops/desktops. If the creation aspect could be addressed by the Ipad, then it would be huge and I think that's what Apple will try to do with their next version of the Ipad. MS probably already understands this and therefore the focus on the Surface tablets. Obviously, there would still be a need for laptops/desktops but it would be more of an exception than a rule.

I used to work for Gazelle, a company that buys used iPhones, iPads, etc. from consumers. We found that the iPads we bought were generally in much worse shape than the iPhones. We believed this suggested that people were using their iPads quite a bit. Anecdotally, among my friends and family iPads are in almost constant use. So even if we don't know what iPads are good for we seem to use them a lot.

I wonder how much of this is just that people are not upgrading their iPads as often as they upgrade their phones. I'm still relatively happy with my iPad 2 and I've had three different iPhones during the time I've owned it. A lot of my friends are in similar situations. I think we all kind of agree that iPads are too expensive to justify frequent upgrades, especially when they're still useable.

I bought an iPhone 6 Plus thinking it would replace the iPad but found that, while I still really like the 6 Plus' size, it doesn't really work that well for prolonged reading or the lazy internet surfing the author mentions in the article.

I think your observations re: Gazelle point to the situation that telecom companies drive shorter upgrade cycles for phones, often hiding their cost and allowing three year upgrades. In contrast people generally pay full price for tablets, and upgrade less frequently.

Yes, that's definitely true. Plus iPads are not essential in the way phones are. They're luxury items.

The market for pads has peaked, right? Means people are using other things, not upgrading/replacing pads. Maybe because phones are bigger?

Looking at sales as an indicator of the success of a product is warped and silly. The fact that it is considered the right way is a shining example of the fundamentally flawed nature of our capitalist system.

Up until last year when he moved out, I continued to use my dad's first generation iPad while he used his new mini. The first generation iPad worked great, I used it all the time. I saw no reason to go and purchase one of the newer ones for myself other than the fact that I couldn't install iOS 7 on it. The software pushed obsolescence, not the hardware. My dad kept it when he moved out because it was still a great device.

A more accurate title would be "No one knows of any reason to buy the new generation iPads because their older ones are working just fine"

It could just be that the market has saturated. Most people who want a tablet have one now, and there aren't compelling reasons to upgrade. This could spell trouble for tablet makers, but doesn't say anything bad about tablets themselves.