NEW YORK: Apple has plan to produce a larger-screen iPad as its tablet sales continue to decline. The company said in January it sold 21.4 million iPads in the three months ended Dec. 27, down 18% from a year earlier. Strong sales of Apple’s larger-screen iPhones has been cannibalising its iPad sales, analysts say.
Apple also planned to broaden its product offering with a new 12-inch MacBook Air.
Apple is now considering adding USB ports and adopting so-called USB 3.0 technology, a much faster version that promises to transfer data up to 10 times as rapidly as current USB ports, one of the people said. It is especially useful when users are transferring large amounts of data, such as backing up computers to USB-connected hard disks. Currently, Apple’s 9.7-inch iPad and 7.9-inch iPad Mini don’t come with a USB port.
“Apple has continued to rework some of the features of the larger iPad. It is now considering the faster technology for data synchronisation between the larger iPad and other computing devices,” said the person.
“Apple is also working on technology to speed up the iPad charging time, but it remains uncertain if the final design will have these new features.”
The company has also been considering adding ports to connect to a keyboard and mouse, the people said.
Apple, which works with suppliers to test new technology and designs all the time, could opt not to proceed with some of the features when it starts mass producing the device later.
“I am optimistic that this (larger-screen iPad) will be a positive driver (for Apple) to break into the enterprise market, where much of the tablet growth will come from in the coming years, ” said Peter King, analyst at Strategy Analytics.
The company’s share of the global tablet market slipped to 28.1 per cent in the fourth quarter from 33.1 per cent a year earlier, according to research firm IDC. Worldwide tablet shipments also fell for the first time in the fourth quarter as consumers refrain from upgrading due to a lack of hardware innovation.
However, the rise of Apple’s mobile devices in the workplace provides opportunities for the company. It has started courting the enterprise market though its partnership with IBM which has agreed to sell iPhones and iPads to its corporate clients.
In December, Apple and IBM announced the first wave of made-for-business applications targeting banking, retail, telecommunications and governments.
Earlier this year, Apple’s suppliers started mass production of a 12-inch MacBook Air, featuring a higher resolution display, they said.
The current MacBook Air comes in two different sizes: 11-inch and 13-inch models.
While suppliers are gearing up to ship the new 12-inch MacBook Air in large quantities in the second quarter, Apple’s launch schedule remains unclear, the people said.
