Today, we stop for a moment to mark the three-year anniversary of the release of the first iPad, when tablets and digital magazines became a reality. Apple’s tablet device changed publishing as we know it, and a look back at the disruptions the technology produced and related metrics offers some insight on what the future may hold for digital media.
Here are some interesting and valuable data and news bites we’ve gathered over the past three years as we’ve worked alongside publishers to understand and plan for what’s to come.
March 2013
- Almost $1 of every $3 spent on desktop/notebook PCs, smartphones and tablets in Q4 2012 went to Apple. According to IDC, global shipments of smart connected devices in 2012 rose 29.1% compared with 2011, thanks to 78.4% growth in the tablet category, where Apple’s iPad is a market leader.
February 2013
- 12% of the 200 highest-grossing apps on the iPad are publications. The category is second only to games.
- Readership of magazines and newspapers on tablets has doubled in the past year.
- According to an Alliance for Audited Media survey, 2013 will mark the first time 100% of publishers will format their content for mobile. The iPhone and iPad are the No. 1 devices for which publishers have developed mobile apps.
January 2013
- According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 31% of American adults own a tablet computer.
- In 2012, tablets outsold notebook computers in the U.S.
- December data from NPD DisplaySearch indicated that the iPad Mini would outsell the fourth-generation iPad.
December 2012
- Sixty-three percent of publishers surveyed “agree that tablets are the most important digital channel for their publication’s future.”
- As of November 2012, about 25% of Americans 16 and older owned tablet devices such as iPads or Kindles, up from 10% in late 2011.
- In the past 12 months, more than 50 million issues were downloaded from applications created with Adobe DPS.
November 2012
- Apple’s iPad accounts for 54.5% of mobile web traffic on websites using the site optimization service OnSwipe, compared to 19% of web traffic coming from iPhone and 26.5% coming from other mobile devices. The iPad accounts for 98% of all tablet web traffic.
- The launch of the iPad mini and “continued dominance” of the iPad will ensure Apple’s iTunes App Store remains the “premier destination” for tablet downloads through to 2017, the Strategy Analytics predicts.
- Apple said it sold 3 million iPads in the three days following the launch of the Wi-Fi version of the iPad Mini and the fourth-generation iPad.
October 2012
- According to a comScore study, 40% percent of iPad owners read a magazine at least once a month.
September 2012
- Newsstand revenue for the iPad is three times that of the iPhone.
- In its Q3 earnings results, Apple reported that it sold 17 million iPads—which is about two and a half times the rate of Android tablet activations.
June 2012
- “Tablets are one of the most rapidly adopted consumer technologies in history and are poised to fundamentally disrupt the way people engage with the digital world both on-the-go and perhaps most notably, in the home,” said Mark Donovan, comScore SVP, mobile.
- Apple shipped 17 million iPads during the second quarter, up from 11.8 million units in Q1 2012 and well above its previous record of 15.4 million in Q4 2011.
- The iPad has clearly established itself as the dominant tablet device, with a market share of more than two-thirds, according to comScore.
April 2012
- Worldwide tablet sales will near 120 million by the end of 2012, and iOS is “projected to account for 61.4% of worldwide media tablet sales to end users in 2012,” according to Gartner.
March 2012
- Apple reported that it sold 3 million iPads with its new Retina display in the first three days of its release.
- Adobe DPS apps accounted for 13 of the top 20 apps in iMonitor’s list of the Best Magazine Apps for iPad.
April 2011
- “While there are no certainties, the iPad looks set to become a market-disrupting device, like the iPod before it,” said Gartner Fellow and Vice President Stephen Prentice.
- Gartner predicts that by the end of 2011, worldwide media tablet sales will approach 120 million.
March 2011
- In 2010, Apple shipped almost 14.8 million iPads, approximately 85% of all media tablets shipped during the year and a significant increase from the 100,000 units shipped by all vendors during 2009.
- According to a ChangeWave survey, most people who want a tablet want an iPad. When asked which tablet device they planned on purchasing, the iPad was selected by 82%.
- With the iPad 2 scheduled to go on sale March 11, Apple had more than 65,000 apps available for the device; meanwhile, the number of apps for Google tablets was estimated to be about 100.
- After launching in 25 countries outside the U.S., Apple’s iPad 2 was already sold out by the following afternoon across major markets, according to several reports.
November 2010
- Strategy Analytics data shows that Apple accounted for 95% of tablet sales in the quarter that ended Sept. 30.
October 2010
- Apple reported record revenue and earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter, thanks to strong sales of Macs, iPhones, and iPads.
June 2010
- Apple announced that it sold its 3 millionth iPad just 80 days after its introduction in the U.S.
May 2010
- Apple announced that the 9.7-in. iPad reached the 1 million sales mark in only 28 days.
April 2010
- Industry analysts estimated that Apple sold between 600,000 and 700,000 iPads on its first day available.
- The first iPad was released on April 3!
Posted by: Margot Knorr Mancini
