It has been widely reported over the past year about flailing tablet sales. To keep this into perspective, even the almighty Apple iPad has been in decline. The earlier growth would have largely been due to the fact that people didn’t own tablets, but now they do and replacing them hasn’t been a priority.
So when looking into the tablet sales numbers for Asus, the first year sales have been not good. Breaking down the numbers, Asus sold 2.5 million units in the first half of 2015. This compares to the 4.1 million units that they sold in the first half of 2014.
In terms of forecasts, Asus is expecting the ZenPad launch in the third quarter to raise tablet shipments to 1.8 million units. Their original forecast was to ship 7 million tablets and with a decent ZenPad performance, Asus should meet their break-even mark.
We’ve said this in the past. It only takes one runaway success to really turn the business around. From all early indicators, the ZenPad S 8.0 is the tablet that could pull it off. Forecasts are forecasts and are by no means set in stone.
Looking at the slow sales in the first half of 2015 can also be attributed to marketing efforts or the lack thereof. The ZenPad launch should stir up the interest and public awareness in the second half of 2015. Once the new iPad and new Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 come to market and comparisons can be made to the Z580CA, at that point it should be more clear if Asus has that savior tablet for their business.
In addition to pushing out marketing efforts, reports suggest Asus is heading into the enterprise market with the ZenPad tablets. What this means exactly we’re not sure. Perhaps it means a larger model? Pro edition? ZenPad S transformer/convertible? We aren’t sure what the plans are for entering the enterprise market, but we’re trying to learn more for you.
