Above Avalon:

The tablet market is in complete disarray. Only five short years ago, the iPad helped jumpstart the category, ushering in multi-touch computing and the modern-day app revolution to large-screen devices. Today, there has never been a time when the tablet market faces so much unknown.

A quick look at iPad and tablet shipment data would show that things have gotten bad in recent quarters. However, in reality, things are much worse than quarterly shipment data would suggest.

I think Apple sees this as a good problem to have. They are still selling lots of iPads, are still the market leader and still have the opportunity to control the future of tablets.

But there’s no doubt the market for tablets like the iPad has cratered, due in no small part to large screen iPhones. I know my iPad is only used as a bedside alarm clock now because the iPhone 6 plus has taken over almost all of the functionality I needed and wanted in the iPad. It’s going to be fascinating to see how and if Apple can do anything about this problem or if the iPad will go down as the most successful “failed” product Apple has ever produced.