Why are Apple's iPad sales dropping so rapidly?

Apple is currently watching its iPad sales drop rapidly, in what is apparently the sharpest decline ever. But why, after all the hype that’s surrounded it for years, is it suddenly losing its popularity?

According to research by Canalys, Apple iPad sales dropped by 40% in the US market.

It could be that, with so many notebooks, like the Lenovo Yoga, now having detachable keyboards, consumers are finding it hard to place where tablets fit in to their life. Why do you need something that’s bigger than a phone, but doesn’t make calls, and not as big as a notebook or laptop?

Canalys beancounter Tim Coulling doesn’t agree. He thinks that consumers, and increasingly businesses, are continuing to adapt, and finding their place as desktop and notebook replacements. He believes that the main issue could be that Apple made too many iPads over the Christmas period, which have just sat on shelves. Tim believes Apple are still the frontrunners in the tablet category, despite this decline.

On the other hand, Lenovo managed an impressive 61 percent year-on-year growth in shipments to Europe, the Middle East and Africa, which Canalys analyst James Wang believes is due to its Yoga line, which ‘dominate the global convertible notebook market’.

James said: “Unlike Apple, with its ‘one size fits all’ tablet strategy, Lenovo and others are free to tailor tablets to specific market segments.”

Is there a point to the iPad? Are notebooks going to take over? If this report is anything to go by, it looks that way.