The latest iPad sales numbers – reported by Apple yesterday in their Q! 2015 financial call – were down on the same quarter the previous year by around 20%. Even though Apple sold 21 million iPads in the quarter, a number many rival tablets haven’t reached in all their time on the market, those results will not doubt generally be viewed as disappointing.

In the Q&A session that followed Apple’s rundown of results, Tim Cook was asked about how optimistic or bullish he remains about the iPad, following a couple of ‘disappointing’ quarters. His answers indicated that Yes, he’s still very bullish about the iPad. Here are some of the reasons he gave for that view:

– First-time buyer rates are high – above 50% in some parts of Europe and in China

– Customer satisfaction is off the charts and in usage and commerce share for tablets it holds dominant positions

– Although he says Apple is still learning what the upgrade cycle is for the iPad, he says it is clearly longer than that of the iPhone and is likely somewhere between iPhone and PC

–  Apple’s partnership with IBM and work being done in the enterprise is going very well, and that ‘can move the dial there’

– He doesn’t think we’ll see very different results in next few quarters’ results, but over the long haul he is very optimistic and bullish

All good points, and good to know.

This afternoon Apple is reporting their results for Q1 of their financial year. While there were insanely large iPhone sales numbers reported, the iPad numbers were down.

21.4 million iPads were sold in the quarter – down from 26 million in the same quarter last year. Meanwhile, the iPhone smashed all its records – with 74.5 million sold in the quarter. Tim Cook noted that they sold 34,000 iPhone per hour, 24 hours a day, for the entire quarter. That’s unreal sounding.

I’m sure the iPad numbers will be looked at as disappointing, and Apple definitely didn’t seem to want to dwell on them. Tim Cook did not even say the word iPad in his introductory comments, while he talked a lot on iPhone, Mac, iOS, Apple Pay, Apple Watch, and even Project Red.

While there’s no reason to celebrate the iPad results this quarter, it’s worth keeping ‘disappointing’ iPad numbers in perspective. I don’t have numbers in front of me, but I’d venture an educated guess that there are very few other tablets (if any) that have sold 21 million in their entire history.