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UPDATED: Analysts Wrong: iPad Sales Much Lower Than Wall Street Predicted
Analysts are telling Bloomberg that Apple likely sold 2 times and even 3 times as many iPads its first weekend in release (including pre-sales) than everyone thought possible. By comparison, Apple reportedly took 74 days to sell 1 million first generation, while the iPhone 3G and Phone 3GS each took just 3 days to sell the first million units. Estimates are that 5 million iPads may be sold in the first 12 months compared with 6.1 million iPhones in its first year on the market), and perhaps 7.1 million globally. Me, I love gadgetry but I still can’t figure out why I need to lug this around and an iPhone and a Kindle and a laptop… But I’m sure Apple and Hollywood will convince me.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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You don’t “need” it. No one does. Its drawbacks are bigger than its features right now. Maybe a few more releases down the road. Maybe.
Nobody “needs” the iPad. In fact, for what the iPad SHOULD be capable of, just wait a couple months for the HP Slate. It’s like an iPad without all the monopolistic limitations (read: HP Slate has Flash, and a whole lot more).
No doubt they’ve sold plenty of this lame hybrid to the blind followers. For the record, I’m a Mac fanatic, and would never go back to Windows, but I despise Apple’s unwillingness to open up its mini-OS’s to the competition, thus releasing a product that will always be a fraction of what it could be.
Wake up, Jobs.
haha HP? you really love living in the dark ages huh.
You don’t need to carry both a Kindle and an iPad; the Kindle is available as a free iPad/iPhone application with complete access to your Kindle library. Because it has a backlight, you’ll be able to read with the iPad in the dark, too.
Yeah, staring at a bright rectangle in a dark room for hours sounds great for your eyes.
If reading for hours in a dark room is a problem for you, turn on a light.
The point is that the iPad is vastly superior for viewing in all lighting conditions than the Kindle. Amazon says the Kindle is superior in bright sunlight, but early reviewer Andy Ihnatko did not find that to be the case. He took his eval unit to the beach and found it perfectly readable in on a bright sunny day.
The book-reading experience on the iPad is vastly superior, especially since one can view books in full color. And it is simply not possible to view things like videos and moving graphics on an e-ink display. The iPad views far more media, including all of your Amazon e-book purchases.
The Kindle looks like dead meat. Amazon knows it, too: they’ve been grabbing a huge amount of print advertising on their device since the start of the year. Track the price for a used kindle on gazelle.com; their current offer to buy a perfect-condition Kindle 2 is $113. I bet it’ll be far under $100 by the end of the month.
Umm…you know this web site focuses on the movie business, right? Does your theater keep all the lights on?
Yeah, I don’t really get the iPad. What’s all the fuss?
I don’t get it either…just another marketing hook from Apple to get people to spend $500 for crap they don’t need, and will put them back in debt.
leave the laptop and kindle at home.
Apple likely sold 2 times and even 3 times as many iPads its first weekend in release (including pre-sales) than everyone thought possible.
Yeah, which is why it had them conveniently stocked up? Given the insane amount of free fawning press they’ve had (Modern Family plot? A full hour on Charlie Rose? Colbert has one? Letterman has one? Jesus had one for easter..) it’s no wonder.
As far as I’m concerned, iPads have WAY too much centralized control and unwieldy DRM– you can only get apps from one source and Apple can delete your programs or any data at will? Developers need to pay a yearly fee? I can’t even open the thing to change the battery? Screw that. When I need a tablet, I’ll get one of the Android ones.
The DRM issue is the most interesting one. From a content perspective, the iPad platform is really great for individual content creators. The device’s DRM does about the best job of any devices for protecting intellectual property. Apple makes it trivial for content creators to upload content, select a price, and net 70% of the sales. On the flip side, content creators can set their content price to zero and Apple will pick up the tab for listing and distributing the content to anyone who wants to download it.
Apple must also work with the large corporate media providers. They’ve done very well with that; Apple was the driving force in getting DRM-free music available everywhere.
You are correct: Apple does have the ability to disable and remove applications and data from devices. One reason for such a capability is so any malware that slips by their checks can be removed from the field when it is discovered. I think that’s a good thing. A more thorny problem: what if someone purchases content where the seller didn’t have the right to sell the property? Clearly, such data should be removed from the stores, but should the content also be deleted from devices. If you google on
amazon erases from kindle
you’ll find out what Amazon did: it summarily deleted the downloads from customer machines. Coincidentally, the titles it deleted were some George Orwell ones, including “1984″.
The issue is complex, and Apple customers are some of the most vocal and outspoken on the rights of customers. Apple founder Steve Wozniak was asked about the DRM issue on Friday Night. You can see the video of that interview at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLkCiYCsBKY . Woz trusts the community to keep track of Apple’s control.
The biggest issue I’m tracking: what applications does Apple ban from the iPhone/iPad store? Opera has announced they’ve submitted their browser for the iPhone, and I see no reason for them to ban its release.
The google/android world will provide a different cut on DRM. Or Windows. Or the JooJoo. If Apple behaves in an unacceptable manner, the marketplace will vote with its feet. That’s the best insurance we have that Apple will behave well.
The Modern Family plot was not free press – that was product-placement pure and simple.
Doubtful.
Apple is commenting because it didn’t sell as much as anticipated. There were no lines after 12 pm. There are still iPads in every store. Some stores didn’t even have lines at all.
It’s an unnecessary toy being sold during depressed economic times.
depressed economic times for some but not all, think about this the NY store had lines outside the store, each one of those people were plunking down at least 500 bucks. At a 10% unemployment rate that means 90% are employed. Some ones buying things, Toyota just sold 700,000 cars in the month of March. Not to mention what Ford sold.
It’s not all doom and gloom.
And….you’re wrong.
300,000 sold.
The sales are only to Apple’s disciples. I still would like to know what hell is the big dif between this and a laptop? And why I should own both? And not just one! A real waste of money. Besides, just wait for the next generation of these to come out in 6 months, with a $200 price drop that pisses off all these Apple Geeks. Oh, the whining these characters will make….
The only Apple device that ever had a $200 price drop was the original iPhone. Steve Jobs explained why this was done; you can read that writeup at http://www.apple.com/hotnews/openiphoneletter/ .
Apple has also kept the smallest version of their 3G model when the 3GS was announced: a $100 price drop.
Pricing models are rather goofy for cell phones: note all of the “free” models — as long as you lock in a subscription with a carrier. Apple gets a portion of those monthly fees from the cell phone carriers.The iPad is not a cell phone; pricing models are far simpler. The WiFi-only iPad gets no subsidy from any carriers. The 3G versions of the iPad will have minimal carrier subsidies: all of the AT&T contracts for that device will be month-to-month.
Apple has never had a corresponding price drop on their iPod Touches — the closest product to an iPad. It would be irrational for anyone to expect any kind of price drops on iPads.
John: read the Steve Jobs note. Apple offered a $100 credit to all of those original iPhone purchasers. I guess that little detail didn’t fit into his narrative.
I still cant fathom why they thought a 4:3 aspect ratio was a good idea when they are pushing it as a media player so hard. Here I was thinking 16:9 was here to stay.
That 700,000 number seems bogus to me. If it sold that many in the first 2 days then 5,000,000 over the next 12 months would mean a huge and disappointing drop off in sales. But the obsequious media always willingly does the spin for Apple.
I look forward to getting one after everyone has bitched about all the bugs and flaws in version 1.0, they fix some stuff and add some stuff and the price comes down.
Come on, we’ve all seen this show before.
the newspapers (and book publishers) are giving up their content to apple like the music industry foolishly did. apple is taking a 30% cut of each newspaper subscription. not sure about what they’re stealing from book publishers.
Apple has confirmed it sold 300,000, including pre-orders.
Wow, lots of Mac haters here. Look, I don’t have an iPad, don’t plan to buy one in the next 6-12 months (hopefully they will add a camera), but from all the reports I’ve read, this is an amazing product. Next time I’m in an Apple store I will certainly check it out. As for all the mac-bashing, all I can tell you is I switched to a MacBook Pro 3 years ago and this has been by far the most satisfying purchase of any technology I’ve ever experienced. Switching from a PC to the Mac was so simple and the great thing about this product is it just works right out of the box- when I think of all the wasted hours spent with PC support, crashes, etc- I will never go back. That is why you see such enthusiasm for Apple products- they exceed expectations and allow you to concentrate on being productive. So while the iPad may not be for you, for many people (esp. teenage kids come next Christmas), this product will prove to be a great addition to their tech lineup. So go ahead and bad mouth Apple if it makes you feel better- but don’t bet against them- others have and are still trying to catch up.
I’m a Mac owner too. You can own a Mac and think the company’s policies for the iPhone and iPad are bad.
I have checked out the iPad. Played with one for about an hour at a friend’s house.
It seems a pointless device to me.
Agreed, on all points. I did think the Charlie Rose piece was too much a commercial , though.
Mac user forever. Love apple. but for me, don’t want it or need it. for what?? Have kindle, iphone, mac book pro laptop and imac desk top. No use for it.
I have a MacBook Pro. It is better than any PC I have ever owned. But the iPad is not a MacBook. Anything positive you read about the iPad was probably from Mac, the New York Times, or a Mac affiliated company. It doesn’t run flash. You can’t change the battery. It can only run one program at a time. It only has one port, and its the crappy iPod port. It doesn’t have a camera. It can’t make phone calls. It shows movies in 4:3 Ratio. No GPS. It is too big to fit in your pocket. It is too small to need a backpack. No firewire. No USB. No Multitasking. And don’t get me started on AT&T’s 3G service outside of Los Angeles or New York City.
I am still baffled that Apple thinks this will revolutionize the internet, when more of the internet is running flash programs than ever before. This is an overpriced, under-qualified iPod touch.
This could have been, but is not anywhere near the greatest thing Mac has ever come out with. They promised us Ice Cream Sunday’s, and gave us each a Popsicle.
Posted from an iPhone.
My last comment on the feedback: I’m a bit surprised by all of the negative comments on Apple’s battery choices. Apple has thought more about the battery issue and other issues of green technology than probably any other consumer products company. They learned that the ability to have replaceable batteries increases the cost, decreases the reliability, and cuts the overall battery capacity.
They have pulled all user-servicable batteries from their laptops. There are not even any screws on the back of the iPad.
They are also phenomenal battery performance with the new product: over 10 hours on a charge. The battery contains 25 watt-hours of juice!
If you’re going to be away from AC or other USB power sources for more time, you can always get things like the HyperMac batteries. They provide anywhere between 60WH and 222WH of juice.
What other devices were people comparing this to? I don’t know of anything that is even close.
there is absolutely no reason for this thing to exist…we are drunk on consumerism despite the clearly unsustainable path it has us on financially…no wonder the movies suck more than ever (and I can’t seem to make it through a single feature without a GIANT Apple logo glowing onscreen and taking me out of the moment)
Whoa you guys were close(note sarcasm). Too bad the number was more like 300,000 and not 700,000. Finke you should be paying closer attention to some of your “stories”. Earlier last week you(or one of your staff) mentioned David Fincher would be directing that Bobby Fisher-Tobey Maguire-Chess movie however, in the comment section someone posted a comment on how this info regarding Mr. Fincher was wrong apparently he was involved in the Tatoo Dragon(whatever its called)movie. Fincher only took a meeting about said chess film to help the production team. This news came out sometime during the weekend on collider. Just Say’n. So Ms. Finke whats up with the inflated IPAD figures and not correcting(some might say editing) your articles as per usual? let the speculation begin…
According to NPR, as long as you don’t mind being limited on what you can do/see online, this is fine. However, if you download content from online often, this is not for you
Our company prints at least 5,000 scripts a year. At a little over a buck each when you count paper, toner manpower, etc, an ipad which also does email, lets me access my computer remotely, web surf, etc, etc, while reading on my hammock, couch or in bed without being awkward, getting hot, or running out of battery, more than pays for itself 10 times over.
If you do a lot of reading this blows a kindle dx (which is the same price) out of the water with its increased functionality.
If you don’t understand that this device is for the consumption of content, not the creation of it then you obviously don’t need one.
For the rest of us who read more scripts than we would like to admit, we can save money and do a service to the environment at the same time.
Thank you Apple.
lol looking forward to your follow-up in six months after you admit that “if you do a lot of reading” the iPad’s traditional LCD screen blows
also script reader, that’s a step up from barista at least…you can tell your family you’re “in the biz”
NOT. Current estimates are 300,000 — and not sold out at many Apple stores. See
http://gizmodo.com/5509659/apple-sold-300000-ipads-on-the-first-day
odd that both the AP and Reuters reported 300,000 sales over the same period.