Apple Announces Three Million iPads Sold in 80 Days

[foiden]

Man. Apple seems to have trouble selling iPads. What's up???
Heh heh.

Oh well, so much for iPad's lack of marketting success. Looks like this will become the defacto standard for a machine sold to people who aren't computer savvy. When I imagined the world becoming more like Star Trek, I never imagined that there would be an Apple Logo on the backside of those datapads.

 

[Wurm5150]

Why do people like it so much??? I used one extensivley, and I don't understand it. It has so many limitations, like the iphone, but it's ok with an iphone because it can fit in your pocket and it's cheaper. The ipad will always have to be a supplemental device because it can not replace a computer or an iphone. An iphone and a notebook, on the other hand, are standalone devices. So, I am sticking to my initial impression that the ipad is for people that have enough money to get something that serves no other function than added entertainment: it does not serve the useful and usually necessary functions of an iphone or computer. You have to carry an ipad around in some sort of bag, so one might as well bring a notebook (though it would be nice if the macbook air, another failure of an apple product, had the same footprint as an ipad... that would be perfect).

Besides, the capabilities of the iphone 4 kinda render it completely useless even for supporters of the device.

Unless you find something truly useful and that works for you personally you will never ever understand the iPad. Just because you don't understand it or have no use for it doesn't mean you can make assumptions about what people do with it. My smartphone is too small and a notebook is too big, heavy for me to do client presentations. This is one of the many, many things I do on the iPad. I've made money off artworks and illustrations that I did on the ipad (while on the go and on commute). I can list many more things I use the ipad for, more than your unimaginative and uncreative mind can...

And no I'm not rich nor do I have a money to spare. I consider the ipad as an investment and it has paid off for me, I mean really paid off to include monetarily. And what I've made off work I've do e on the ipad has already for the device itself..

 

[sean.jost]

Exactly. You never buy a 1st gen apple product. Wait until 3rd or 4th gen.

Yes because as you can see from the sales this 1st gen version is garbage.

 

[Azathoth]

HLdan: Because only positive opinions matter.

The word "magical" should just be removed entirely. I don't ever recall any of the latest medical technology being regarded as "magical" but somehow a tablet is. I'm thinking they couldn't think of anything better.

I'm sure that they used the word "magical" because that's exactly what it isn't. And I find the marketing newspeak very hard to reconcile with my admiration for the company.

Oh it's a good device, for sure, in interesting evolution of what people are using mobiles phones for- more and more as media consumption devices when "on the go", even "on the go" with one's house. The Appstore has even made it possible to do something moderately useful on the device.

I'm glad for Apple that this is a success. I'm not sure, in the long run, if this good for *me* though. As someone that actually needs a computer with real application software, as it (the iPads success) shifts focus further towards the consumer market.

 

[darrenbeige]

I'm only waiting on the iPad front because I really want iOS4 on the iPad. Without it, to me it has much more limited use.

So if I'm waiting until September for iOS4, I might aswell wait a couple more months for iPad 2.0

If though, iOS4 was on iPad from Day 1, I would be one of the 3million people in an instant.

 

[sean.jost]

Has anyone seen my MacBook? It was around here somewhere...

Sent from my iPad.

ROFL

 

[Wurm5150]

Steve, I do love my iPad, but please stop with the "magical" stuff. People are mocking you.

THE MAGIC MOUSE ISNT MAGICAL EITHER... That's marketing for you buddy. And Apple is a marketing genius whether people like it or not.

 

[z4n3]

Exactly. You never buy a 1st gen apple product. Wait until 3rd or 4th gen.

I have ALWAYS bought first generation products and yes I have had issues, some of them major issues (g4Cube, Titanium PowerBook, iPod Photo etc.) but this is to be expected.. but people have to remember that Apple spends years trying out products before letting them loose into the wild, what we see today apple has been playing with for 3 years! (This alone makes me SOOOO jealous ) so all this about not buying 1st gen products in Apples case is not really fair! the issue rate with most 1st gen Apple goods I would say is something around 75% great product 25% has some issues. but to a die hard Mac freak like myself there is NOTHER in comparison to having that fuzzy feeling inside of a 1st Gen product or maybe it is just me.

I love my iPad and cannot live without it! but then again I have 30 other Apple products that also cannot live without them, so maybe it is me after all

 

[Mitchrapp]

Looks like this will become the defacto standard for a machine sold to people who aren't computer savvy.

I'm thinking the opposite. That the computer savvy buy the iPad, the ones that know what you can and can't do with the device. More so anyway.

 

[ValSalva]

iPhone 4 will cannibalize future sales of the iPad. With iPhone 4 the need for having all three: a computer/laptop, a phone, and an iPad will disappear with the iPad being the odd man out.

The iPad doesn't have the cache that the iPhone has among teenagers. And it doesn't have the cache of a MBP with college students.

If not for AT&T glitches, Apple could have sold 3 million iPhone 4's in less than 100 hours.

 

[ggbrown]

Cool post

According to Apple that GAP exists and iPad is here to fill it...

In this respect my statement is spot on - it is utterly useless device for anyone already owning laptop / smart phone combo since it does nothing new or more - in fact it does less...

As an owner of an iPhone and a 17" MacBook Pro, I can tell you the iPad is not at all useless. I've actually started leaving my laptop at work each night, and just using my iPad out of the office. In fact, outside of the office, my iPad has become my primary device, and I work less at home because of the iPad...which my family agrees, is a good thing.

With the iPad I can do my email, read & research on the web or the eBooks, and can even connect and control all my servers at the office. This is both liberating, and empowering.

I also have a renewed appreciation for developers. I have dozens of fantastic iPhone/iPad apps that are only a few MB in size...compare that to the rest of the desktop industry that is cranking out huge apps in the 600MB-1GB range.

The iPad is easily one of my best technology purchases.

 

[Consultant]

It's usually the Apple hate that creates the negative posts. If Apple posted that everyone in each country gets a free iPad, all they have to do is ask, then people here would rate the article negative because they'd say that Apple was being arrogant for making me ask for an iPad.
Any positive article here about Apple winning causes a negative vote and I wish those people would just stay the hell away from here. Now where's that PC Rumors site so I can vote negative on anything Microsoft wins on. Oh wait, they never win.

Yup. They are around on an Apple site because they secretly droll over Apple products, but cannot get their mom to buy them one. Or that they love to argue the earth is flat.

 

[i.mac]

My first impression of the ipad was "toy". Now, however, I'm having dreams of the ipad...time to take the plunge?

you are missing a lot.

if you have the money, that is. Please feed your family first.

 

[i.mac]

Yes because as you can see from the sales this 1st gen version is garbage.

agree with you...

many folks forget that the ipad has been in development for the greater part of a decade. This ipad is not the fisrt gen device, simply the last generation that made it to the consumers.

I would be weary of all the 'me-too' copy cats _indeed-first-gen_ devices that will flood the market in the near future.

 

[cmaier]

As an owner of an iPhone and a 17" MacBook Pro, I can tell you the iPad is not at all useless. I've actually started leaving my laptop at work each night, and just using my iPad out of the office. In fact, outside of the office, my iPad has become my primary device, and I work less at home because of the iPad...which my family agrees, is a good thing.

With the iPad I can do my email, read & research on the web or the eBooks, and can even connect and control all my servers at the office. This is both liberating, and empowering.

I also have a renewed appreciation for developers. I have dozens of fantastic iPhone/iPad apps that are only a few MB in size...compare that to the rest of the desktop industry that is cranking out huge apps in the 600MB-1GB range.

The iPad is easily one of my best technology purchases.

Ditto. I use my MBP 17 now mostly only at work, and almost never use it at home. I use it for games, reading books, web surfing, email, etc. Prettty much the only time i whip out the MBP is to perform a time machine backup or to run Aperture or Handbrake.

 

[phoobo]

Why not more?

No, that's not what I mean.

Why is there just one US company putting out interesting stuff that gets people excited? Why aren't there 20 or 30 such companies in a dynamic country of 300 million people?

That's the part of it that interests me.

 

[2002cbr600f4i]

No, that's not what I mean.

Why is there just one US company putting out interesting stuff that gets people excited? Why aren't there 20 or 30 such companies in a dynamic country of 300 million people?

That's the part of it that interests me.

Probably because out of that 300M only maybe 500k have a dang clue!

As I see it there are two groups who go for the iPad:

1) techies who understand and accept the limitations and aren't bothered by the closed nature ecosystem.

2) non techies who like the styling and just feel apple puts out good, stylish, functional products... And are willing to pay the premium price to get it.


Likewise there are 2 groups who stay away from the iPad

1) techies who insist everything must be open open open, and/or they want a choice in hardware, or feel the apple hardware is lacking in some way.

2) people who buy totally on price and have no idea about the technical differences. These are people who don't get what the difference is between DVD and Blu-Ray, who think all PCs are the same so just buy the cheapest one, and who don't realize what they're missing out on when they buy based totally on price. Of course, there are those who simply don't have the means to purchase anything at a premium level price, but I'm talking about those who can afford it, but don't see the benefits so don't buy the high end anything.

 

[gmcalpin]

it would be even more 'magical' if the iPad had as much RAM as the new iPhone.

That's why I'm waiting for the second gen iPad. Hopefully it will have a higher-res screen, too.

 

[OGDaniel]

It is incredible that they've sold so much, but imagine how much they would be selling if the production of them was twice as fast.

 

[SnowLeopard2008]

It doesn't matter what we think about the iPad, what matters is that Apple has sold 3 million.

 

[Porco]

What's the point in announcing sales of three million? It's just a big one million.

 

[jacobj]

Half the audience here will be with me, the other half against. But is this really that surprising?

I was one of the sceptics when the iPad was first announced, one of the many that said "is that it"? But here I am typing this post on an iPad. I first used it about three weeks ago in the local Apple reseller and I was amazed by just how emotional the experience was - not in the "I live Apple" sense: moor in the sense that it felt more natural than using a laptop.

On top of all that, like most people I use a laptop to surf the web and send emails. I do nothing other than that. However with the ipad I have a chance to use all the other little apps to do things that I would not normally do

The product is amazing, not 2 ways about it.

 

[HiRez]

Then you can permanently wait and go nowhere, as there will always be more in the next version

True, but there are some very significant problems with the first iPad. The most important is the meager 128 MB of RAM, which is already severely limiting (web pages have to reload often, etc.), and will be difficult to make multitasking work with..witness Apple not implementing multitasking in their 128 MB iPhone models, the 2G and the 3G. The RAM limitation is going to affect people fairly soon with newer iOS updates and newer third party apps. Another issue is the screen pixel density is rather low, even compared to the old iPhone, but especially compared to the iPhone 4. Many people might not care about this but it does make a difference, especially for reading smaller text.

Having said that, I still believe the first iPad is wonderful, and I own one (basic 16 GB WiFi). But I'm going to be buying one for my girlfriend (because she keeps stealing mine) and one for my mom, and I'll wait for the second generation for those. Sometimes it's fun to have one of the first ones, but waiting a little bit does have its rewards too, as long as you don't get caught up in the perpetual waiting game.

 

[oscarmacca]

Go Apple. I hope the naysayers will now concede.

 

[spammerhamster]

So how many millions does apple needs to sell until we can get rid off the "it's only the fanboys who buught it!!!"-argument?