Apple Announces Two Million iPads Sold

[whooleytoo]

For another comparison, U.S. launch day sales of the Nintendo64 were reported to be half a million. But it was less than half the price of the cheapest iPad, and came with Super Mario 64.

Interesting, thanks. I didn't know that.

It'd also be interesting to compare the iPad sales with handheld console launches. I know the iPad is a lot more than a games device, but it would be interesting to compare... Google here I come.

Edit: according to Wikipedia, the Nintendo DS sold 1m in the US in the first month, and 2.8m worldwide in the first 5 weeks. The iPad compares pretty well to that, given the limited availability and price.

 

[Banyan Bruce]

Good numbers

Well done Apple just wondering how long this can be sustained.

Saw and played with my first iPad yesterday...underwhelmed I'm afraid, but I suppose that you'd need more than 15-20 minutes playing with it to determine what it offers over an iPhone or Touch.
I thought the ebooks would be tempting but not at those silly prices.

Still I'll wait I think until version 2 or 3 as version one looks good, but still leaves me wondering why I should part with over £500 + data fees to own and use it.

Apple took until the 3GS to get the iPhone right...maybe that's how long it'll take for them to perfect the iPad. Here's hoping.

Just discovered that Telephonica Spain are offering data plan that can be shared between iPhone and iPad...now that is a step in the right direction..will O2 UK do the same???
Not likely, unless Orange do it first.

 

[Goona]

That's not the implication. My only argument so far is that two months is too soon. Google could make a better OS and other companies could make a better and more widely used tablet, irrespective of what Apple does.

You know there have been companies selling tablets for the past 10 years, Apple did not invent tablets!

 

[David87]

It's an amazing device, so well done to Apple for creating something so nice to use. They seem to have done quite well with the stock here in the UK - my local Apple store seemed to have ample supplies (they needed it too!) and Best Buy were also selling them today.

 

[dernhelm]

!

Ahhh the magic of a giant iPod Touch that can't display the thousands of Flash sites. That's some lame magic.

Ahh the magic of a 12 hour battery and automatic blocking of irritating auto-playing advertisements.

That's some fine magic indeed!

 

[ReallyOldGuy]

dont want to win...2 million is just a start and we have no idea what the size of this market is because it didn’t previously exist. There certainly will be new competitive devices launched, and some will have features not currently available on the iPad. Those features, if so blessed by King Steve, will wind up on future generation iPads. HOWEVER, 2 million in 60 days, with no competitive launch date for other devices places Apple in an extremely strong position to gain and keep control of the market that they actually developed. Apple rarely launches loser products and apparently thought they had properly planned the production necessary. I know this is difficult for us Apple folks to admit BUT Apple made an error, even they underestimated the initial market.

 

[Atkins]

For a transition to benefit people then it has to be better. FWIW, I don't see how a touch interface improves my computing experience in any way. It makes one of the tasks I perform most frequently - text entry - much more difficult.

You are doing what many people do. In your first post you said "other smartphones" when talking about the iPad, now it is your "computing experience". Decide what the iPad is for you already. Nobody said it will improve your computing experience. I am saying that we have a real transition to multitouch, not just what we've seen until today - touch input on a mouse driven OS. It is not supposed to replace your keyboard, hell, that's why Apple is selling one as an add-on.
If the task you perform most frequently is typing, the iPad is not for you. And that's ok. But there are people with different needs out there for whom the touch experience is better. And I think it is pretty obvious why.

I'm not sure about you, but I'd certainly prefer that my device could run multiple applications at the same time, instead of one and little parts of others.

Multitouch is coming soon in some form.

I'd be willing to bet that the first many of the 2m iPad owners realise that their device doesn't have Flash is when they try to fire up Farmville or visit Hulu on it for the first time.

I think people have enough experience with the iPod/iPhone and Adobe's outcry. And in case they are surprised, they have only themselves to blame for not looking up what the device can do or not.

My point was more that people who buy iPads are missing out. There's little doubt that if Apple wanted to use the latest technology available then it could. It chooses not to and that is one of the reasons I don't own an iPad.

Missing out on what? Flash and USB? Big deal.

So I have seen many (some even exactly) similar claims but no one ever tells me why it is not just a big iPod touch. (And I don't live in my head going experience, magic, insanely great etc. - I need *real* reasons as to why it is not just a big iPod touch. And these reasons cannot include artificial software limitations that Apple can place to differentiate between product lines.)

Because it has a bigger screen, for crying out loud!

 

[palane]

Hot Tub Time Machine!

Since a bath tends to be hot and a pool cool, I'll shift the metaphor slightly.

iPhone = bath; iPad = hot tub

or for the Finns:

iPhone - shower; iPad = sauna

Not for everyone, but both are very nice.

Incidentally, I think the best basis for comparison with the iPad might be Apple TV. New type of gizmo. The Apple TV was a bloop single; iPad an inside the park homer. Uh oh. Sports metaphors!

BB

 

[parapup]

Give it up. You clearly are just plain wrong about the device. Just because you don't want one doesn't mean they are silly or useless. And here's a news flash - you are NOT smarter than all of the 2 million people that own one.

Really? So just like the "iPad is Magical" nonsense, you decide that iPad owners are smart and everyone else is a douche? I agree this argument is as simple as it can get for iPad owners - having to reason or deal with facts is something iPad owners would rather not delve into, huh?

[ And I did not make a claim about anyone's smartness - I was just alluding a possibility - think of the large number of people who still fall for the Nigerian scams ]

 

[phpmaven]

Declaring iPad a winner after less than two months is very premature. It's like declaring the Mac the winner in June 1984. By June 1994 Mac was irrelevant. It took a miracle to bring Apple back to where it is now. And do you think Steve will be around in 2020 working at Apple in any significant capacity? Doubtful.

Two million is nice but iPad is not a sure success in the long run. There is a lot of work to do.

Premature? This has to be one of the dumbest comments I've ever read. Roughly 1.4 billion, BILLION!, in sales in 2 months and that not a success?

 

[Jaro65]

Let's see what analysts are going to do to their annual forecasts based on this. It will be also interesting to see if the international sales are going to help sustain, or even add to this momentum.

 

[phpmaven]

I think this is actually quite bad news for everyone, save a few who benefit financially from this product selling well (like shareholders or application developers).

The problem is that it's not really that good a product. It's missing many critical features, and while people can say "oh I won't use that", how long is it going to be before Apple is releasing another product without something you want because everyone bought the last one anyway? Remember the FireWire ports going missing on MacBook Pros fiasco?

It could do so much more and with such little effort. Things it doesn't have like Flash, USB and multitasking could be very easily added, but were omitted for reasons unknown. This not only has an effect on Apple's product, but as the new 'market leader' in this segment, it dictates what all the other products on the market have as well. Apple has set the bar, it's not very high, but once again the better products will be sidelined because of the hype surrounding this device.

We as consumers are missing out on the best technology around because of the way iPod, iPhone and now iPad have been marketed. It's such a shame because I would LOVE to see what some of the talented developers working on iPhone applications could do if they had the hardware that is available in other smartphones.

Ya, what a piece of crap! What was Apple thinking?

 

[thetaylor13]

I'd be willing to bet that the first many of the 2m iPad owners realise that their device doesn't have Flash is when they try to fire up Farmville or visit Hulu on it for the first time. I wonder how many people are at the Genius Bar right now asking what the little blue square means?

You seriously believe that a good sized percentage of users had no idea that the iPad didn't support flash?

My grandma even knew the iPad didn't support flash, and she doesn't even know what flash is. Every news provider in the world including FOX news made sure to have spotlights on the damn thing before it even released.

IMHO anyone who is aware of the existence of an iPad is aware it doesn't have flash. There's no way around it, media outlets have made a storm over it, more so than any product I ever remember being released (save for the iPhone).

Props on the 2 million though. More than I thought it would be... I can say I haven't gotten mine yet, financial times aren't the best. But I can say the 2nd generation will be mine!

 

[NebulaClash]

Ah... it was you... I have been quoting that swimming pool metaphor to others after reading about it in this forum, without knowing the source. That is a great quote, I loved it. Thanks.

I was the one with the bathtub/pool metaphor in early April. Then I later saw it in an article. Now I see others used that metaphor too. It's a natural.

To those tired of the "magical" word, get used to it. It is magical, and so unlike "just a big iPhone" as to be laughable to us with iPads. I never want to do certain computer tasks with anything but a tablet again. It is changing my life.

 

[gnasher729]

All of the 'benefits' shown in this video are nothing to do with iPad. They're the benefits of wireless internet and portable computers, neither of which are exclusive to iPad.

The iPad has some significant advantages for people who want to carry and use a computer while walking around. The iPad also has two more advantages: An excellent software development kit, plus an extremely good software distribution channel.

 

[jamiek88]

What I don't get is all the naysayers saying wait for the Android or WebOS based tablets, because they'll be better.

Isn't most of the hate directed against the iPad from people the fact that its iPhoneOS (hence a 'big ipod') and isn't a 'real' computer?

Well, aren't those alternatives 'just' big Android or Palm phones?

It's been pretty much proven that a 'full' OS (Win 7, Linux) doesn't fit with the tablet experience. So what will you get with the others? Flash? A mostly useless USB port?

 

[Atkins]

Really? So just like the "iPad is Magical" nonsense, you decide that iPad owners are smart and everyone else is a douche? I agree this argument is as simple as it can get for iPad owners - having to reason or deal with facts is something iPad owners would rather not delve into, huh?
[ And I did not make a claim about anyone's smartness - I was just alluding a possibility - think of the large number of people who still fall for the Nigerian scams ]

And you are falling for "magical"? I hope you don't think you'll become a better father by buying a certain car from a certain company like the ads suggest. Take it for what it is - advertisement, do you complain like that about every company's advertisements?
If people make uninformed decisions about their own purchases, it is their own problem - I just find it hard to believe when they have all that information available to them (internet and Apple store) and other Apple devices on which they can judge what they are getting into.

 

[donny77]

I think this is actually quite bad news for everyone, save a few who benefit financially from this product selling well (like shareholders or application developers).

The problem is that it's not really that good a product. It's missing many critical features, and while people can say "oh I won't use that", how long is it going to be before Apple is releasing another product without something you want because everyone bought the last one anyway? Remember the FireWire ports going missing on MacBook Pros fiasco?

It could do so much more and with such little effort. Things it doesn't have like Flash, USB and multitasking could be very easily added, but were omitted for reasons unknown. This not only has an effect on Apple's product, but as the new 'market leader' in this segment, it dictates what all the other products on the market have as well. Apple has set the bar, it's not very high, but once again the better products will be sidelined because of the hype surrounding this device.

We as consumers are missing out on the best technology around because of the way iPod, iPhone and now iPad have been marketed. It's such a shame because I would LOVE to see what some of the talented developers working on iPhone applications could do if they had the hardware that is available in other smartphones.

I'm sorry I just don't buy it. Apple's success is not merely marketing. It is the tech industry's insistence that this is the case that is holding back competitors. When I was in school, we had PCs at home and we didn't own a game console. But 90% of my classmates had game consoles. PC's had nowhere near that penetration. It's a different market. Not everyone wants to deal with config files, command lines and compatibility issues.

Apple is following the console model. The iPod, iPhone and iPad are not "computers" in the sense that they are MacBooks or Dells. They are consoles. Closed systems designed to be easy to use and functional for specific tasks.

 

[Lesser Evets]

Premature? This has to be one of the dumbest comments I've ever read. Roughly 1.4 billion, BILLION!, in sales in 2 months and that not a success?

Nope. ANYONE can sell that much. This is just another useless device no one wants and was foisted on them via Steve's mesmeric "I sold my soul to the devil" powers he gained from a visit to India back in the 70's. Why would anyone want this thing?? It's light, it has a long battery life, it's easy to use, it plays music, it plays video, it connects to everything wireless, it lets you do documents and spreadsheets, it plays games, it's inexpensive, it's browses the net and does email, and there's a ton of things it does that NO ONE would ever use or want to do. How can you even DARE assume this thing is a success when only 2 million people purchased them in 60 days?

GOSH. Think a little.

 

[ReallyOldGuy]

Premature? This has to be one of the dumbest comments I've ever read. Roughly 1.4 billion, BILLION!, in sales in 2 months and that not a success?

yeah, $1.4 billion in revenue off of a new product in the first 60 days and there is still a back log on delivery, it hasn’t launched world wide, it developed its own black market could not possibly be termed a success yet, or could it?

 

[tkatz]

No doubt Apple has a head start. But then it did in 1984. Windows almost killed it a decade later. Google is like a tsunami. With its open environment and friendly attitude towards developers it sits in the same spot Windows once did - ready to swamp Apple and the iPad.

Except back then Mac's were many times more expensive then PC's and out of reach for many. Granted Mac's are still more expensive in some cases, but the difference isn't as steep.

Google may be friendlier to their developers then Apple (this can be argued a few different ways on either side, but I'll just go with your argument for this), but its the users that matter more. Android is an ugly unpolished system for most users, causing the vendors to have to add their own interfaces to make them friendlier. This has the potential to then cause other issues (the "F" word comes to mind). Apple's interface while more limiting then Android is way more user friendly to the masses. Sure, those of us that don't mind spending weeks configuring our Enlightenment Window Manager to be the perfect functional LCARS console (I preferred to try to get mine to look more like the early beta screenshots of Copland) will love the configurability of Android, but the the majority of users, they could care less. I for one, gave up the custom linux box (as a desktop) years ago (for originally a Powerbook then a Power Mac and so forth) for the sake of being able to actually focus more time on my work then on tinkering with my desktop.

However, to each their own. I just don't think things are as comparable as they were 20 years ago. Not to mention, Apple has learned a lot since then.

 

[ranReloaded]

As a web designer, I'm just so glad that a big player as Apple made a move in the "let's become less Flash-dependent" direction.

Everyone so quickly points "Yeah but you can't watch this and this site"... They seem to forget it is wrong we got in this situation in the first place. The more iPad sells, the better a medicine to educate all those "Gimme lotsa' flash" clients.

That web was built on the assumption that everyone has a desktop PC plugged to the wall with some CPU cycles/RAM to spare. Just like Photoshop. This is mobile. Different rules. A new Era of efficiency, of smartly leveraging limited hardware resources. More semantics and less useless eye-candy.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[phpmaven]

For a transition to benefit people then it has to be better. FWIW, I don't see how a touch interface improves my computing experience in any way. It makes one of the tasks I perform most frequently - text entry - much more difficult.



I'm not sure about you, but I'd certainly prefer that my device could run multiple applications at the same time, instead of one and little parts of others.

I'd be willing to bet that the first many of the 2m iPad owners realise that their device doesn't have Flash is when they try to fire up Farmville or visit Hulu on it for the first time. I wonder how many people are at the Genius Bar right now asking what the little blue square means?



My point was more that people who buy iPads are missing out. There's little doubt that if Apple wanted to use the latest technology available then it could. It chooses not to and that is one of the reasons I don't own an iPad.

Please tell us that you're not referring to Flash as the "latest technology available". That would be laughable.

 

[Fesdon]

NOT a fan...

For those of us that have Wi-Fi issues (it goes to zero reception when iPhone or laptop receive a full signal) it isn't such a great piece of technology. It becomes even less of one when we are told that the next patch that *might* address the issue will be sometime in the Fall of 2010. See the long trail of complaints in the Apple forum or the post by Princeton University.

 

[farmboy]

snip