iPad Suppliers Dispute Claims of Shortages at Launch

[ddubbo]

I'm pretty sure the iPad and the direction it seems to lead will change the landscape of home computer use in the near term. Most consumers don't need their computers to be capable of doing any more than a few limited things. For the mainstream market, ease of use and simplicity will win over potential use and complexity most of the time.

.
Agree. Most of the people need basic communication, internet, videos, movies and music from their comp. ipad does good nothing, except music, from this list. I barely imagine someone, siting at the cafe and typing something at his ipad, as people do with their netbooks today. It has no flash support, that is essential for full inet experience today, and this too small enjoy movies.

 

[ddubbo]

It's a name moron.

Names, my little friend, are written with first capital letter, not second.

 

[TheCheapGeek]

Apple never intended the Apple TV to break markets. It was a platform they used to develop the video aspect of the iTunes store. You can't sell or rent movies or TV shows unless you have a box to send them to your TV (Computers don't count).

Have you ever uses an Apple TV? Unlimited storage (If you connect to a media server), better quality than the 1080p provided by most cable companies and OTA HD. Fantastic selection of movies, TV shows and they even have a bit of music.

The only think I don't like about the Apple TV is the audio quality. It may be better than DVD, It can't compete with BD. I understand that pushing the audio quality to uncompressed 7.1 would increase download times to an unacceptable level. It would also be cool if we could save bandwidth by choosing to never download the SD copy of a TV show.

I love both of my apple tvs and use them as my primary means of watching tv/movies but the HD quality is not better than OTA HD.

 

[AdeFowler]

Ipad will share the fate of apple TV. An expensive toy with limited capabilities, nothing more than that. I think something between 500 000 to 700 000 will be sold till the end of the year . Mostly to apple fans and "I-buy-every-new-gadget" people.

Does anyone have sales figures for the Apple TV? Whilst being neglected by Apple, I doubt it's been a financial flop.

As for the iPad, only time will tell, but in about a years time every tablet interface on the planet will look like it.

By the way, I'm buying mine in May

 

[RalfTheDog]

I love both of my apple tvs and use them as my primary means of watching tv/movies but the HD quality is not better than OTA HD.

Perhaps I should say, it is better than the ultra low bandwidth garbage that passes for OTA where I live.

 

[bmk]

At the price they are asking they're as much of a "throw away" item as they are a computer.

Is it just me or is there something wrong with people who think of $500 devices are 'throw away' items?

 

[gnasher729]

I am sure, there are not a lot of people , who spend 500$ for a toy for their babies

Well, my babe will get an iPad so that I get control of my MacBook back. Now my babe is just a few years older than 18 but there will be at least five million iPads sold to that market alone (male laptop owners who don't want to share their laptop all the time).

But isn't it stupid to say "it won't do better than Apple TV, only 500,000 to 700,000 sold" when there are more than six million Apple TVs sold?

 

[gnasher729]

Names, my little friend, are written with first capital letter, not second.

Says ddubbo

 

[diabolic]

.It has no flash support, that is essential for full inet experience today, and this too small enjoy movies.

A lot of sites are planning or already implementing non-Flash options in anticipation of the iPad.

Here's one: Virgin America Dumps Flash

 

[admanimal]

.
and this too small enjoy movies.

Yeah, I bet if Apple made any devices that were smaller than the iPad, no one would ever consider watching any kind of video or movies on them. Oh wait...

 

[Ed State]

Seems like Apple might be preparing for lackluster sales?

 

[ddubbo]

A lot of sites are planning or already implementing non-Flash options in anticipation of the iPad.

Here's one: Virgin America Dumps Flash

A lot of people have sites they must work with which are flash based.
As the one of my bank, for example.
And there aren't a lot of such sites , who prepares non-flash version today.

 

[admanimal]

Seems like Apple might be preparing for lackluster sales?

How do you figure that?

 

[ccjx]

A lot of people have sites they must work with which are flash based.
As the one of my bank, for example.
And there aren't a lot of such sites , who prepares non-flash version today.

Then don't get an iPad. It's not made for people like you then. It isn't a lousy device just because it doesn't cater to your need.

 

[dernhelm]

A lot of people have sites they must work with which are flash based.
As the one of my bank, for example.
And there aren't a lot of such sites , who prepares non-flash version today.

Really? We've never heard this before. Are you sure about this? That must mean that the iPad will be a failure then... /sarcasm

 

[Gregintosh]

I'm surprised a bank would use flash on its website as a requirement. I have used several banks myself (Bank of America, Chase, TCF Bank, and a few others in the past) and I have never been forced to use flash to login and perform the online banking tasks I needed. Perhaps it's time to switch to a better bank?

Anyway, I think Apple not including flash is no big deal. I think it will help the demise of Flash. IF the iPad, and that is a big IF, succeeds and sells millions of units in the US, content providers will have to be forced to get rid of Flash for critical portions of their websites or lose customers.

I think Apple adding flash to the iPad would be bad for a few reasons:

1. It would make it harder for businesses to justify getting rid of it (managers hate approving investments in new technology if the old one is still viable and works fine).

2. It would make the iPad's battery nuts as it is an intensive program. I don't think it would go down to just 2 hours of battery life as Steve Jobs said (unless you did nothing but run a Flash intensive app the WHOLE time) but probably 4-5 hours from 9 or 10 it will get now - the difference will be significant.

It will be tough at first for some users who won't be able to play a few flash games or access places like Hulu, but I am sure in due course those thing will too be updated (or workaround will be developed, such as dedicated apps) if iPad sales take off. No one is going to ignore a platform with millions of users on it for long. That's too much money left on the table.

As far as there being websites that are flash-only, short of Hulu and maybe Facebook games I cannot think of any I would use, and it is not a deal breaker for me not to able to watch a TV show on the iPad when I can watch it on my computers anyway. In fact, 90% of Flash that I see on the web is in advertisements (which are annoying anyway, good riddance to flash ads!). The only useful thing that I see on a regular basis that is flash based is embedded movies in pages, but I am sure a work around will be available to that shortly (and it certainly doesn't mean I can't enjoy the rest of that page's content).

My point is, the web is VERY usable without Flash.

 

[diabolic]

A lot of people have sites they must work with which are flash based.
As the one of my bank, for example.
And there aren't a lot of such sites , who prepares non-flash version today.

The 2 banks we use don't use Flash, and I'd imagine that most don't. I'd be surprised if most don't already have iPhone apps anyway.

 

[jouster]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

I'm certain it will be the best selling tablet device for at least the next few years.

Perhaps. But it doesn't prove, that people need tablet at all. In my view, oversized smartphones, like HTC HD2 will face better demand

Quite possibly, but what on earth is the point of comparing it to a phone?

 

[RalfTheDog]

The 2 banks we use don't use Flash, and I'd imagine that most don't. I'd be surprised if most don't already have iPhone apps anyway.

I can see many good uses for flash on a banks website. If a transaction will take a few hours, just show the customer a movie while they are waiting (I know some banks are making users stand in a virtual line so they get a more realistic experience.)

Why let a person just deposit their money? Would it not be better to make the customer play a game where they carry bags of money from one place to another while trolls try to steal from them? When you lose a bag, you lose real money. I know that is what I look for when I sign up with a new bank.

 

[knightlie]

.
Agree. Most of the people need basic communication, internet, videos, movies and music from their comp. ipad does good nothing, except music, from this list. I barely imagine someone, siting at the cafe and typing something at his ipad, as people do with their netbooks today. It has no flash support, that is essential for full inet experience today, and this too small enjoy movies.

Are you sure you're talking about the same product as everyone else? You list these:

- basic communication
- internet
- videos
- movies [from their comp [sic]]
- from their comp [sic]

The iPad does all of these, didn't you watch the videos?. At least try and get some facts straight, you sound clueless.

And while you're talking about grammar, inet isn't a real word, and you're using comp incorrectly.

 

[AdeFowler]

A lot of people have sites they must work with which are flash based.
As the one of my bank, for example.

I seriously wouldn't trust a bank with my money if it relied on Flash for transactions. Who's your bank?

 

[ogee]

.... But it doesn't prove, that people need tablet at all. ...

True, no one needs a tablet. For that matter no one needs a mobile phone, or a Cd player or a car or the vast majority of things we have.

But they make life easier.

I suspect the iPad will sell well. Lets say every Apple store sells 10 a day 5 days a week fro 50 weeks in a year (to allow for public holidays)

280 ( stores) x 10 = 2800 (per day) x 5 = 14000 (per week) x 50 = 700,000 units per year. Add to that thousands of resellers and the online stores.

I dont know if 10 a day is realistic, but I could imagine it is.

 

[Bruce Oksol]

I'm willing to wager that it will will do reasonably well. The prices asked aren't outrageous, they'll be easy to use, and ideal for anyone not all that familiar with a computer. I'll likely get one for my 2 1/2 year old son to watch "Thomas" or "Elmo" on while in the car on long trips. They don't cost a lot more than a portable DVD player, have no moving parts, can hang in a holder on the back of my seat rest. He'll love it, and I can use it too.]


That's exactly why the iPad will fly off the shelves. Everyone sees a different use for this tablet: no contract; free wi-fi; and $15 / month for 3G. Couldn't be less expensive and couldn't be easier. If I'm not traveling that month, I don't pay the $15 and just use wi-fi. If I'm traveling, I pay the $15 for the airports that don't offer free wi-fi.

 

[iTattoo]

I am sure, there are not a lot of people , who spend 500$ for a toy for their babies

You totally miss the point.

A - That's just ONE use for it of many,

B - It's a whole lot cheaper than any other in car entertainment system

 

[MikeDTyke]

You totally miss the point.

A - That's just ONE use for it of many,

B - It's a whole lot cheaper than any other in car entertainment system

+2, 1 for each of those points. I don't think people get just how flexible this device is, you may call it a niche product, but it fits a whole lot of niches.