I'm going to post up an email I wrote to a friend of mine. This should help to illustrate who might be interested in an iPad and why I believe that the demand is just going to grow over time.
I actually picked a place to eat where I thought there would be privacy. I was not in any way looking to be "that guy" showing off a shiny gadget. I was trying to show someone who is totally non-technical what it could do for him.
Here's the email, it continues to the end.
Quick story - my dad is, well, on his way out. Been that way for a while (years), so it's not new news. His eyesight is failing and reading, which has always been a passion of his, is becoming increasingly difficult. So, after I got my iPad, I decided to drive up to his house to show him the iPad and see if he liked it. Just so you know, my dad has never liked a single thing in his life. No, I'm not kidding. He always finds fault in something, even if the fault isn't there. I showed him the reader on the iPad and he said "that's pretty good!" This floored me, it's a compliment of the highest sort from him. Of course he had to follow it up with "well the books cost money" but when I mentioned that there are many free books, he basically didn't have a comeback (also highly rare).
So, there's one sale.
My mom also likes it a lot, basically she surfs a lot, does some email and like to look at pictures. My guess is that she'll get one too.
Then I went to dinner with a very non-techy friend of mine. VERY non-techy. He works in construction and does very well, owns his own business but can't figure out how to get his voicemail from his cell phone. Again, not kidding. I hauled out the iPad at our table and showed him the basics (movies, web, email, surfing, photos, tunes).
His first comment? "I think I'll get one of those. I just can't see using a laptop - that thing there does almost everything I need."
So, there's the third sale.
But let me tell you the kicker.
There was a birthday party on a huge table behind us when I pulled out the iPad. I saw them when we walked in and they were having fun and they were being loud - but a fun kind of loud. About 30 seconds into me showing the iPad to my friend, there was a "ooooooohhhh" from the table and it fell silent. I actually had my back turned to them, so I felt it would be rude to turn around to see what had happened over there. I figure someone said something stupid or spilled a drink or something like that. So, I kept showing my friend photos. Then I heard a whisper behind me: "He has one!"
Uh oh.
So, I slowly turned around and no <redacted>, every single person at that table plus the tables beyond them - about 40 people - were gawking at me and the iPad - and they were totally silent. OK, they weren't looking at me at all.
O
M
G
OK, so what do I do now?
The guy closest to me asked: "is that what I think it is?" I said it was an iPad, I'd played with it for about an hour, and it was really nice. Then I handed it to him, and he almost died. I kid you not. He putzed with it for about a minute and a couple of other people at the table held it for a bit, and they they sheepishly handed it back and said "sorry, this is yours and you've only had it for an hour, but thank you VERY much for letting us look at it."
That was the topic of conversation for the birthday table for the rest of their stay. On the way out, they thanked me AGAIN for letting them look at it. One other guy said it made his day, then he said, no, make that week.
Now, I expect that that was an encounter with a true fanboi. So, maybe they would have bought one anyways.
But wait, there's more!
Our server also talked to us about it. She was probably going to pick one up, her Touch had been stolen and she had kinda thought that maybe the iPad might be the way to go, and when she saw it, she made up her mind to get one. Then, oddly enough, the girl that hands out the table assignments found us (we were wayyyy in a corner and in a separate room - very isolated) and said "Oh hey, is that an iPad? Can I look?"
Then, the assistant manager came around. "Oh hey, is that an iPad? Can I look?"
Then the manager came around: "Oh, hey, is that an iPad? Can I look?"
I swear some cooks and busboys made some extra trips to take a look too. The busboys were funny, one guy would take just one plate, then the next guy would take just one plate, then the next guy would just take one plate...
Dude, it was just too funny. But overall when I would show them a few things, they all appreciated that it seemed easy to use.
THOSE are the people that will buy this thing.
By the truckload.
The geeks are probably going to hate it.
<redacted> 'em
I actually picked a place to eat where I thought there would be privacy. I was not in any way looking to be "that guy" showing off a shiny gadget. I was trying to show someone who is totally non-technical what it could do for him.
Here's the email, it continues to the end.
Quick story - my dad is, well, on his way out. Been that way for a while (years), so it's not new news. His eyesight is failing and reading, which has always been a passion of his, is becoming increasingly difficult. So, after I got my iPad, I decided to drive up to his house to show him the iPad and see if he liked it. Just so you know, my dad has never liked a single thing in his life. No, I'm not kidding. He always finds fault in something, even if the fault isn't there. I showed him the reader on the iPad and he said "that's pretty good!" This floored me, it's a compliment of the highest sort from him. Of course he had to follow it up with "well the books cost money" but when I mentioned that there are many free books, he basically didn't have a comeback (also highly rare).
So, there's one sale.
My mom also likes it a lot, basically she surfs a lot, does some email and like to look at pictures. My guess is that she'll get one too.
Then I went to dinner with a very non-techy friend of mine. VERY non-techy. He works in construction and does very well, owns his own business but can't figure out how to get his voicemail from his cell phone. Again, not kidding. I hauled out the iPad at our table and showed him the basics (movies, web, email, surfing, photos, tunes).
His first comment? "I think I'll get one of those. I just can't see using a laptop - that thing there does almost everything I need."
So, there's the third sale.
But let me tell you the kicker.
There was a birthday party on a huge table behind us when I pulled out the iPad. I saw them when we walked in and they were having fun and they were being loud - but a fun kind of loud. About 30 seconds into me showing the iPad to my friend, there was a "ooooooohhhh" from the table and it fell silent. I actually had my back turned to them, so I felt it would be rude to turn around to see what had happened over there. I figure someone said something stupid or spilled a drink or something like that. So, I kept showing my friend photos. Then I heard a whisper behind me: "He has one!"
Uh oh.
So, I slowly turned around and no <redacted>, every single person at that table plus the tables beyond them - about 40 people - were gawking at me and the iPad - and they were totally silent. OK, they weren't looking at me at all.
O
M
G
OK, so what do I do now?
The guy closest to me asked: "is that what I think it is?" I said it was an iPad, I'd played with it for about an hour, and it was really nice. Then I handed it to him, and he almost died. I kid you not. He putzed with it for about a minute and a couple of other people at the table held it for a bit, and they they sheepishly handed it back and said "sorry, this is yours and you've only had it for an hour, but thank you VERY much for letting us look at it."
That was the topic of conversation for the birthday table for the rest of their stay. On the way out, they thanked me AGAIN for letting them look at it. One other guy said it made his day, then he said, no, make that week.
Now, I expect that that was an encounter with a true fanboi. So, maybe they would have bought one anyways.
But wait, there's more!
Our server also talked to us about it. She was probably going to pick one up, her Touch had been stolen and she had kinda thought that maybe the iPad might be the way to go, and when she saw it, she made up her mind to get one. Then, oddly enough, the girl that hands out the table assignments found us (we were wayyyy in a corner and in a separate room - very isolated) and said "Oh hey, is that an iPad? Can I look?"
Then, the assistant manager came around. "Oh hey, is that an iPad? Can I look?"
Then the manager came around: "Oh, hey, is that an iPad? Can I look?"
I swear some cooks and busboys made some extra trips to take a look too. The busboys were funny, one guy would take just one plate, then the next guy would take just one plate, then the next guy would just take one plate...
Dude, it was just too funny. But overall when I would show them a few things, they all appreciated that it seemed easy to use.
THOSE are the people that will buy this thing.
By the truckload.
The geeks are probably going to hate it.
<redacted> 'em
