Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL)'s recent unveiling of its "magical" iPad may have fanboys counting the days until March, but if a recent poll on Internet Evolution is any indication, not everyone is buying into the hype.
Asked last week, "How soon will you buy an iPad?" here's how almost 100 readers responded:
Taking the clear majority, 67 percent of our poll respondents said they will "never" buy the iPad. An additional 28 percent would like to wait until it gets cheaper. And a final 5 percent will be lining up at Apple stores when it's released in March.
Sixty-seven percent... boy, that's a whole lot of people who are unenthralled by Apple's latest release, especially given the frothy volume of hype. And, just in case you're thinking this anti-iPad iPox has fallen over Internet Evolution readers alone, think again, incorrect friend. A survey issued by Retrevo.com to 1,000 random participants showed that, while only 26 respondents said they were not interested in an Apple Tablet before the iPad was announced, that number jumped to 52 percent after the product's actual unveiling.
Is it surprising? Not to me. The iPad's disappointing lack of Flash support, paired with its lack of USB drives, paired with its inability to multitask, paired with its pricetag, makes it a most unnecessary device. And, if you've heard of the recession, you may also be aware that consumers aren't in a great position to be dropping hundreds of dollars on unnecessary devices right now.
If someone handed me an iPad for free and paid for my 3G, my response would be, "Cool" (as it would with any other free gift other than the TwitterPeek). But seeing as the iPad doesn't seem to replace or fix anything, purchasing one seems to border on the absurd.
Of course, not everyone agrees that the iPad doesn't act as a replacement. Take this article from PC World, for example, which in all seriousness suggests that the iPad is going to replace the mobile Web, particularly (wait for it...) the iPhone.
(Naturally, this ignores the fact that people like the mobile Web because it's mobile, unlike the iPad which is only mobile if your mom forgot to stop injecting you with growth hormones.)
Writes the author, Galen Gruman:
Ironically, the iPad makes the iPhone -- Apple's game-changing technology of 2007, whose impact still reverberates through the wireless, mobile, and computing industries -- obsolete. And as the iPhone fades away as a short-lived marvel, so too will disappear the mobile Web.
Hmm. Well, maybe the author has a point. But after we've dropped so much cash on the iPad, how ever will we afford the new, giant pants to carry it around in?
If Amazon can sell over a million and a half units of a device that resembles an oversized, 1998-era PalmPilot - then surely Apple will have no trouble at all selling one that, while more expensive, offers vastly more functionality and a better user experience.
People have been getting too wrapped up in comparing the iPad (unfavourably) to full-featured notebooks and netbooks, when Apple never designed the iPad to compete with those devices. It's primarily a media consumption device - an e-book reader with extras - and there's nothing on the market from Archos, Amazon, MS, Roxio, etc. that can touch it.
Oh, but the way, while I do not give Gen Y much credit, I certainly do give my contribution to that cohort enough money.Not just enough money to buy the low cost generic MP3 player he needs; enough money to buy the iPod he wants.
The iPad does have a basic version (all of them)- it only has the features to display its value as a fashion statement.
And for sure, iPad is the lowest COST (If not the lowest PRICE) device of its general size. A proprietary Apple CPU insures low cost.With the margin available, Apple can keep focused on what counts, the status needs of Gen Y.
And, by keeping iPAD OS in the $2.00 iPhone App space, Steve keeps its ecosystem prices low and prevents the emergence of any powerful, but troublesome and complicating 3rd party software supplier.The App store provides additional leverage.There will be no ‘Quark Express’ that does not want to move to the latest OS.
Lawrence: You made a really poignant statement regarding your take on the ipad's technical short-falls and that the lack of Flash is a strategic move on Apple against a competitor- Adobe.
However, I cant say I see eye to eye with you on the ipad being just another status symbol. You might not be giving a big constituent of apple's target audience- Generation Y, enough credit. They're the ones who are typically on line when these new items come out. Y'ers have more evolved spending habits than their counterparts in Generation X, a group often characterized by 80's overindulgence, rolex watches and junk bonds.
When Y'ers spend their hard earned money, or their parents hard earned money, they want performance. Yes, the glowing symbol on the back of an apple computer has become the latest model of "cool," seen everywhere including Sex and the City's Carrie Bradshaw's bedroom where she feverishly types her column into a shiny apple computer. But it's also a brand known for being high quality, durable and dependable.
With the economy being where it has been the past two years, Gen Y'ers have lost their spending ability. I argue that this serves to make them even more savvy, sophisticated shoppers, hesitant to blow a grand (or whatever the ipad costs) on something that is a bigger version of what they already have in the iphone, without the capabilities of their MacBook Pros.
If I were Steve Jobs, I would have stripped the ipad down to bare bones, made it super cheap and first annihilate the Kindle, marketing it as a cool new, green product for reading books and newspapers digitally. And then work on adding cool gadgets to the 2.0.
I have to agree with you that the poll is inherently flawed just like any other poll you may think of but to say it is fatally flaw was really 'out of context' exaggeration. One can only hope the Apple stock you bought has nothing to do with your rant against the poll. When has the result of a poll ever becomes fatal? Probably to shareholders like you but not to main street guys like us.
I remember some years ago I ran out and got a hand held PC thinking it would provide an easy solution to move files from my handheld PC to the CNC machines. However there were a lot of interface issues and it ended up not being a good solution at all. So with that being said the Ipod might be a good solution for something but not clear to me what it would be yet. We currently have laptops, cell phones, notebooks, and many many other things. I am still trying to figure out where this would fit in.
This poll is fatally biased.The people polled KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT TECHNOLOGY.Why the heck would we ask them about something that is Jewelry?
Dismissing the iPad because of its technical limitations would be like dismissing a Rolex because a $15 Kmart Casio is more accurate.Or dismissing Benetton because Haynes can sell a similar T-shirt for much less.
The purpose of the iPad is to adorn the fashionable while they hang out at Starbucks.Get over it, that is what it does, and it does it very well.
The iPad technical short-falls are not there by accident, oversight or lack of funding, they are the path to future revenue.And, the lack of Flash is an effective method to hobble a potential competitor (Adobe) who complicates Apple’s space.
The survey report from Retrovo has an interesting caveat which reads:
" However, like most industry watchers, Retrevo reflects that its the applications - particularly the plethora of individual apps designed to harness the power of iPad for niche groups - which will make the iPad a success.
“As we like to say, it’s the apps that sell smartphones like the iPhone and it could very well be those same apps that motivate buyers to run down to the Apple Store and get in line to buy a shiny new iPad,” the company says".
So technologically no one should be dying for the iPad just yet until niche applications have been developed that will make use of its capabilities. So for now let's just accept IE and Retrove surveys at face value and let's refrain from very wide extrapolations of the survey result.
As others have alos noted, a dipping economy may also biased the result of the survey.
It seems the recession is in recession or that people believe Obama when he said so. This was almost surreal. Something amazing happened las week and last weekend specially and I'm glad you noticed and bring it forth. I was hesitant to do so.
People were buying like crazy almost everywhere! I thought I was having a problem of perspective but no, and specially, technology stores were full of people looking everything and buying. I totally agree with you, the IPad will sell its share. After all, Avatar was filmed in digital blue and people (meaning we) went to see it by the truckloads.
I bet we'll see something blue in the welcome screen of the IPad. Remember, last year ended with a blue moon, so LETS BLUE IT!...
The ThinkerNet does not reflect the views of TechWeb. The ThinkerNet is an informal means of communication to members and visitors of the Internet Evolution site. Individual authors are chosen by Internet Evolution to blog. Neither Internet Evolution nor TechWeb assume responsibility for comments, claims, or opinions made by authors and ThinkerNet bloggers. They are no substitute for your own research and should not be relied upon for trading or any other purpose.
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