iPad, flop or hit?

[civ_king]

what do you think the iPad is going to do sell or no? I see lots of naysayers but some Apple products they thought were going to flop

1. The Mac

It seems absurd now, but there was a time when some critics thought the Mac would be a complete failure. They considered the mouse-driven interface "Useless." Ponder that one for a bit. "Awkward," "Not easy to learn," and of course, "Costs too much" were other 1984-era complaints leveled at Apple's latest creation. These critics were used to the keyboard-driven interface of DOS-running PCs, and from the sounds of things, they considered the Mac, with its graphic user interface and "awkward" mouse, to be nothing more than an overpriced novelty, doomed to fail.

I hardly need to tell you what happened next. The original Macintosh completely revolutionized the computer industry. Within only a short time, companies like Microsoft scrambled to duplicate the GUI/mouse combo the Mac brought to the market. Today, nearly every desktop, notebook, and netbook out there runs a GUI/mouse interface. And 26 years after the first Macintosh debuted, Apple still sells Macs by the millions every year. I wish I could fail half as hard as that.

2. The iMac

"No floppy drive?!?" was the echoing cry among the tech world in 1998. Add to that the iMac's hermetically-sealed case and not particularly upgrade-friendly components, and once again, tech critics and build-it-yourself users who had been used to beige towers predicted the iMac would never catch on. Instead, the iMac sold like crazy and almost instantaneously doubled Apple's PC marketshare. Twelve years later, the iMac is still Apple's best-selling desktop, and it shows no signs of going anywhere anytime soon... unlike those floppy disks everyone once thought were so crucial.

3. The iPod

One of the greatest things about the internet is that in a way, it's the closest any of us will get to time travel. Let's go back to October 23, 2001, and get Slashdot's now-famous opinion of the just-announced iPod: "No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame."

The comments that follow are even better. "I don't see many sales in the future of iPod." "All I can say is, as an Apple 'fan', I'm sad." But don't just take Slashdot's word for it. The forum folks at MacRumors had some true gems too: "Great just what the world needs, another freaking MP3 player." "I still can't believe this! All this hype for something so ridiculous! Who cares about an MP3 player?" "'I'd call it the Cube 2.0 as it wont sell, and be killed off in a short time...and it's not really functional." "The Reality Distiortion Field™ is starting to warp Steve's mind if he thinks for one second that this thing is gonna take off." "Not exactly 'revolutionary'. " "The real money is in DRM and distribution (ala Real Musicnet). If Apple were smart they would be focusing on high gross revenue from services rather than a playback device." "It is by no means revolutionary or groundbreaking. It is an MP3 player. BFD. It is just a step in the evolution of an MP3 player [...] Think different is dead."

It goes on like that, for pages and pages. And this is at a site full of Apple fans, the majority of whom were unimpressed with the iPod at best and thought it was Apple's death knell at worst. People who weren't great fans of Apple at the time, like the guys behind Penny Arcade, had even harsher things to say about the iPod, even two years after its release (not safe for work language -- it is Penny Arcade, after all). Over nine years later, where are we? Over a quarter of a billion iPods have been sold since then, and it's largely due to the iPod's momentum that Apple has become the phenomenal success it is today.

4. The iPhone

For the first half of 2007, before the iPhone actually hit stores, people either thought it was the greatest innovation of the past ten years (at least) or an overpriced, overhyped device that lacked features common to many other phones. Of course, there was no lack of punditry from those who thought the iPhone was doomed, and Apple right along with it. Tech critic John Dvorak said of the iPhone, "I'd advise people to cover their eyes. You are not going to like what you'll see." A former CEO of Palm said, "We've learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They're not going to just walk in." And who could forget Steve Ballmer of Microsoft, perhaps the best-remembered critic of the iPhone: "There's no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance." Ballmer claimed Apple would be lucky to get 2-3% cellphone marketshare.

Over 42 million iPhones later, Apple has become the largest mobile device company in the world. And whether you agree that HTC and other phone manufacturers have violated Apple's patents or not, the influence the iPhone has had on the smartphone industry is undeniable. Before June of 2007, almost all smartphones looked like clones of the Blackberry. Less than three years later, an awful lot of smartphones now look like clones of the iPhone instead.

With these four products, Apple drove the evolution of three industries: PCs, portable media players, and smartphones. All four products were smashing successes despite all the doom and gloom from both professional and armchair tech critics. Now, with the introduction of the iPad, Apple is aiming at a new industry: ultraportable computers. For the past month and a half, at least half of everyone paying attention to the iPad has laughed at it, pointed out its shortcomings, and predicted its failure. My prediction? A year from now, we're going to have a very long list of misguided iPad quotes to point and laugh at.

and then there was the Newton, yeah it failed...

what do you think of the iPad?

 

[LightFang]

It's crap. It's a gimmick and I hate the closed-app ecosystem. It's a laptop, guys. Even if it doesn't do what we think laptops should do, this is what Apple wants for the future. A world like the one before the Internet, where you can't pick what goes on your system. Sure, you can pick from the apps they have available, but they've been filtered out first.

 

[Mad Man]

whats an ipad?

 

[Ulyaoth]

i what?

Everything apple sucks, people just get sucked in by crappy marketing. Apple is nothing more than some giant evil experiment to show how stupid the hairless monkeys are.

 

[Karalysia]

As usual the capitalist has produced an unessecary inefficent product, which failing to find a market they will now manufacture demand for in order to create a market.

 

[Abaddon]

Apple has such a market presence, it has a chance.

Personally I don't think there is a market for that product.

 

[Integral]

It's a laptop, guys.

Doesn't do a tenth of what my Thinkpad does. Funny that.

As usual the capitalist has produced an unessecary inefficent product, which failing to find a market they will now manufacture demand for in order to create a market.

You just don't stop do you?

 

[LightFang]

Doesn't do a tenth of what my Thinkpad does. Funny that.

If you had read the rest of my post, you would have seen the rationale behind my words. D:

Even if it doesn't do what we think laptops should do, this is what Apple wants for the future. A world like the one before the Internet, where you can't pick what goes on your system. Sure, you can pick from the apps they have available, but they've been filtered out first.

 

[Hehehe]

The iPad seems just stupid...

But then again Apple has extremely efficient marketing department and a devoted fan base who consider everything Apple makes as a gift from the gods

 

[Kraznaya]

Pessimistically I think the word of mouth about its sucktitude won't be able to defeat the legions of Apple-devotee zombies.

 

[Volum]

"You think you're cool because you buy a $500 phone with a picture of a fruit on it. Well guess what? They cost eight bucks to make and I pee on every one"

 

[Shaihulud]

Sounds like some form of sanitary pad, so flop.

 

[azzaman333]

whats an ipad?

To my knowledge, it's something that women wear when they're having a period.

 

[Mise]

what do you think the iPad is going to do sell or no? I see lots of naysayers but some Apple products they thought were going to flop


and then there was the Newton, yeah it failed...

what do you think of the iPad?

Well done for mentioning one of Apple's products that failed. There are many, many more.

All these Apple fanboi bloggers and tech writers and dumbasses all do the same thing. They all say, "they all laughed at the Wright brothers too!" blah blah blah. But that doesn't mean that everything people laugh at will be a revolutionary success... Most likely, if everyone's laughing at you, it's cos you have a stupid idea.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

whats an ipad?

An iPhone Giga.

Too early to judge whether it's a success, but Apple's devoted fans would certainly buy it. Good for them to stimulate the economy, I guess.

 

[Fifty]

people just get sucked in by crappy marketing.

If people get sucked in by it then it isn't very crappy, is it????????????

 

[Joecoolyo]

Presenting, the iPad.

Yea, it's going to fail.

 

[Speedo]

The problem with the iPad is that it doesn't really offer anything new or unique. If you want to do multimedia/entertainment, it's really just an iPhone or iPod Touch with a larger screen and better battery life, but without "slip it in your pocket" portability. If you want it for more productivity oriented reasons, then there are a host of downsides: no physical keyboard (or other way to type with 2 hands) without using extra accessories, lack of "serious" software (particularly for users who mainly work on PC's), lack of real multitasking, etc.

I think initial sales will be string, because the Apple fanboy types will be gobbling them up. After that, I don't see it doing very well.

 

[Mise]

Well, I'm no iPad fan, and I think the hype is hugely ********, but there are times when you want something bigger than a phone but smaller than a laptop, just for when you're lying in front of the TV, checking facebook or something.

That's certainly not a reason to buy something, though. There are times when I want something bigger than a teaspoon but smaller than tablespoon -- doesn't mean I stock up on every single spoon size there is, just for those occasions.

Alternatively, if you're in a "creative design brainstorming session" for all those pretentious creative types that just looooove iMacs and macbooks and all that bollocks, they might come in handy as something you can take out of your LV manbag and pass around.

 

[Speedo]

Well, I'm no iPad fan, and I think the hype is hugely ********, but there are times when you want something bigger than a phone but smaller than a laptop, just for when you're lying in front of the TV, checking facebook or something.

And that seems to be where Apple is trying to place it price-wise, about halfway between the iPhone/Touch and a Macbook. The problem for Apple is going to be that priced in the current $500-800 range, it has to compete against netbooks and non-Apple laptops which are only slightly less portable but much more capable.