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RE: The secret to the impending success of Apple’s new iPad
I disagree with the Zachary Goater’s embellished statement, “The minute [Apple CEO Steve Jobs] releases a new product, the public begins to drool its money-filled spit right into the palm of his million-dollar hand.”
The products we remember are the ones that have done well, but in recent years the MacBook air, Apple TV, all Apple mice and the G4 Cube, for example, have sold quite poorly, often because they’re overpriced and underpowered.
Of Apple’s newest devices, only the iPhone and iPod gained enough momentum to become mainstream. When they were released they were also overpriced and underpowered.
The iPod was released in 2001, but it didn’t gain ubiquity until around the third generation in 2003, when Apple released iTunes for Windows.
Initial complaints about the iPod were that it had no wireless and less capacity than other disk-based music players for substantially higher cost, and it didn’t sell really well until it had addressed the price and storage issues.
With the iPad, Apple can afford to be a lot more confident that there will be a market for it. The appeal of the iPad is the apps, and Apple has seen that the iTunes app store has been wildly successful and is trusting that the iPad will ride that wave.
Still, it’s a gamble. We’ll have to reserve total judgment until we see how it does in the market.
— Zev Eisenberg
