Apple's iPad 2 launch predicted to have stronger sales but shorter lines - Page 2

He said :It appears that there will be no pre-orders for the iPad 2 though. He gets it .... you don't.

I sold my iPad 1 yesterday and now I miss it....I kind of wish I'd kept it just as a collectors item. :-/ I don't know if I should get back or white. It seems like the black border would look better with video (and I watch a lot of video on the iPad) but the white one is very appealing to me. I'm also not sure whether go to the Apple store, Best Buy, Target (which are on complete opposite sides of town). I can't go anywhere until about 5pm anyway, so that nixes getting in line early anywhere. I kind of have a hard time seeing that regular retailers will wait it out until 5pm to begin sales...

I think you're right that most will gift their old iPad rather than sell it. But between the two there will probably be a lot of repeat customers.

Lots of free advertisements for Target in this thread.

I just got off the phone with my local best buy who 1) will have them in stock on Friday and 2) be selling them when the store opens, and not waiting until 5pm. I've also heard that walmart and sams club will have them too.

Im just hoping best buy will have all the accessories i need(want).

He edited his post.

to help answer your questions:
1) I don't think its been stated. I sure hope so.. but i'd imaging everyone will have the wifi models and the more popular retailers will have some 3G models.... until the supply meets demand. Then it will even all out.

2) Yes it is month to month like ATT's... but whether there are hidden fees remains to be seen. To my understanding, there is no contract you sign with either.

3 & 4) Verizon does, "in general" seem to have better coverage (which of course is based on where you are located). But keep in mind that you will likely be making some trade offs depending on who 3G service you go with. Verizon's 3G tops at about 1meg up and 1meg down... and works in more places than AT&T's. But.. in many areas, AT&T's 3G tops out at 7.2mbps down and 3.6 up.. so you have considerably faster internet (where you can actually get good signal). ALso keep in mind these are optimal-condition-maximums so in most cases you will be getting less bandwidth with either service.

Hahah, oh lord, are we really going to call it that? Makes me think of an iPad with a big hard drive spinning in it. "Yeah, it's got 250GB of storage ... only 30 minutes of battery life ... but look at all the useless crap I can store on here!"

Personally I'm seeing a lot of really lowball offers locally for iPad classics (heh) ... when a refurb direct from Apple is $349 people are openly snubbing anything over $300.

I don't like lines. I'll probably just go at 3-4 AM the day it comes out and pick one up. I'll be in & out like a ninja.

Indepth, fairminded article about the Xoom on Ars Technica. Their conclusion:


Comments concur. My favorite:

Wow! mostly positive comments, for a change.

I got tired reading : "this product is better than Apple's _________ because other product has better technical specifications." Xoom got very positive reviews overall but with quite a number of caveats. These reviews emboldened Apple/Steve Jobs haters (or detractors) to gloat. One was so cocky that he will remember 11 March 2011

One even boasted he had BOTH the original iPad and the new Xoom. Now he is using mainly his Xoom, while the original iPad is gathering dust in his desk, or something. [Hmmm... I read the same boast here, I think, but even more. Was it DaHarder who boasted he bought one for each of his family member or something? And, that he literally has so many of Apple products, so he is not really just a troll???]

So, I posted this challenge:

______________________
One-on-one, if Xoom beats iPad2 in terms of unit sales between 11 March 2011 to 11 March 2012, I will pay the Xoom evangelizer the amount (in US Market price) equivalent to the top end version of iPad3 (WiFi 3G or 4G???) with highest storage capacity.

If Xoom loses, then the Xoom evangelizer must honor the bet for the same amount.
______________________

I posted a similar bet in one of the threads here, challenged nikon, and the others there who had nothing good to say about the iPad but all praises of the Xoom, inspite of its known promised but undelivered features as of launch -- Flash, 4G, etc., the very key specifications that were supposed to make the Xoom technically superior to the iPad.

NO TAKERS.

So to all Apple/Steve Jobs haters (or detractors) here -- nikon, DaHarder, TechStud (if you are hiding under a different name), etc. if you've got balls to back your convictions:

Bet your money to your racehorse and accept the challenge. Otherwise, I have a term for you: Windbags.

CGC

N.B.
Anyone who accepts the bet must be willing to send his/her money to an agreed upon bank, with a known site to serve as Arbiter.

I hope international shipping runs to schedule. I've already arranged for the day off work. I have gift vouchers left over from Christmas so I'm constrained to buy it at a particular store.

We are replacing three of ours and relegating the v1 units to the office.

I do wish 4G would have been in the cards by now, and many reviews I've read have at least touched on this.

Lucky that most iPad users don't delve into the cellular realm that often.

You don't like lines but you are willing to queue up for 13-14 hrs (plus of course the time in the store unless you are first). LOL

I think the intent was to pick one up at a 24 hr Walmart and not have lines.

Called Apple (800-692-7753) and this is what they told me.

Apple Store: 5:00pm
Apple online: 2:01am (Central Time)
1. Free Standard Shipping (possibly up to 6 days)
2. Other retail stores are restricted to the 5pm sell time

They Are also getting peoples name + phone# so they can call you Friday morning to order that way as well. Well my plan was to go to Target since they open at 8am but oh well Looks like it will be 2:01am ordering for me since I cant get off work or off early...gggrrrr.

The Apple store by my house is 24-7, so I won't have to wait at all. I'll be going after the iPad comes out.

That's great, but they won't put the iPad 2 out for sale until 5pm. Additionally, stores will close before 5pm in order to prepare for the launch.

I know that it goes on sale at 5 pm. I meant that I'll be going later on that night.

I'm guessng that's the amazing Midtown glass cube one? I wonder if they'll be sold out by that time...even if they are, they'll probably get a shipment at some point in the middle of the night, so I'm guessing you'll be able to get your hands on one somehow.

Yeah, it's the fifth ave. store. Of course if they're sold out, then I'll be out of luck, but I can't imagine that store not having a huge supply of iPads.

Oh, you mean after they've sold out?

I suppose the retail times are 5:00om 'local' time?

No-one will take that bet. The standard fandroid retort is that the iSheep will make it sell well and that volume does not make up for quality.
Of course when you reverse it and say well that applies in spades to the vast sales of Android phones, they either shut up or explode in a puff of fanboy logic (or call you an iSheep which makes your point invalid).

Why? Not saying that 4G is bad but why now.

1) Terrible coverage
2) No good plans yet (all an upcharge over 3G) Do you think VZ would want to cut you a sweet deal on 4G like they do on 3G?
3) Very little global deployment (iPad is a world device)

By the time these 3 things change to any significant degree, you will be creaming over an iPad 3 HD with the rest of us.
It would be a nice future proofing but that doesn't come without cost, (and probably weight) and certainly battery life when it actually works.
Why create an extra sku or 6, more customer issues, etc. for what would be very small sales until next year at least.
The same reasons will apply to the iP5 unless something drastic happens with global 4G roadmaps.

Hoisted on their own petard! If they are going to make a big deal about long lines for 3 years, you think a lack of any lines is not going to get played up?

This is rich!! So you can't compare all Android phone sales against iPhones because it's on;y one iPhone. But it's okay to compare all 24 iOS tablets against the Xoom :-) Not that the Xoom is going to be breaking any sales record - until they price it closer to $400.

I understand your point. In fact, here at Apple Insider, when the Apple diehards (Apple can't do anything wrong or bad) were gloating about the Apple iPhone being the top selller over Android, I pointed out that RIM and Nokia are ahead in terms of total sales worldwide. I predicted also that the Android, as a whole are going to overtake the Apple iPhone. I believe that was in 2009 when I posted that.

The point is that if a company targets a specific group of consumers, rather than try to be the top seller, it won't become the top seller all the time, even if it has the best products.

It's just like Mercedes Benz as a car manufacturer is not likely to have more sales volume than the likes of GM, or Toyota, because the target clientele of Mercedes Benz is a very small segment of the car buying public.

Well, I shall be posting the challenge everytime someone says: This product from anothr company is superior over an Apple product.



Product vs. Product


There's a flaw in your argument, just try to analyze it in more depth. iPad2 is a single product, just different versions with varying degrees of RAM, diskstorage, Wifi only, or WiFi plus 3G. But, the overall quality of the iPad2 are the same for all the versions, and they all share the same ecocystem. The iPad2 as a hardware supported by its integrated ecosystem (iTunes, Aoos Store, Apple Store, Genius Bar, Seminars, One-on-one support, etc.) defines the overall quality and superiority of the iPad2, as a product.

I use the fallacy of betting by sales to determine quality because many mistake (fanboys, haters, tech bloggers, journalists, etc.) gloats as if their favorite OS, or product is better, if it has a higher ranking. [See explanation above.] But, Android fans (Apple haters/detractprs_ are gloating that Android has buried the iPhone. So, history repeats itself, they say. And, Android is the clear winner.

Thus, I placed the bet for the aforementioned reason, not because I believed in numbers as measure of superiority.

To give an example within the iPad2 versions, if the sales of the lower Wifi only iPad2 eclipses the equivalent with Wifi plus 3G, is the wifi only iPad2 superior to the wifi plus 3G? I hope I do not have to answer that because it should be obvious to most anyone that there is no correlation between bulk sales and technical superiority or lack thereof.

Apple iPad2 (equivalent version) vs Xoom

Let's assume that by IPad2 lost 10:1 or whatever number you want (2:1, etc.) Does it prove that Xoom is technically superior to the iPad2 of the equivalent specifications.

It would be interesting to get your answer or any of those who believe that if the Xoom beats the "technically equivalent" iPad2, then the Xoom must be judge to be superior.

If you or anyone else answers YES, it indicates how shallow you analyze problems or scenarios.

Or, to put another twist, since you mentioned fairness: What do you consider to be a fair head to head comparison, to decide superiority, as judged by the consumers?

CGC