WSJ: After strong initial demand, some lines for Apple iPad 'thin'
While Apple stores had long lines at 9 a.m. to buy the iPad and a number of locations sold out in a matter of minutes, other stores outside of Apple's "typical tech urban strongholds" saw crowds dissipate relatively quickly.
Profiling the iPad launch on Saturday, The Wall Street Journal noted that hundreds of fans gathered around the Apple flagship store on 5th Avenue in New York City. But the excitement was reportedly short-lived at a Best Buy in North Carolina.
"Traffic was thin by about 10:30 a.m. at the Apple desk of a suburban Charlotte, N.C., outlet of Best Buy Inc., the other major retailer stocking the device," the report said. "Store manager Andrew Rochelle said three people were waiting in line when he got to the store at 7 a.m. and by opening time at 10 a.m., the store had handed out about half of its 60 right-to-buy tickets."
The Journal also said the scene was "muted" at the Apple store in Northpark Mall in Dallas, Tex.
"While some who showed up early had to wait several hours to get into the store, by 10:15 there was no one standing in line and workers were putting away the metal poles that had kept earlier crowds in order," the report said.
The newspaper suggested that crowds were "tempered" by the fact that Apple offered online preorders starting March 12, and the hardware was shipped directly to consumers for free on launch date. It also speculated that some could be waiting for the 3G-capable iPad, due to be released later this month.
Separately, AppleInsider received reports of stores selling out quickly after opening, and limited supply in certain locations. One Best Buy in San Francisco had very small quantities of iPads for Saturday's launch.
Calculations for preorders for the iPad have suggested Apple sold 120,000 on the first day alone. Analyst Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray has forecast that Apple will sell out of its initial supply on launch weekend, which he has predicted will be between 200,000 and 300,000.
Profiling the iPad launch on Saturday, The Wall Street Journal noted that hundreds of fans gathered around the Apple flagship store on 5th Avenue in New York City. But the excitement was reportedly short-lived at a Best Buy in North Carolina.
"Traffic was thin by about 10:30 a.m. at the Apple desk of a suburban Charlotte, N.C., outlet of Best Buy Inc., the other major retailer stocking the device," the report said. "Store manager Andrew Rochelle said three people were waiting in line when he got to the store at 7 a.m. and by opening time at 10 a.m., the store had handed out about half of its 60 right-to-buy tickets."
The Journal also said the scene was "muted" at the Apple store in Northpark Mall in Dallas, Tex.
"While some who showed up early had to wait several hours to get into the store, by 10:15 there was no one standing in line and workers were putting away the metal poles that had kept earlier crowds in order," the report said.
The newspaper suggested that crowds were "tempered" by the fact that Apple offered online preorders starting March 12, and the hardware was shipped directly to consumers for free on launch date. It also speculated that some could be waiting for the 3G-capable iPad, due to be released later this month.
Separately, AppleInsider received reports of stores selling out quickly after opening, and limited supply in certain locations. One Best Buy in San Francisco had very small quantities of iPads for Saturday's launch.
Calculations for preorders for the iPad have suggested Apple sold 120,000 on the first day alone. Analyst Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray has forecast that Apple will sell out of its initial supply on launch weekend, which he has predicted will be between 200,000 and 300,000.
Comments
Perhaps they can get on and launch it in other markets now then. Like the UK? Yeah? Please? Thanks!
Folks in UK are already lucky enough to get their hands on it in "late April", while the rest of us will likely remain as sad pandas for another couple of months.
I saw in another thread that the iPad supposedly has only 256MB of RAM. If true, I'm amazed at it's ability to rip through the web... I've been looking for pages with lots of graphics to see how this thing will perform under stress. So far it's kicking butt.
Difficult to imagine anyone other than a few Apple fanboys buying this overpriced toy.
There, I wrote Paul Thurrott's column for him.
The newspaper suggested that crowds were "tempered" by the fact that Apple offered online preorders starting March 12, and the hardware was shipped directly to consumers for free on launch date. It also speculated that some could be waiting for the 3G-capable iPad, due to be released later this month.
Or it could be that there's really not a compelling reason to buy it at this point. I think this will change as developers begin creating killer apps. iPad is of little interest to me personally until companies create amazing music production apps that take advantage of the multitouch large screen interface. There's a lot of potential in this area and I've already heard about stuff being worked on or requested, but that's still a ways off. This is the one thing that truly interests me and will likely eventually spur me to buy one. I think most people are in the same boat, but are waiting for a different type of killer app to come along (business, medical, graphic design, etc).
As for everything else about it, I already own an iPhone so I can do most of the same as the iPad offers already. The portability of the iPhone more than makes up for the smaller screen. I own a MBP and I can't run any of the programs I regularly use on the iPad (Photoshop, Logic, Reason, Dreamweaver, MAMP, Final Cut, many others). And I'm not expecting much from the iPad's virtual keyboard. I also have no interest in eBooks. I think they're great for students lugging around a heavy backpack of books but for plain old reading - no thanks. I want to be able to read in the sunlight, to be able to leave a book unattended in a cafe and not worry about it being stolen, to be able to take it to the beach and not worry about sand or water, etc, etc.
Anyways, looking forward to trying one out. I work across the street from the flagship San Francisco Apple store, so I plan on checking it out this week.
the hype for this thing was way way way bigger in the minds of the media than in the real world where most people see it for what it is: a $500 jumbo ipod touch. neither magical nor revolutionary. but very expensive.
Good luck selling those predicted 20 million ipads by the end of the year Apple.
Who predicted that number, besides you?
However, I think this thing will is going to replace the pc/lap top in many house holds and we are going to see them everywhere. I think that we are going to see a revolution in iApps. We have ready seen the Pizza apps, but that is nothing. Coming soon, every e-commerce site will have it's own application that will connect to it's ecommerce portal, you won't buy via the website you will buy via the iApp with much more functionality..
A larger, faster, more-powerful iPod touch with a 10" screen? How is that a bad thing?
Lol... "the ZR1 won't sell, it's just a more powerful corvette", who would want that?
FLOP!
The hype for this thing was way way way bigger in the minds of the media than in the real world where most people see it for what it is: a $500 jumbo ipod touch. neither magical nor revolutionary. but very expensive.
It's hyped, no doubt about that. The real point here though is for a lot of people it not only does what they want it to do, it does what they want to do in an easier, infinitely more intuitive, faster way then they are accustomed to. In that sense it's the future of computing. Not for the geeks - but for everyone else. Newsflash! There are a lot more everyone else's than geeks. That is the whole point of this device. It's like a magazine sized computer that is a screen onto the world, with which they can do their "internet stuff" on.
I say have the big powerful desktop computer to geek out on anytime you feel like it, and have the iPad on the coffee table to use for everything else. Going to the café down the street? Grab the iPad. eBook, iPad. Cooking application, iPad. Planning something, iPad. Web, iPad. Casual games, iPad.
A larger, faster, more-powerful iPod touch with a 10" screen? How is that a bad thing?
I'd critique that by saying a faster, larger and more-powerful iPod touch should come with multi-tasking (probably in 4.0 though). Also, larger capacity (will come once costs fall).
Otherwise it's just waiting for the developers to really take advantage and make some awesome apps. When are you getting yours?
With iPads still available in some stores, it looks like the iPad is flop.
Difficult to imagine anyone other than a few Apple fanboys buying this overpriced toy.
There, I wrote Paul Thurrott's column for him.
I read your whole post, therefore I know your were just joking.
With iPads still available in some stores, it looks like the iPad is flop.
Difficult to imagine anyone other than a few Apple fanboys buying this overpriced toy.
There, I wrote Paul Thurrott's column for him.
Yeah, maybe.
But you know what Paul will do? He'll go and buy one, just like he did with his iMac and MacBook Pro.
Good luck selling those predicted 20 million ipads by the end of the year Apple....
the hype for this thing was way way way bigger in the minds of the media than in the real world where most people see it for what it is: a $500 jumbo ipod touch. neither magical nor revolutionary. but very expensive.
The 20 million is an estimate made for the end of the third year. This year, 7 million. Next year, 14.4 million, and the year after, 20.1 million.
Yeah, maybe.
But you know what Paul will do? He'll go and buy one, just like he did with his iMac and MacBook Pro.
He did buy one and reviewed it, with his usual bash Apple discord.
I won't post the link, why give that grump hit traffic?
Why even mention his name?
Who is Paul anyway?