thoughts on the article from the Inquirer?

[bigwayne3000]

ok i saw this article at the Inquirer:

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/opinion/1635335/why-apple-regret-ipad

basically this guy says that apple introducing the ipad is going to kill sales of its other products like Mac and ipods. im not sure what this guy is smoking because i dont think a billion $$ company like apple would introduce products w/o fully analyzing its affects on its other products etc. what i fail to see is how the ipad will kill ipod sales. no one who wants to buy an ipod is going to look at the ipad and say, "yes this 9" screen that doesnt fit in my pockets is much easier to use in my everyday life for music needs than an ipod so let me get this instead." if someone needs to buy an ipod theyll buy an ipod not an ipad which cant be strapped to an arm or fit in a pocket like an ipod can.

what i do somewhat agree with is it harming Mac sales. there are people who will never like touch screen and thus Macs will remain for those select people. however, i think by design the ipad was strictly limited so as not to cut in too much of the sales of Macs. for example, the lack of usb connectors and the like. i think apple left these out more so because it would make the ipad seem as though its trying to replace laptops/computers more than it being a convience device. people buying Macs might be more inclined to purchase an ipad more if it had direct printing support, full on multitasking (i realize its coming in 4.0 but itll never be full multitasking like a comp,) usb support etc. idk im rambling on now so really the question is, what do you guys think?

 

[MikhailT]

First, does anybody really care about the Inquirer? They are such crap.

Secondly, what's wrong with your shift key? It's really hard to read your post without the capitalization.


Now my thoughts on this;

He's not talking about the actual iPod players, he's talking about the iPod Touches specifically. Apple should just rename iPod Touch to iPad Mini and group iPad and iPad Mini together. It makes more sense to me like that as iPod Touch isn't even the same as the rest of the iPod family.

There'll be some effects on the sales for iPod Touches and even a tiny one on the Macbooks, but it's not much and it's not going to kill Apple. The market is still there for all the Apple devices. iPad at this moment is still too limited to do many things and it's not that great for content creation. People are still going to want a laptop or desktop for that but they'll be using those equipment less compared to before iPad.

I don't see why iPad can't complement the laptop and desktops. It's the ultra portable complement to the desktop as well as letting a lot of people use the macbook as desktop replacement like my 17", I use iPad as the "laptop" in that situation. The remote access clients on the iPad will let people control their computers from anywhere in the house.

 

[aluren]

Same argument can be made against iPhone cannabalizing iPod sales as well. The bottom line is if anybody should cannabalize Apple products, it's best that it is Apple doing it.

 

[Jakeoster]

Not gonna happen. If cannibalization occurs then it won't be very dramatic.

 

[Streethawk]

I hope Steve Jobs reads that. It'll no doubt amuse him greatly

If they're hoping for a bite, they wont get one from me.

 

[PsyD4Me]

First, does anybody really care about the Inquirer? They are such crap.

i don't know, they are currently working on a story of Obama's infidelity, they were spot on with Edwards in the past

 

[traylorc]

i don't know, they are currently working on a story of Obama's infidelity, they were spot on with Edwards in the past

For every one story they are spot on, there are 100 stories which are made up pieces of crap.

 

[Streethawk]

Oh, the irony...

 

[Phantom Gremlin]

For every one story they are spot on, there are 100 stories which are made up pieces of crap.

I think the poster you responded to was yanking your chain. The Inquirer is a UK publication, the USA based National Enquirer is the one with an "Obama Cheating Scandal" link on its home page.

 

[CarboysDesire]

To some extent they will lose sales but I thInk it will be more than made up for in iPad sales. I, for example, am not in any hurry to purchase another iPhone. I'll probably keep my 3GS until it dies or sell it to get something basic that makes calls and texts, has a camera. That's all I really need. I refuse to use it for apps now. Refuse.

 

[qtx43]

I agree Apple would not have launched the iPad without doing a lot of analysis ahead of time. But it's not just a simple matter of will it eat into sales of other products. It's selling greater quantity of one product vs another, it's relative profit margins compared to the commodity PC market, it's the incentive to also buy a Mac which integrates more easily with the iPad, it's the tendency of people to buy products from the same company that you have done business with before, it's the potential to lock people into your way of doing things with the App store and rumored online services, it's getting into the online advertising market, it's about an iDevice that offers greater corporate control for Apple than the relatively open OSX (which has both good and bad aspects for the consumer), it's about offering a product for which there is (currently) no serious competition, it's about future strategy.

It's about the Reality Distortion Field! Actually, I love my iPad. But the future is murky even though lots of really smart people and Steve Jobs spend a lot of time trying to predict it. In Jobs' case maybe it's less trying to predict than making it bend to his will.

 

[awmazz]

Now my thoughts on this;

He's not talking about the actual iPod players, he's talking about the iPod Touches specifically. Apple should just rename iPod Touch to iPad Mini and group iPad and iPad Mini together. It makes more sense to me like that as iPod Touch isn't even the same as the rest of the iPod family.

This makes sense to me in terms of product families. iPad, iPad Mini and iPhone running iPhone OS on one side, iPods on the other branch of the family tree. Maybe when they introduce an iPad Pro they'll do a bit of re-arranging with the whole product line into iPhone OS and non-iPhone OS.

I'm also guessing they'll eventually rename iPhone OS sometime in the future as the product line expands to include more non-iPhone models.