Apple sells 2m iPads to hungry fanbois
Early adopters 'experience the magic'
Apple has sold two million iPads since its 3 April arrival in the US, the company revealed yesterday.
The Jobsian fondle slab went on sale in the UK and eight other countries last Friday, with some saddos keen fans queuing overnight to be among the first customers to get their hands on the device.
“Customers around the world are experiencing the magic of iPad, and seem to be loving it as much as we do,” said Apple boss Steve Jobs. “We appreciate their patience, and are working hard to build enough iPads for everyone.”
Apple did not provide a breakdown of sales in each market where the iPad is now available. The touch-screen gadget was shipped to Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and Blighty in the past few days, and fanbois have been tripping over each other to behold Stephen Fry’s Holy Grail device of the intertubes.
The international roll-out of the iPad was in fact shoved back by about a month because Apple was struggling to meet demand for the contraption. Meanwhile, other markets such as Mexico, Ireland and Austria won’t catch sight of the iPads in-store until July.
Last month seasoned Apple-watcher Mike Abramsky at RBC Capital Markets predicted that the iPad might be selling nearly twice as well as the firm's esteemed Macintosh.
The analyst said that sales of the iPad could top eight million units in 2010. ®
COMMENTS
So?
Why does everyone think this is such a big number? Video game consoles have sold more than this in the first month or two, and it never created such a media frenzy. It just shows us all that this ipad news is all hype.
I'm not a fanboy but..
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he today that stood in line with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That queued with us upon iPad day.
"fondle slab"
That made me laugh.
In fact, it's a fondle slab with love handles!
No
Well actually, thats nearly twice as many as the 360 and more than the PS3 sold in the same period, both of which were highly anticipated and pretty much had captive markets for their product sector (forgetting the Wii, which doesn't really count).
The iPad has been launched into a saturated market, against 'superior' netbook solutions, is apparently 'pointless' and has been widely predicted as still born and of interest to only 'hardcore Apple fanbois'.
So yeah, I would say thats pretty big number.
Twice as many
Surely, selling twice as many Ipads as Macs is a damning indictment of the state of Apple's traditional computer business? They're often accused on this site and others of forgetting the 'computer' bit of 'Apple Computer Company', and this would suggest it's true.
First, their desktops went from the golden days of the G3s and G4s to being practically forgotten about by consumers. Then the normal laptops and the large 17" Pros faded away into obscurity. Now, the ever-smaller laptops, including the Mac Air have fallen by the wayside in favour of mobile phones and other gadgets that are typically bought, used as they are for two years and then thrown away. That isn't a computer, it's a personal digital assistant, or organiser. What are people writing books and essays on, editing videos or creating websites on? Certainly not Macs. *Viewing* the websites and videos, yes. Making them or writing the essays, no.
I'm not knocking the need for small, light viewing devices like the Ipad and Iphone (they're merely the inevitable next step after PDAs and smartphones), but I think it's fair to say that Apple are no longer a proper computer company, no more than Nokia or Sony.
