Looking at the Apple iPad Through the Old Retroscope

During yesterday’s earnings call, Apple revealed that is has sold 14.79-million iPads since the tablet computer launched in April 2010. That’s a frickin’ ridiculous amount of hardware! It’s crazy that in less than a year, the iPad has become so successful that it has eclipsed Apple’s MacBook division in terms of revenue.

I was confident that the Apple iPad would be a massive success, but I didn’t think it would be this nuts. Just for kicks, let’s take a look back at some of the comments you left in the iPad-infused Coffee Talk #115:

Personally I won’t consider this device until the 2nd generation. I don’t know what I would use it for necessarily. — smartguy

I don’t think that the first generation is anything to really write home about. Maybe the second or third generation will change my mind on this, but as I see it now it really doesn’t seem revolutionary. A giant iphone is nothing different so far other than it’s bigger. — bsukenyan

It will be a fad for some and that’s about it. — N8R

I predict it will go the way of the Apple III. — Iceman

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to be all, “I told you so!” Lord knows I’ve had my share of bad predictions (hello PSP!). I’m just trying to contrast your expectations with the iPad’s crazy sales.

Obviously many of you “think differently” (*snicker*) about the iPad. Now that it has been out for nearly a year, how do you feel about Apple’s tablet? Did it turn out to be much different than you originally thought? Are you surprised by its massive success? Are you considering getting one or an iPad 2?

Author: RPadTV

https://rpad.tv

14 thoughts on “Looking at the Apple iPad Through the Old Retroscope”

  1. I still don't actually know anyone who has bought one. I never seen one outside of Best Buy. The Apple area at Best Buy used to have a line with people trying to get over to the iPad and use it (I was one). Now that is the most empty spot in the store.

    I know they sold a lot of them, but I would like to know how many were purchased by individual consumers and how many by businesses. To me the ones purchased by schools and what not doesn't mean consumer success. Heck our school bought a lot of Laser Disc players too.

    1. It's a consumer device. I sincerely doubt that the percentage of purchases by schools and businesses combined is significant. Even if it were, let's say that made up 40% of the sales (way too high of a percentage).The remaining 60% of the 14.79 million would clearly be a consumer success.

  2. Ha, ha. Yeah, I did say that, didn't I? Well, the Apple III was sold between the years of 1980 to 1984, so there is still time for my prediction to come true.

    I bet if Apple had the marketing muscle and dollars back then, they would have used their reality distortion field to convince the business population to buy Apple IIIs instead of those crappy IBM units.

    -M

    1. Yeah, but there were equivalents of the Apple III at the time. When the iPad was launched, nobody had comparable tablet computers. Even today, the iPad is so far ahead of competing tablets. That will change this year with Android 3.0, BlackBerry Playbook, and WebOS tablets, but I still expect the iPad to dominate.

  3. i really wasn't considering getting an iPad until i downloaded the DC Comics and Marvel App. I think digital comics are the wave of the future, too bad i'd have to buy the comics i already have in digital form too! on a side note, i like DC Comics App more than Marvel. They make more good comic series available for free.

    1. Tell me more please. I haven't liked the digital readers on PC because of the way I read — I like to flip back a lot to reexamine bits of dialog and certain panels. Being able to easily flip back on a tablet sounds almost as good as the real thing…and it would cut down on the clutter.

      1. well it takes you frame by frame. You can move forward by tapping the right side of the screen or can go back by tapping the left side of the screen. I like how it guides you through the dialogue. You know how sometimes you'll have a full page where people are fighting but there is still dialogue? well it will show you the full shot and then zoom in on the dialogue when you want to move forward. This is the DC app btw, i haven't been able to try out the Marvel one because they dont have any i want to read right now. DC had Crisis on Infite Earths, 52 #1, Infinite Crisis, Final Crisis, and Blackest night 0 available to download for free. Those are all great stories. It makes me want to get them on TBP so i can finish them again.

  4. Yeah my tune changed on vacation last year. I used one for awhile and found it to be more practical than my laptop in many situations.

    I'm still buying 2nd gen!

  5. I think I would be more interested in the second gen. of iPad's if they were more like some of the other rumors saying that the second gen. would be more like OSX rather than the iOS. I don't think that ever had a real chance of happening, but that would still be more of what I would be looking for out of a tablet (which I'm still not completely sold on). If I did get any tablet it would probably be something running Android though once 3.0 comes out and they start making tablets standard with that software.

  7. @bsu
    The movement is toward iOS instead of OSX. Simple reason = iOS is made for ARM. ARM will seriously compete with x86 in the near future. Even Windows is going to be on the ARM architecture.

    1. Yes the movement is toward iOS, but I do remember rumors before that talked about the iPad 2 being more of a movement towards OSX- which we clearly know now is not the case.

Comments are closed.