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International iPad Demand

On Monday May 31st, 2010, in Apple, Business, iPad, iPhone, News, Technology, by Michael Watson
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Steve Jobs while presenting the iPad in San Fr...
Image via Wikipedia

It seems as though various news sources are pointing out the high international demand for the iPad. One example was in Tokyo Japan where 1,200 people stood in line trying to purchase an iPad. This exemplifies the overwhelming demand of international customers for the iPad as Apple tries to overcome low supply levels in order to meet its unexpected interest. In the past month, the iPad has only been introduced in 10 of the 88 countries that will sell the product and is short on supply everywhere.

Personally I was not surprised or captivated with the iPad or the sales that it experienced. As a new type of device, not many people know why they want one or what they would use it for. Of those who have purchased an iPad, 91% say they are satisfied with their purchase. I would never purchase an iPad in its current form. Originally I was hoping that the iPad would be a smaller landscape product that was based more so off the OS X operating system than the iPhone OS. I want something with a file system that I can manipulate files on between applications. A device which automatically syncs files with my MacBook so I can work on things at home or on the go. My main purpose would be to work on a project at home on my MacBook and then take it with me to work on a mobile device and work on it during my breaks. Currently, I do not see how the iPad would fit in to my lifestyle.

I also was not impressed with the demand of the iPad. Maybe I had high expectations for what the iPad could have been but I thought that a tablet-like device should have sold more units up front. Rumors were giving higher numbers which I believed would have set a better pace but those numbers were inflated. It is difficult in one respect because an iPad and an iPhone are similar so many people do not see a reason to have an iPad if they already have an iPhone. On the other hand, I think people should understand the importance of the product more because they have been exposed to the iPhone for so long. For example: many people have been saying that the demand for the iPad is so much greater than the original iPhone. The millionth iPad was sold after 28 days rather than whereas the millionth iPhone was sold after 74 days. This is a great achievement for Apple but now that Apple has introduced the app store, sells millions of iPhones a quarter, and developers have created hundreds of thousands of apps, the million unit amount seems smaller than I would have expected.

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