The importance of being Apple

iPad is out today, did you get yours? No doubt iPad will sell well, only not that well…
What surprised me when they announced iPad and started advertising it, was all the fuss and excitement they got as a public feedback. I mean, tablets have been around for a long time now, iPad is nothing new. If you want a proper tablet, go buy Archos. Of course the big difference is that one of the two is produced by Apple. So if you’re an Apple fan, chances are you haven’t even heard of Archos, or any other tablets (and there are quite a few).

I don’t think iPad is bad, I just don’t think it’s a bit of a perversion. If you already have a (i)phone, and a computer, what’s really the use of iPad? Maybe you have fetish for reading books on a touch-screen, or you just have to have any new übercool product Apple produces because you yourself are übercool? Of course, I am just plain jealous, duuuh.

But why I think it won’t sell well? Even though it’s a perfectly fine quite useless product like so many other that we all possess? Two main reasons:

1.    Recession. Yes, really. Do you know which two companies made best profits last year? (talking companies that sell things we don’t really need) – Hermes and H&M! Can you think of a reason why? I mean last year was really bad, so bad that even the previously mentioned Hermes held their first sale ever in history of the company. That’s how bad last year was.
So how come? Well, the rich have stayed rich and the middle class got poorer. The rich can still afford Hermes and alike, and the middle class had to downgrade to H&M.
H&M works on principles of IKEA, they offer merchandise that is good enough and reasonably priced for the quality it offers – read: cheap.
When you’re buying Hermes, you’re not just buying a silk scarf, you’re buying a lifestyle. When you’re buying H&M, you’re buying something that is “good enough” and will last a “certain period of time”, it’s not forever. H&M, IKEA and alike have brought unto us a “good enough revolution”. When faced with a lack of money, you go for best value at the offered price. Ever heard of Pure Digital camera? Yes you have. Why? Because it sells better than Sonny, Canon or any other camera? Why? It came in the right time with the right price and it’s good enough. It only took Pure Digital two years to get hold of 17% of US camcorder market.
iPad is expensive. It is good, beyond good, but Apple products are not “good enough”, they belong to the category that lost the most during recession, higher middle class, and that is a huge market. That’s why I think people will think twice before spending another 500 dollars for something that in only two years will become nothing but e – junk. Or maybe iJunk.

2.    It’s glued. Allow me to elaborate. Literary, it is glued, it has no screws, and you can not open it. I mean you can, but you would only destroy it by doing so.
Is that a problem? Yes! Why? Because there is a whole bunch of computer freaks out there who would pay the price, but they wanna open it, explore it, upgrade it, change it… they love new technologies, especially if they can meddle with them. ‘nuff said.


So, does anyone remember Microsoft surface and the whole “soon every home will have one” bullshit? Yeah… the big ass table computer. I’m afraid iPad may just end up like that – being the big ass iPhone tablet. Meaning there will be fans, but it’s not exactly a second coming. Technologies come and go, but my opinions are forever, they are like Apple, better than others.
Opinionated: supporting the myth of quality since 1984.