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iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone gadgets

By | October 5, 2010, 7:21am PDT

Summary: It looks like tablets aren’t just a phase as the iPad has surpassed even the DVD player for the title of “the most quickly adopted non-phone electronic product” ever. To all the iPad naysayers: who’s laughing now?

It looks like tablets aren’t just a phase as the iPad has surpassed even the DVD player for the title of “the most quickly adopted non-phone electronic product” ever. To all the iPad naysayers: who’s laughing now? (Not that I have an iPad myself.)

According to Bernstein Research via CNBC, three million iPad units were sold in its first 80 days after launching in April, and the current sales rate is approximately 4.5 million units per quarter.

The research firm even predicts that the iPad will roll over gaming hardware and cell phones to be the 4th largest consumer electronics category next year. Maybe that could grow exponentially if you expand the category to all tablet computers considering how many competitors are sprouting up by the day, some of which include the Samsung Galaxy Tab, the HP Slate and the Dell Streak.

In case you’re wondering about the poor DVD player, that one sold 350,000 units in the first year. You can argue about which product was more revolutionary, but I’d pick the DVD player in that match. The iPad is an amazing product, but it hasn’t kicked any other product to the curb so much as the DVD did to VHS.

To anyone who doesn’t have an iPad yet, does this affect your decision to buy one? After all, they are available at Target now - albeit for the same prices as before. Or, like me, are you holding out to see what the next-gen model provides?

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Topics

DVD Player, Apple iPad, DVD, Media Players, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Home Entertainment, Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for ZDNet based in San Francisco.

Disclosure

Rachel King

Rachel King has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted in this blog.

Biography

Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for CBS Interactive in San Francisco. Before serving as a contributing editor at ZDNet in New York City for two years, she previously worked for The Business Insider, FastCompany.com, CNN's San Francisco bureau and the U.S. Department of State. Rachel has also written for MainStreet.com, Irish America Magazine and the New York Daily News, among others. Rachel has a B.A. in Mass Communications and History from the University of California, Berkeley and a M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University, where she served as art director for the student magazine, Plated.

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RE: iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone gadgets
non-biased 11th Oct 2010
@Ramsey I First, I call BS that you have an iPad or have even used one. If by chance I am wrong then you are indeed a fool because you did not research the device enough before buying to make sure it fit your needs. Now to address some of your comments directly.

1. Some fanboys from either side will react strongly but when it comes to rude reactions I would say the Apple haters have almost cornered the market. For example you complain about this yet you feel you can safely label iPad owners as fools, pot meet kettle.

5. $150 based on what, your hatred alone?

9. Really, you want to put the blame for the $100 on the iPad? Sure, it doesn't support Flash and you could not book with it but if you proceeded versus going to a system that would allow you to book online then you are either lazy, stupid or completely full of it and lying about pretty much all your post.

10. Once again, not the iPads fault that you didn't do your research before hand.

I could have touched on every item you mentioned but didn't figure it was worth the time.
View in thread
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I can't figure out what to use this for
voska1 5th Oct 2010
I took one from work for test run for week. I found it useless.
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So it's not for you.. OK.
James Quinn 5th Oct 2010
@voska1
Luckily for Apple and the iPad there seem to be more than enough who do not share your view/needs/wants:)

Pagan jim
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I did the same thing...useless!
trickytom3 5th Oct 2010
@voska1

I know what you mean. I borrowed one from a co-worker and took it home for a few days. It was nice, but the "e-board" sucks, and it was incredibly tiring to sit and hold it up for an hour.

After a couple of day, I suddenly realized that the iPad isn't for people who do "real work".
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RE: iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone gadgets
betelgeuse68 Updated - 5th Oct 2010
@trickytom3

The iPad is primarly a "consumption" device. Two articles I read of women, one 99, the other 90 who had never used a computer in their lives but took to the iPad have given me hope I might get my mom on the Net with an iPad. She's far younger but very much "in the dark" when it comes to the Internet. Her attempts to use a computer so far haven't yielded any fruit. She simply hasn't taken to a computer for a variety of reasons. Among them having to sit at a desk and staring at small text. The ability to scale text easily/intuitively on the iPad is a BIG DEAL for older people - a mere gesture with their index finger and thumb. Given the high level of resistance you run into when you're dealing "Luddites" a gesture of the index finger/thumb beats telling them "Hold the CTRL key... yeah mom, the key on the lower left corner of the keyboard... then hold the SHIFT key then hit the +/= key... that will make text bigger."

Things that seem trite or negligible to people in these forums are anything but for people who have never used computers in their lives.
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RE: iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone gadgets
DeusXMachina 5th Oct 2010
@trickytom3

This coming from the tech titan who thinks that mac hardware can't be upgraded with non-Apple kit.
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RE: iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone gadgets
betelgeuse68 5th Oct 2010
@voska1

Nerd alert! They're usually the ones that diss the iPad.
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RE: iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone gadgets
richard.crawford@... 5th Oct 2010
@voska1 As a Microsoft biased user. The true value of the IPAD is the applications. From interactive Chemistry courses to various games. The device is fun! I still run my MS Suite on the Notebook happy
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RE: iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone gadgets
Loverock Davidson 5th Oct 2010
I'll stick with the DVD player because 1. It's not an iPad 2. I can watch the bonus features 3. Its cheaper.
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RE: iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone gadgets
Pete "athynz" Athens 5th Oct 2010
@Loverock Davidson I'll agree with 2 and 3 - I'm not going to dismiss the device out of hand simply because it is an iPad or made by Apple...
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RE: iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone gadgets
cyberslammer 5th Oct 2010
@Loverock Davidson 4.5 MILLION UNITS PER QUARTER...

Can you choke on that statistic Loverock???

Where's the Windows tablet??? I don't see one!!! All I see is FAILURE!!

Next up...Windows Phone 7...another FLOP in the making!
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Silly
eMJayy 5th Oct 2010
The earliest DVD players had astronomical price tags (even if you don't account for inflation) that only the richest videophiles could afford. If the first iPad had the price tags of those gadgets, this article ...and those iPad sales figures...wouldn't exist.
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Too true. Comparisons like that are meaningless as
John Zern 5th Oct 2010
DVD had a much faster adapotion rate then VCR's as the first VCR's were even more astronomical in pricing vs the first DVD player at a considerablly much more affordable price to the large buying public.

Anybody who gauges something off of a comparison like this should slow down a bit.
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RE: iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone gadgets
gmeader 5th Oct 2010
At the 1977 introduction a VHS VCR cost $1,280. ($4,600 in 2010). The average retail price for DVD video players at introduction in 1997 was $735 (about $1000 in 2010).

Apple's first portable computer cost $6,500 in 1989 -- which would be almost $11,400 today -- while the $699 Newton from 1993 would cost nearly $1,050 in today's dollars. Most intriguing of all is that the first iPod, released for $399 in 2001, cost $488 in today's dollars. That's just $11 under the cost of the iPad, a device that has far more storage, processing power, and access to more features than the first iPod could even dream of only nine and a half years ago.
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Not silly at all
NonZealot 5th Oct 2010
@eMJayy
It is important to the apple zealots that they have a variety of metrics that they can use to reassure themselves that they've hitched their emotional well being to the right multi national, multi billion $$$ per year mega corporation cart.
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RE: iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone gadgets
cyberslammer 5th Oct 2010
@NonZealot It's important to note that you can't handle facts..4.5 MILLION PER QUARTER!!

Can you handle that? Is it too much for you to comprehend and grasp? 4.5 MILLION!!!

Makes you wonder...how many 360s were sold in its first quarter...but compare that to how many had RROD and were returned....

How many Windows tablet PCs have been sold per quarter?

Can you give me those stats Mr. Zealot???

As usual you'll respond with some hateful bs and then declare everyone else's reply a double standard.
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Wow, NonZealot. Looks like you hit a nerve in cyberslummer
John Zern 5th Oct 2010
seems his defense is that he had to bring MS into the story, and it had nothing to do with MS at all.

I'll bet he's frieghtened of his own shadow! wink
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RE: iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone gadgets
cyberslammer 5th Oct 2010
@John Zern that's because NonZealot can't do anything but spew hate...and numbers don't lie...the adoption rate for iPad has been AMAZING..and when iPad 2.0 comes out it's going to fly off the shelves even faster...and he'll be here spewing more hate and "double standards".
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@John: No, I don't think he is terrified enough
NonZealot 5th Oct 2010
If he was truly terrified, he would have brought up the Kin. Bringing up the XBox's RROD tells me that my post only annoyed him slightly.
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RE: iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone gadgets
DeusXMachina Updated - 5th Oct 2010
@John Zern

No, his defense is 4.5 MILLION units per QUARTER!
Bet you're choking on it, too.

As to your other assertion, difference in price makes no difference to the validity of the comparison. More to the point, the first DVD players averaged around $700, with some models costing less. This is NOT significantly greater than the $500-$900 price range of the iPad. So what is your point, exactly, or are you just doing your usual, making stuff up, and lying, and just expecting it to fly under the RADAR?

@NZ
No, what would have meant something was bringing up the Xbox's ROI!
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RE: iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone gadgets
cyberslammer 5th Oct 2010
@DeusX Also find out what the ROI is on the Kinect, that thing is already proving to be useless, inaccurate, and a monster waste of time...the only threat to the Wii is the PS3 motion controller.

What NonZealot can't understand is that DVD players back as early as 2000 were going for $600+, my Pioneer player was around $600...so he's saying that 4 million iPads sold per quarter is not good for Apple...oh yeah...let's all just call it a day and say it's a failure, they are estimating over 20 million sold next year..and that's lowball figure.

So eat it NonZealot, Trickytom, Loverock....iPad EATS the Windows portable's lunch.
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Is the iPad for real, or merely a fad?
itpro_z 5th Oct 2010
I have heard and read numerous comments from individuals who purchased an iPad, and at first thought it was the coolest device ever. Over time, though, some began to find that once the cool factor wore off they were left with a device with few practical applications and its use declined. Some complained that it was too big to easily carry on a daily basis. Others found the glossy screen hard to read outdoors or in vehicles. Still others discovered that, even though they new it was basically a media consumption device when they bought it, their diet for media was not what they thought it would be. In the end, they have a nice internet tablet to keep in the living room but little more.

Does this relegate the iPad to a fad? Perhaps, but only time will tell. My thought is that technology has finally made pads practical, but that the price will have to come down for mass consumption. That will happen over time, especially with the competition that is coming. The other thought is that we will need greater variety in sizes, which both Apple and others are promising. I would also like, and expect, to see more specialized units addressing specific niche markets. Finally, I would absolutely not buy one for myself with a glossy screen regardless of features or cost.

Apple did not invent the market, as it existed long before Apple's entry, nor is the iPad revolutionary, as it is more of an evolution of the iPods/iPhones. Apple does deserve credit for making it cool and for bringing it into the mainstream, which no other company had managed to do. Now the task becomes to invent practical applications for the devices, both for personal and business use. If that happens, then we are witnessing the beginning of a new form factor that has the potential to revolutionize the way we interact with our computers. How large of a player in this market Apple will prove to be is anyone's guess.
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RE: iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone gadgets
jorjitop Updated - 5th Oct 2010
@itpro_z

Apple did not invent the MP3 player market, nor the smartphone market, nor the GUI. They just revolutionised each market they entered. Bill Gates has been preaching the pad/slate market for more than a decade. Somehow, he could not just get it done.

Apple did, sort of, invent the PC market.
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Bill Gates was the visionary...
itpro_z 5th Oct 2010
@jorjitop

...but it was only recently that the technology caught up with the slate concept. There have been slate type computers for the last few years, but they were only suitable for niche markets. The iPad, on the other hand, just took the iPod Touch concept up to a larger form factor, not revolutionary at all, but certainly a savvy marketing decision.

As for Apple inventing the PC market, I have to disagree. I remember when Apple first started, selling a 6502 board from their garage. There were already PCs on the market at that time, both as complete products and kits. Apple finally offered their board as a complete computer as the Apple II (I owned on of those), and did very well in the schools and homes back in the day, but not so much in the business world. Most of them were running CP/M machines, or were until IBM introduced their first PC.
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Actually Apple WAS first in the tablet PC market
Pete "athynz" Athens 5th Oct 2010
@itpro_z The Apple Newton was the first tablet PC... the iPad is NOT the first one but it was the first one that was not a failure in one way or another - including the Newton.
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Newton was second
John Zern 5th Oct 2010
It seems somebody beat Apple to it, just have to find that article again.
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The Newton...
itpro_z 5th Oct 2010
@athynz

...was a PIM, or handheld data organizer, hardly what we would term a tablet. Was the Palm Pilot also a tablet? If so, then it would have been the first popular entry into this class, but I see those units more as the first in the "smart" devices rather than tablets.
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@John and itpro: Newton is their Holy Grail
NonZealot 5th Oct 2010
The Newton was the first smartphone, tablet, portable media player, portable gaming machine, eBook reader, laptop, netbook, hoverboard, shield generator, time machine, cloud computing client, etc.

And I'm only being slightly sarcastic. Bring up any portable device and the Apple zealots will claim that the portable device is a copy of the Newton.
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RE: iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone gadgets
DeusXMachina 5th Oct 2010
@NZ
They bring it up because it's true, something you failed to retort.
@itpro_z
Where to begin?
"I have heard and read numerous comments from individuals who purchased an iPad, and at first thought it was the coolest device ever. Over time, though, some began to find that once the cool factor wore off they were left with a device with few practical applications and its use declined."

Blah blah blah. Some? Care to list numbers? Care to reconcile that with Apple's numbers in customer satisfaction, the highest of any company EVER? Your anecdotal assertions just do not hold water.

"Apple did not invent the market"

At 4.5M per quarter, um, yes, they did. You appear to be mistaking the term market for market segment.
They also created the MP3 player market, the PC market, and the market for GUIs.

"...but it was only recently that the technology caught up with the slate concept. "

Bull. Apparently you have never been to asia, or know anything about the market for MIDs.

"Apple finally offered their board as a complete computer as the Apple II (I owned on of those), and did very well in the schools and homes back in the day, but not so much in the business world. Most of them were running CP/M machines, or were until IBM introduced their first PC."

Also bull. Apple made HUGE inroads in to the business market, especially with Visicalc. The only company even close was Radio Shack with the various flavours of the TRS-80. You are living revisionist history.

"...was a PIM, or handheld data organizer, hardly what we would term a tablet. Was the Palm Pilot also a tablet? If so, then it would have been the first popular entry into this class, but I see those units more as the first in the "smart" devices rather than tablets."

First, it really doesn't matter what you see them as. Other than size, what fundamental difference are you ascribing to the Newton? and if you insist on making size the differentiator, there was the MP2000 and the e-Mate.
Also, it is a myth that the Newton was not popular. It was doing just as well, if not better than, the Palm at the time it was pulled. It was pulled NOT due to it's being a market failure, it was pulled because with Jobs' return, he wanted to focus on the iMac.
The technology was folded into OSX as InkWell.
It's successors, the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, are all leaders in their market segments.
And if you want to try to claim that the iPod/iPhone is not a successor to the Newton, please research Pixo.
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RE: DeusXMachina
itpro_z 5th Oct 2010
The Newton? What has a cookie got to do with this?

Seriously, you lost me when you started your third paragraph with "blah blah blah". Don't you know better than to interupt adults when they are having a conversation?
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RE: iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone gadgets
Pete "athynz" Athens 5th Oct 2010
@NonZealot The Newton was a shield generator?!?!? Oh why, oh why did I not buy that one on eBay?!? LOL I'm hardly an Apple Zealot/ fanboi/ frothing at the mouth lunatic/ whatever but at the same time do believe that the Newton was first unless of course John Zern can prove me wrong.
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Psion Organizer
itpro_z 5th Oct 2010
@athynz, the Psion Organizer was the first, predating the Newton by several years. Don't tell the Apple zealots, though, as they will accuse you of heresy.
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RE: iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone gadgets
DeusXMachina Updated - 6th Oct 2010
@itpro_z

Apparently I lost you before that, as you failed to make a single substantive comment.

Hardly surprising, considering how much you grasp at straws in your desperate attempts to bad mouth Apple. The Psion Organizer?!? REALLY? You are claiming THAT as the first tablet? Have you ever even seen one? It had a 6x6 key array "keyboard" and a single line alphanumeric display. If you are going to claim this as the first "tablet" then you have to go back to the first pocket calculator!
It didn't even have an OS for crying out loud!

How desperate can you be?
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Rate of change
guihombre 5th Oct 2010
So was the DVD a quick takeup? Because I seem to recall it was a slow transition from VHS. Still 4.5 million per quarter, 18 million a year is not to be sniffed at.

Still don't like this, it's so cute in the shop but after a while my neck hurts.

Engadget editors complaints about iPad confirmed my dislike for Apple tricks.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/25/editorial-for-the-umpteenth-time-copy-protection-only-hurts/
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RE: iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone gadgets
DeusXMachina 5th Oct 2010
@guihombre
Did you even bother to RTFA you linked to?!?

Not only does the author NOT confirm your complaints about the iPad, the one complaint he DID make is in error, and he pointed that out in the addendum, and changed the font of the sentence to strikethrough. But you apparently missed all that through the cloud of venom-filled sputum.
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RE: iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone gadgets
Art_Ilano 5th Oct 2010
@DeusXMachina
Article aside, are you saying that the neck pain that @guihombre feels is all in his imagination?
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RE: iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone gadgets
DeusXMachina Updated - 6th Oct 2010
@Art_Ilano

No, though if pressed I would say that it is probably not his imagination, but rather a lie. If not, then he must have really been enamoured of that iPad to have stood in the store playing with it long enough to strain his neck.

And please tell me how the iPad form factor is any more conducive to neck strain than either a laptop or an actual book.
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RE: iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone gadgets
Pete "athynz" Athens 5th Oct 2010
Interesting... While I'm not on board with the whole iPad thing - I just do not see what I would need one for as my iPhone has the exact same functionality as the iPad and is also a mobile phone - I am happy to see that the iPad is a success... and it proves those who said it was just a fad wrong.

You guys and gals who own an iPad tell me why I should get one if I have an iPhone - what can I do with it that I cannot do with my iPhone? Other than the iPad is a larger device...
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RE: iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone g
JonA_z 5th Oct 2010
So it's not enough for DVD (or obviously iPad) to sell very well, but it has to be at the expense of some other device.

Reminds me of an old saying about success... that it's not enough just to succeed, but that one's opponents must suffer as well.

Interesting philosophical mindset expressed in this article. Seems a tad revenge driven.

I prefer the adage that living well is the best revenge. And from all appearances, Apple is living very well indeed.

FWIW, in the early years it wasn't so much VHS sales that were negatively impacted by DVD as it was laserdisc. But that probably didn't come to mind as it was most likely before your time.

Considering that it was just a few years ago that pre-recorded VHS tapes disappeared entirely from retail shelves, it has taken most of time that DVD has been around for it to finally replace VHS. And that was probably due to the fact that DVD couldn't record until very late in the game.
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RE: iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone gadgets
DeusXMachina 5th Oct 2010
@JonA_z

Exactly right. And don't forget one other thing. One thing that sped up adoption of DVD was the marketing of dual VHS/DVD decks.
DVD did NOT supplant VHS very quickly, at all.
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RE: iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone gadgets
cyberslammer 5th Oct 2010
Yes, as usual Trickydork3 and Nonzealot come in with their hate.

Can't handle the figures can you? Can't wait for iPad 2 next year I'll most certainly be getting one!
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Only two quarters so far
mrxxxman 5th Oct 2010
The data also seems to indicate that the damned is slowing significantly which is why it's available at Target now. It's a gadget that no one needs because you can do anything the iPad does via other means that user's probably already have. That wasn't the case with DVD players. The quality difference and non linear digital platform of the DVD to VHS was huge.

Where are the statistics of how many of the early iPad adopters were already Apple customers? That's important because it will point to whether these early sales are basically from Apple fanatics as opposed to the general public. I bet you that the current slowdown in sales is a direct result of the saturation of existing Apple customers. The iPad will not sell nearly as well outside of that group. Again, that's why it's at Target now.
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Pants on fire
DeusXMachina Updated - 20th Oct 2010
@mrxxxman

Liar. Please indicate what data exactly indicate this supposed "slowing" of the "damned"[sic]. This is most certainly NOT the case. Nor is it even close to a logical assertion that being available at Target proves your point. Since the price at Target is the same, as opposed to discounted, all that shows is that it took that long for Target to negotiate a sales channel. But apparently you don't know crap about retail.

"The iPad will not sell nearly as well outside of that group. Again, that's why it's at Target now."

That is just idiotic! Are you claiming that the people running Target are stupid? 'Cause if your assertion is correct, taking that product on at saturation would be a sink hole. Since when was Target an Apple customer exclusive store? Clearly they took it on because they feel they can sell them. LOTS of them. To NON-Apple customers.

As to percentage of iPad owners who are mac users, that data is widely available online, if you were concerned about actual facts, rather than basking in the glow of your own made up assertions.
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RE: iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone gadgets
non-biased 11th Oct 2010
@mrxxxman Your assertion of...

"It's a gadget that no one needs because you can do anything the iPad does via other means that user's probably already have."
...could be used in regards to any smart phone on the market as well so really means nothing.

"Where are the statistics of how many of the early iPad adopters were already Apple customers? That's important because it will point to whether these early sales are basically from Apple fanatics as opposed to the general public."

This is a pretty lame attempt as well. I am an iPhone owner but have not purchased an iPad though everyone I know that either has already purchased one or is planning on getting one for the holidays does not previously own any Apple products. If you want to use that argument then maybe you need to look at how many of the early Sony DVD buyers were just Sony fans and so on, applies just the same.
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installed base
mswift@... Updated - 5th Oct 2010
What was the installed base of people playing DVDs at home when DVD players came out?

What was the installed base of the Internet when the iPAD came out?
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RE: iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone gadgets
clarnT 5th Oct 2010
Uh, yeah. I thought I'd answer Rachel's question. It will probably get lost in all the vile spewing, but oh well.

Yes, I'm waiting to see what version 2.0 is like before considering buying one. My primary reason would be as a eBook reader, but since I already have a nook I don't see a need for an iPad except for the color. Not enough reason though.

If I were interested in games I could see the big advantage of the iPad though.
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Short sighted
frabjous 5th Oct 2010
@clarnT You really should stop in at an Apple store and read a magazine like Popular Science on an iPad, so you can see how color, live links and animation seriously have and will change the whole experience and value of reading. Or just go here for a sample: www.apple.com/ipad/apps-for-ipad/popular-science/
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Well actually...
Art_Ilano 5th Oct 2010
The iPad is NOT the first tablet in the market. Tablets have been sold in one form or another since 2002. Which means that technically, it took EIGHT years before tablets were adopted by the general market.

And if you consider the Apple Newton as a tablet, then that figure jumps up to 17 years!

So there's something wrong with the metric here. It shouldn't be "fastest adoption rate ever of a non-phone gadget." Perhaps it should just be "fastest selling tablet", period.
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Money already set aside for Gen 2 iPad
bthamm 5th Oct 2010
Put me down as one Gen 2 iPad customer. Hopefully, it will be a little lighter, and have a forward-facing camera for video conferencing.
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RE: iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone gadgets
thewhitedog 5th Oct 2010
It's a bit early to say the iPad hasn't "kicked any other product to the curb so much as the DVD did to VHS." The DVD player didn't do that to VHS the first year, or even in the second. Give the iPad a year or two and see what products, if any, expire because of it.

As for which product, DVD player or iPad, is more revolutionary, the iPad has created an entirely new category of electronic device in which many other companies are more or less desperately playing catch-up. I guess it depends on what your definition of revolutionary is. Is something revolutionary because it is unique or because it replaces another technology? One can easily make an argument for both, it seems to me. At a minimum you could say the iPad is revolutionary for different reasons than the DVD player.
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RE: iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone gadgets
Dfisher2k 5th Oct 2010
I own an IPAD and thouroughly enjoy the device. What gets me is some of you geeks wasted the cost of an ipad on a video card. Now you b#$ch about a $499.00 IPAD. HATERS!!!
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RE: iPad surpasses DVD player for fastest adoption rate ever of non-phone gadgets
non-biased 11th Oct 2010
@Ramsey I First, I call BS that you have an iPad or have even used one. If by chance I am wrong then you are indeed a fool because you did not research the device enough before buying to make sure it fit your needs. Now to address some of your comments directly.

1. Some fanboys from either side will react strongly but when it comes to rude reactions I would say the Apple haters have almost cornered the market. For example you complain about this yet you feel you can safely label iPad owners as fools, pot meet kettle.

5. $150 based on what, your hatred alone?

9. Really, you want to put the blame for the $100 on the iPad? Sure, it doesn't support Flash and you could not book with it but if you proceeded versus going to a system that would allow you to book online then you are either lazy, stupid or completely full of it and lying about pretty much all your post.

10. Once again, not the iPads fault that you didn't do your research before hand.

I could have touched on every item you mentioned but didn't figure it was worth the time.

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