iPad

Apple is spreading into axillary markets with the iPad: Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore users will soon be able to acquire the iPad domestcally – here is a quote from Apple’s press release.

All iPad models will be available in Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore this Friday, July 23.

iPad is currently available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US for a suggested retail price of $499 (US) for 16GB, $599 (US) for 32GB, and $699 (US) for 64GB for iPad Wi-Fi models and $629 (US) for 16GB, $729 (US) for 32GB and $829 (US) for 64GB for iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G models. iPad will roll out to many more countries later this year and Apple will announce availability and local pricing for these additional countries at a later date.

The leading investment bank Goldman Sachs (recently tagged as a “great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity” by Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone) loves the iPad. As The Financial Times reports, Goldman categorizes the love rationale into Five Cs (oh, how confidently ingenious!) and expects the stock price to soar (I’d bet they are shorting Apple while they pumping the audience with bull horomes). OK, here are the 5 Cs, sit tight – buckle yourself, this will blow you away:

1. Consumption – iPad focused squarely on information consumption versus information production
2. Content – iPad relies on tight integration with content sources
3. Connected – Multiple options ensure the iPad is connected to the internet
4. Constant operation – iPad is an “instant on” device with all-day battery life
5. Commerce – Apple’s ecosystem ensures that users are always “ready to buy”

Microsoft User Research is soliciting iPad user opinion and feedback – the info will be harvested via a two-hour, in-depth study that it’s going to carry out at Microsoft’s Redmond Campus over next couple of days. The fact that MSFT is soliciting participants via Facebook (event) is even more puzzling. Go figure…

Microsoft User Research is looking for iPad owners for an upcoming study to get feedback. This study will be two hours long and will take place on the Microsoft Redmond campus with a number of dates and times between Friday, July 16th and Wednesday, July 21st.

In appreciation for your time, each participant will be offered a Microsoft gratuity item.

If you are interested, please respond to the questions below to uccoord@microsoft.com with the subject line “iPad”:

• Name/Age
• Phone Number
• Job Title/Company
• Are you employed full time?
-OR-
• Are you a student?
• Do you own an iPad?

Read more here: TC

Yahoo! Mobile Blog has an interesting analysis that may help shed more light on who the typical iPad user is. See images 1 thru 3 below for the diagrams based on data collected during the analysis.

In short, according to Yahoo! – iPad users are predominantly male (2:1 margin) and 35 to 44 YO age group is heavily represented. Overlay that with Chitka’s stats (see Image 4) where California and NY have the largest iPad user base, add to that a bit of ‘average income by state‘ stats (also see Image 5) – and you should be able to draw some educated guesses…

Image 1: Ipad User Gender Distribution (Male vs Female) – incl. comparison to the average Yahoo! user

Image 2: iPad User – Yahoo! Properties Visited (Browsing patterns and Content Preferences)

Image 3: iPad User Age Stats as Compared to the Average User

Image 4: Chitka’s iPad Stats (Retired as of July 2010)

Image 5: US Census, Income by State for Family of 4, sorted by Income Size

We have been hearing about this a lot – yet, I am still looking for a good analytical article that tackles state of iPad adoption w/in large corporations.

PC World has an article that just touches the surface of this topic (link is here), yet – it’s still informative – here is a quote:

Bloomberg reports that Wells Fargo has approved the iPad for business use, and that SAP AG, Tellabs Inc., and Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz unit are all using the Apple iPad for various tasks ranging from e-mail access to empowering the mobile sales force with the tools to approve shipping orders or verify auto financing options.

At least some of the big players are joining the party – this is certainly different than situation we had a couple years ago when iPhone was released and only a handful of IT corporate shops welcomed the device.

Needles to say, this is a concern to guys up in Redmond as it is allowing Apple to enter their turf (corp world) – it’s going to be interesting to see how things will play out as Windows loses importance in the business world as well.

Microstrategy just released a mighty Business Intelligence (BI) App for IPhone and IPad – the roster of enterprise apps is getting larger by the day as companies realize the potential of the new platform. You can read more about he announcement here: Link

Needless to say, this will be a new revenue stream for Microstrategy as the BI Enterprise software maker is about to start chaging for required licenses:

Microstrategy Mobile pricing ranges from US$550 to $2,000 per user, according to a spokeswoman for the company.

As an enticement, Microstrategy is offering customers 25 perpetual licenses at no charge, with the hopes they will want to buy additional ones. The 25 licenses are not restricted in any way, according to the company.

Microstrategy anticipates that customers will end up creating internal “app factories” enabled by the vendor’s mobile framework, said Sanju Bansal, executive vice president and chief operating officer.

I often get questions about possibility of purchasing the device for $299. Most of the questions are triggered by visitors hitting the post published on April 1st (Apple drops iPad Price to $299), the April Fool’s Day – needless to say, such a low price is still in the realm of fantasy – and let’s repeat: THE POST WAS A JOKE.

I am posting below the iPad pricing matrix published by Apple (as of July 1st 2010) – for now, the prices listed are the only available prices in the marketplace – it’s likely to remain so until Apple expands the distribution network (e.g., Amazon, CDW, etc.).

Here is the iPad Price List:

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16GB Wi-Fi Model Sells for $499 with free shipping. It ships w/in 7 to 10 bus days.
32GB Wi-Fi Model Sells for $599 with free shipping. It ships w/in 7 to 10 bus days.
64GB Wi-Fi Model Sells for $699 with free shipping. It ships w/in 7 to 10 bus days.
================================
16GB Wi-Fi/3G Model Sells for $629 with free shipping. It ships w/in 7 to 10 bus days.
32GB Wi-Fi/3G Model Sells for $729 with free shipping. It ships w/in 7 to 10 bus days.
64GB Wi-Fi/3G Model Sells for $829 with free shipping. It ships w/in 7 to 10 bus days.
================================

Here is the iPad Data Plan price list:

Only two plans are available via AT&T, 250MB/month ($15) and 2GB/month ($25). Pricey…

This is a fresh sales volume number – per WSJ (DowJones News Service) Apple’s daily unit sales of the iPad line were around 37,500. Eighty days after the launch the cumulative sales are around 3 million units. Pretty impressive…

… (Apple) said it sold three million iPads in the tablet computer’s first 80 days on the market, a performance that cements the device’s position as a driver of the consumer electronics giant’s rapid growth.

Sales of the touchscreen device, the first of a new category of tablet devices aimed at consumers, mark another triumph for Apple, which has successfully redefined the mobile market. The figures trump analysts’ initial estimates for sales of roughly 1.7 million iPads in the quarter ending June 30.

Emphasis added by IO. The source article is here (Ian Sherr and Matt Jarzemsky Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES).

Hello All – it looks like I will have more time on my hands over next couple of months and I’ll try to do at least couple of posts every week. I’ve noticed a significant (and steady) increase in visits over last two months and this certainly correlates with claims that up to two million units have been sold – I am happy to see such a quick build up in user base. Given the overall satisfaction of the average user I am sure Apple is on a good path to hit 6M units sold mark by EOY.

Anyhow, I am sure many have seen the latest ad for the device (it’s a marketing gem) – I am reposting it here for all of you who haven’t had a chance to see it – enjoy:

BusinessWeek has an article on possible alternatives to the pricey AT&T data plan offered with the iPad devices. One is not required to purchase a plan from AT&T – so competing options are popping up all over the place. Here is a quick summary of options presented in the article:

Boingo Wireless will let you surf for two bucks per hour (or $10/month):

Boingo Wireless, which sells Wi-Fi access in airports, convention centers, and other public places, on Mar. 29 announced it would begin selling $2-an-hour access to more than 125,000 Wi-Fi hotspots for iPad users. Consumers can purchase the access directly through Apple’s iTunes online store. Boingo Chief Executive Dave Hagan says he expects especially strong demand in New York and San Francisco, where AT&T’s cellular network has suffered from congestion. “If it’s not working very well, Wi-Fi is there,” he says. The iPad “is going to be a very big opportunity for companies like ours.”

Sprint will let you hook up and surf with 4 devices for $60:

Other wireless service providers see a market, too. Sprint Nextel (S), the third-largest U.S. cellular carrier, plans to market to iPad owners its Overdrive mobile Wi-Fi hotspot, which for a $60-a-month subscription lets users connect as many as five mobile computing devices to its next-generation 4G cellular network. “In our view the iPad will make a very compelling 4G device,” says Sprint spokesman Scott Sloat. Sprint says its 4G network offers download speeds that are as much as 10 times as fast as AT&T’s 3G network.

Yet, if you are on Verizon FiOS you are lucky – Boingo is free:

Customers of Verizon’s FiOS Internet access service already receive free, Verizon-branded access to Boingo’s hotspots and could use the service with their iPads as well, according to Boingo’s Hagan. Verizon Wireless declined to comment.