CROWDSOURCED: iPad launch an iWin or iFail?
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Am I an Apple fan girl? I own an iMac, Mac Book and iPhone so I guess I’d fit the description, but I’m no iJustine. I do spend my time analyzing technology and how it impacts the way we communicate. It was amazing to watch (at least what I could process) the amount of online mentions of Apple, Apple Tablet, iPad, etc. Live chat forums like CrunchGear and Leo Laporte (see below) garnered amazing traffic…which more than doubled near the big announcement.
It is in that spirit that I hosted a live chat via LiveFyre during today’s iPad announcement in addition to monitoring online sentiment. We discussed the launch itself (i.e. how Jobs presented the information), features of the iPad and future implications. For the purpose of this post, I’m looking at the actual launch event and not the product (which I may or may not purchase).
Right out of the gate I was a bit miffed. Steve Jobs had my undivided attention and showed me how to surf the Web. (Maybe I was overly excited?) I was ready to learn about a new operating system (didn’t happen) battery life (did discuss), screen technology (did discuss), data formats, sync, etc. Also frustrating was the fact that Apple didn’t livestream the event. I know it’s not the way they “do” things, but it was nevertheless frustrating. (Okay, I’ll admit this is symptomatic of technology entitlement…I can’t help it.)
During the entire presentation people in the LiveFyre chat were eagerly anticipating an “oh, and more thing” Jobs’ moment…which didn’t happen.
There were more than 100K people who listened in on Leo Laporte’s webcast (just one of a few live event feeds). I watched mixed reviews come in through the social stream, which is to be expected (yes, there is a large anti-Apple audience).
The hype was definitely there, but the announcement presentation for me was a buzz kill.
UPDATE: As far as generating online conversation goes, kudos to Apple.
A few iPad Twitter facts:
- In the last two hours there have been 1,439 tweets and 1,350 contributors to use the #iPad hashtag
- #iTampon is currently the fifth highest trending topic
- Apple didn’t secure the @iPad Twitter ID (although Apple doesn’t have a Twitter presence and the @ipod account has been suspended for “suspicious activity”)
- The term “apple” has seen a 6.88% mention increase
Was the iPad announcement an #iwin or #ifail? Your thoughts, please.
UPDATE: Current sentiment shows A LOT of people plan on buying it. See the current results from the Mashable poll:
60 Comments on this post
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E said:
Good info, but don’t be afraid to mix in a proofread before posting.
January 27th, 2010 at 3:21 pm -
Mike said:
E: don’t be a noob on this. it’s a blog not a published work of art. read for content when you read blogs. if you want to proofread, become a copywriter.
As for the ipad, it’s a fail for me. it doesn’t change the game. it’s an ipod touch with a huge screen. no multitasking, no real office functionality, no ichat… these are basics that should have been in place. i don’t need the ultimate machine that fanboys dream about, but i need something that will at least let me work like a netbook does.
January 27th, 2010 at 3:25 pm -
Anthony said:
I’m not impressed! The Ipad has a lot of cool features but it just doesn’t blow me away. What use do I have with an ipad when I have an iphone and laptop. Other than the e-book feature, I just don’t see a compelling reason (yet) to purchase this product. I do think that pricing is high and they did pick a terrible name.
January 27th, 2010 at 3:27 pm -
PRsarahevans said:
The jury is still out for me on whether or not I will buy it. I need to do additional research. I was considering a Kindle purchase, but this may take the place of it.
January 27th, 2010 at 3:29 pm -
Matches Malone said:
The announcement itself was a win. However, the product itself may leave a lot to be desired. I’m thinking I’m going to wait for the 2nd generation version, where they add all the things they ‘forgot’ to put in this version.
January 27th, 2010 at 3:32 pm -
@Iconic88 said:
There’s a lot of iHappy people in the twitterverse who haven’t seen it. I guess the buzz is there somewhere somewhat Sarah.
Is your disappointment due to the fact that you would’ve done a better job?
What would you have done to create better buzz Sarah?
Thank you.
From Sydney (Australia).
January 27th, 2010 at 3:35 pm -
PRsarahevans said:
Sydney, Love the question! The buzz wasn’t the problem for me…it’s what Jobs did once he had my attention. There were a few things that I disliked: Apple didn’t provide an official live feed or stream I could follow, I willingly gave into the hype and therefore set my expectations to high on what the product would offer, the first 30 to 45 minutes were spent navigating the web (which IMO should have been a given). Hope that helps to answer your question.
January 27th, 2010 at 3:38 pm -
Cherisse Fonseca Rivera said:
Well, I myself just became a full-time Apple user. I knew that as as soon as a I purchased my iMac they would announce a new product. That is why I waited so long to get the iPhone. I did not participate in the chat you talk about, but just watch a video on the iPad on Apple.com that did blow me away. I did at the very end have small print that said the product is still up for approval from the FCC. That may be why you were not as “wowed” by the announcement. Just a thought!
January 27th, 2010 at 3:40 pm -
PRsarahevans said:
Yikes. Correction: “too high”
January 27th, 2010 at 3:41 pm -
@Iconic88 said:
Thanks Sarah for your reply.
WOW! Are you serious? Steve Jobs didn’t do a live feed? or live stream?
As you can see from this reaction Sarah I didn’t watch the Steve Jobs presentation.That’s truly amazing Sarah as live feeds are simply mandatory these days. Live streaming of a major product launch today is a prerequisite especially from a PR perspective.
It does appear many companies still forget most of their audience is outside of the presentation room. Not only locally but globally.
Do you think this was a planned strategy Sarah to let the chosen few in the room with Steve Jobs do all the talking for them?
Thank you, @Iconic88.
January 27th, 2010 at 4:31 pm -
Dave said:
This IPad (Name left a bad taste in my mouth from the first time i heard it) is a huge letdown. The reason i buy apple products and get excited enough about a new product release or upgrade is because how every release is carefully planned and products are always very innovative. Prior to the release, i knew that the “IPad” : ( ughhh, sorry, that the Ipad would be something i would really have no real need for but that i probably get it anyway. Well after following a live blog of that terrible presentation there is no way i will buy one. How is this “innovative” or “Magic” or “The Most technologically advanced product apple has ever produced”- Real quotes from Steve and the gang. This is nothing more than a lpod Touch with a big screen. They were lazy and didnt take the time to innovate a new operating system. I think the most embarrassing part was when they were bragging how the Iphone apps would run on it hahaha. Two options tiny mode (size of iphone) or Stretched mode (looks awkwardly stretched). I love apple but i am waiting for them to crash and burn on this one. Strictly so it will wake them up and put a real os x operating system on this and make it a product with a real purpose. – and fyi cause a lot of people are saying this is going to be 3g AT&T only thats incorrect. It’s unlocked so its up to other carriers in the U.S if they want to offer service for it.
January 27th, 2010 at 4:35 pm -
Paolo said:
Hi Sarah,
From a PR perspective, I think the event was a win. Lots of good buzz going into the event, and I think it went off without a problem. People were excited. However, from a product and branding perspective, I’m concerned. I think the #iTampon Twitter trend is evidence of this. I don’t think AT&T was well received either (Not a surprise).
So far as the buzz you outlined in your last four bullets, what is the sentiment? That will determine whether the product launch was an #iWin or #iFail.
- Paolo
January 27th, 2010 at 4:55 pm -
PRsarahevans said:
Paolo – I added an update to the post just for you.
January 27th, 2010 at 5:13 pm -
Paolo said:
Thanks, Sarah!
Right now I’m seeing the 50/50 split in that poll, which is reasonable and fickle and likely to change throughout the day.
However, I think the Mashable poll is a little skewed in its setup. It’s offering five “buying” choices and only one “not buying” choice. I think the TechFlash poll is a bit more fair, offering equal choices for buying/not buying and weighted more toward buyer rationale than Apple price points. See http://techflash.com/seattle/2010/01/poll_will_you_buy_an_ipad.html
Appreciate this blog post. Good conversation and insights from everyone involved, and nice to take a break from the Twitter onslaught!
January 27th, 2010 at 5:25 pm -
PRsarahevans said:
Thanks for sharing the TechFlash poll. I’m going to check it out pronto!
January 27th, 2010 at 5:28 pm -
Chris said:
I’ve participated in, driven, and watched many a tech product launch and one thing they seem to have in common is that regardless of the true ‘heft’ of the product, everyone tries to create a home run product launch every single time and the importance of various attributes/features gets blown out of proportion.
The world had built up high expectations for this announcement, even though the rumors that were floating around matched the actual product fairly well (I was pleased to see that the pricing was less than anticipated). As a result, when the actual product was announced, Apple was unable to deliver on the collective high expectation for _something big_, even if we didn’t quite know what that something was supposed to be.
So I think Apple actually did itself a disservice in letting the hype balloon get as large as it did–I wonder if it had somehow leaked or managed to set the expectation a little lower if they would’ve come off better.
The event itself didn’t need to be as long as it was (as you pointed out, Sarah, we know how to browse and we know what an address book looks like, etc) given that the potential of this product won’t be reached for awhile (we don’t have any iPad-specific killer apps, as far as I can tell, though perhaps it’s the iBookstore–worthy of more of a spotlight, I think).
Ultimately, the launch success will be measured by the impact the product makes on the marketplace. Will it be a Kindle-killer? Perhaps it’s going to be more of a business play than a consumer play. Or what? Others have better imaginations than I. Apple itself didn’t help us out by strongly positioning the product, so either they are conflicted, don’t know, or are hoping for something big to emerge from somewhere for this new form factor.
All in all, a meh.
January 27th, 2010 at 5:58 pm -
Natalie said:
I’m with you — the launch didn’t do it for me. I thought it was over hyped… and can’t see the value if I already have Apple products. I mean, I like the media component, but can imagine a horrid neck cramp if I tried to watch movies with it flat on a table.
I posted my thoughts on my posterous, too:
If you were in PR for Apple, what would you do? http://post.ly/KtlaJanuary 27th, 2010 at 7:53 pm -
Phil Landry said:
This really was a “new category” launch and as such I think everyone misses the point if they think it’s a larger iPhone or a small MacBook/Pro. This will propel Apple forward, especially into the corporate offices. Personally, I think they under-hyped it (unfortunately).
Looking at this product from the “tech” perspective completely misses the boat. It’s not whether it has gigabit this or gigabyte that. It’s not a Kindle or a Kindle look-a-like. Think of it from a user’s perspective (not a laptop user or an iPhone user but a user) – Doctor’s with patient x-rays explaining a procedure to a patient, perhaps even using Skype to conference in another doctor; think of a fashion designer who needs to review the specs of a series of designs with his/her client and how they will be able to communicate to their client the impact of changes. It’s not just the web but what you can do with it. It’s not just iPhone apps but a bigger picture of what apps can do in a portable state. Imagine a salesperson giving a one to one presentation that is much more interactive, much more intuitive; think of a professor teaching students with an application that immediately connects all the students in the classroom as they learn (together) to solve a problem.
Remember, they took phone use and ratcheted up what you could do with it.
As for the price point, it is brilliant. They learned the iPhone lesson (dropping the price $200 made for some angry iPhone users). $499 is low enough for corporations to buy all of their people one but high enough that they can drop the entry price to say, $429 in the next six months.
This isn’t a Kindle, this isn’t a laptop, it isn’t even a netbook. This is to corporations what the Rimm has been only on a much larger scale because of the openness of the platform and the web.
Personal disclosure, I don’t work for Apple. I do have Macs, iPhones and Windows (ugh!) and I am shorting Amazon because of a head and shoulders pattern evidenced n January.January 27th, 2010 at 9:11 pm -
PRsarahevans said:
Thank you for the great insight, Phil. Really enjoyed your comment.
January 27th, 2010 at 10:06 pm -
used tires said:
I usually think Apple stuff is cool, although due to being overpriced I’ve never bought anything from them, but I really don’t see the appeal of the iPad, apart from the interface and being nice and light.
It’s alright for Jobs to slag off netbooks, but a netbook will run any windows app, that’s tens of thousands of apps, many of which are free and I already know how to use. A netbook also has much better connectivity, a real keyboard (not a seperate keyboard dock at additional cost), far more storage for the price etc. I can also change the OS on a netbook. The latest netbooks like the EEE 1201N with the dual core CPUs and nVidia Ion (8400M GPU) even have respectible gaming performance (search for 1201N on youtube). I’d take features and versatility over cool anyday.
January 29th, 2010 at 3:22 am -
calivita.com said:
Thank you very much for this announce here. 2 floors do anything for traffic
January 31st, 2010 at 3:13 pm -
Turkey said:
Thank you for sharing your survey
February 1st, 2010 at 3:21 am -
used tires said:
Apple has touched on this before. They explained it when iPhone software 3.0 came out. The CPU s in these lil’ gadgets, iPhone & iPad, are pretty low end in the horsepower. So to overcome any problems of background tasks slowing down the entire gadget, they don’t have multitasking.They do allow certain parts of the OS to run in the background, but no true multitasking. Such as, itunes can be playing while you’re in a game or writing an email.
For the folks that this gadget is marketed towards, the lack of multitasking isn’t that big of a whoop. This gadget is meant for very simple tasks, web surfing, email, watching videos. It isn’t going to be a monster computer, meant to take on the fastest laptops of the world.
And if they did have to put in a much more powerful CPU to get it to multitask, then possibly the price wouldn’t be $500. It would be more.
Till then,
Jean
February 1st, 2010 at 4:49 am -
resimler said:
Hi Sarah. You find always interesting topics. Thank you for sharing.
February 1st, 2010 at 9:58 am -
Aluminum Laptop Cases said:
I think the presentation fell short because they did such a good job of getting word out there before the launch. Every tech blog had at least 2 or 3 posts discussing potential features of the ipad. So everyone had a pretty good idea of exactly what was going to be announced.
February 1st, 2010 at 1:47 pm -
Table Tennis Cover said:
The announcement of the ipad was definitely an iwin (as you can see from the increase in hype surrounding apple) but as far as the product goes i’m not entirely convinced. I still have a lot of answered questions surrounding the ipad which hasn’t been answered. At the moment I haven’t really seen anything which makes the ipad stand out from the rest of apple’s products, except maybe the larger screen.
Brandon
February 1st, 2010 at 7:05 pm -
Net Age Web Design said:
The hype surrounding the iPad is understandable, and I really had a good chuckle when iTampon immeadiately became synonymous with the iPad. In future methinks Apple should invest a bit of time and effort on social media networks to gauge consumer response before naming their devices. We were all expecting iTablet (which would’ve led to iPill & iCapsule and and….LOL)
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:48 am -
seo said:
Looking at this product from the “tech” perspective completely misses the boat. It’s not whether it has gigabit this or gigabyte that. It’s not a Kindle or a Kindle look-a-like. Think of it from a user’s perspective (not a laptop user or an iPhone user but a user) – Doctor’s with patient x-rays explaining a procedure to a patient, perhaps even using Skype to conference in another doctor; think of a fashion designer who needs to review the specs of a series of designs with his/her client and how they will be able to communicate to their client the impact of changes. It’s not just the web but what you can do with it. It’s not just iPhone apps but a bigger picture of what apps can do in a portable state. Imagine a salesperson giving a one to one presentation that is much more interactive, much more intuitive; think of a professor teaching students with an application that immediately connects all the students in the classroom as they learn (together) to solve a problem.
February 2nd, 2010 at 4:47 am -
iPadiFail said:
I think the ipad does have some potential, but it will come down the road. It also has some promise as a gaming console, but it will need to be proven. I think I am going to wait for the 2nd generation. What do you think?
February 3rd, 2010 at 1:40 am -
printing said:
people are slightly misguided to make fun of the iPad name, it’s the product itself that is the joke, the name was just the punch line.
February 4th, 2010 at 1:51 am -
used tires said:
I’ve been digging around on it a bit more and heres the problems I see with it aside from no flash.
1. Battery life is suspect. They are quoting times with nothing to back it. I also get 9.5 hours reading pdf’s on my netbook, 6 hours surfing the web, and 4.5 hours watching video. They are claiming 10 hours no matter what. They need to back this up.
2. No changable battery. This makes since though since it uses a lithium polymer which have a tendency to explode.
3. USB I can’t find anything about it.
4. No SD card or anything? How am I supposed to transfer my files to it?
5. Pricing. A 64GB 3G model will run you over $800
Heres what I actually like about it, lol
1. High quality screen.
2. Unlocked GSM, finally they unlocked something, in a way.
3. Touchscreen, I won’t argue apple is pretty good at this.
February 5th, 2010 at 12:33 am -
Catering Tampa said:
As you know who people are Crazy for App Products they definately gone a buy Ipad so may opinion vary people to people.
February 5th, 2010 at 1:01 am -
used tires said:
This is not designed for people like us, who are power users. It is designed for the people that just want something simple to carry around, that works when they want it to, without any hassles. I’ve been through too many bad hard drives, memory chips, overheating problems, bad case fans, bad optical drives, faulty drivers, viruses, spyware, system hogging run in the background leeching software for anyone to convince me that the iPad/ipod/iphone isn’t as good as a netbook/laptop. I’ve had my ipod touch for a year now and it has never locked up on me once. Ever. I cant say the same for any one of the computers in my house, or my work. Or my DVR for that matter. Man, I wish apple made a DVR.
Till then,
Jean
February 7th, 2010 at 7:12 am -
Catering Tampa said:
Upps… Hope apple Soon a make DVD for yours
, not aware that apple made such things for different categorized people.February 8th, 2010 at 1:12 am -
Hair Salons said:
Apple iPad looks good and very handy. I’ll check it out the Mashable poll.
February 8th, 2010 at 2:08 am -
Porno said:
I don’t work for Apple. I do have Macs, iPhones and Windows (ugh!) and I am shorting Amazon because of a head and shoulders pattern evidenced n March, too.
February 9th, 2010 at 3:26 pm -
Porno said:
i probably get it anyway. Well after following a live blog of that terrible presentation there is no way i will buy one.
February 11th, 2010 at 10:27 am -
printing said:
There will be lines…the question is, how many shipments of them will be available for launch day? Pack a sleeping bag and some food and tell your boss that you have the flu.
February 11th, 2010 at 11:03 am -
youtube gir said:
great idea, thanks for sharing.
February 16th, 2010 at 8:38 am -
Cartoon Bears said:
There will be lines…the question is, how many shipments of them will be available for launch day? Pack a sleeping bag and some food and tell your boss that you have the flu.
February 16th, 2010 at 10:50 am -
Cartoon Bears said:
Really, isn’t the iPad just a bigger screen really? I’m pretty fine with the small screen of my iPod Touch (except for reading e-books).
February 16th, 2010 at 10:50 am -
Serge@CarTransporters said:
Probably ifail, it doesn’t have leopard.
February 18th, 2010 at 8:21 am -
how to start a blog said:
iFail – iPad is nothing more than a bigger version of the current iPhone… and the price is a deal breaker.
February 19th, 2010 at 5:08 pm -
Digital SLR Camera said:
i dont like the design
February 20th, 2010 at 9:45 am -
used tires said:
I’m not an Apple fan as I said earlier but I do see a place for this device. I have been considering iPod Touch , Sony Reader , Kindle , Movie player and this seems to have all those functions .
I read that the iPhone os 4.0 is due out soon and people are expecting (hoping for) mutlitasking , flash etc. I wonder if this is the same OS?
Till then,
Jean
February 21st, 2010 at 10:13 am -
used tires said:
Also, with iphone can you be on call with speaker phone on while you typing in msn and skype at same time to few different people and then open some websites in browser to copy paste links on to the msn chat windows followed by taking picture with camera and sending it via email to the person you been talking all this time on the speaker phone?
Till then,
Jean
February 21st, 2010 at 10:14 am -
how to start a blog said:
Apple didn’t secure twitter/iPad probably because some cybersquatter got to it before Apple realized it.
February 23rd, 2010 at 2:46 pm -
used tires said:
Apple choose to only have a selcted subset of functionality on the devices they produce then that is the market risk they take. Maybe they provide the set of functionality that the target customer base wants and you don’t fit that demographic. It does not make it wrong for them to do it. Nobody HAS to buy Apple products but lots of people seem to choose to do so even when paying a premium.
Till then,
Jean
March 3rd, 2010 at 3:17 am -
used tires said:
Also, because of marketing. I think its a big stretch to call it the most popular phone around, I’d say the most marketed phone around but not the most popular. The only reason they have the market share they do is because its a fasion statement and this brings people who normally never have a smart phone to go get one. As I said before if you took away everyones iPhone who is under 18 the market share would be pathetic. Literally I know two adults who own them and about 8 kids who own them. Plus the only adults I know that own one are single and have no kids. This is just me and my experience with them but honestly I see more Samsungs around then any other brand, then HTC’s , then iPhones.
Till then,
Jean
March 3rd, 2010 at 3:21 am -
sikis izle said:
I added an update to the post just for you.
March 4th, 2010 at 2:18 am -
used tires said:
Anyone think the new Nokia N900 will be healthy competition for the iPhone? I think in the end, Apple’s brand power will probably win out as everyone wants the latest ‘i’ gadget but still, you never can tell.
Till then,
Jean
March 5th, 2010 at 9:38 am -
jen said:
I can’t wait till the Ipad Comes out!
March 9th, 2010 at 7:37 pm -
darjeeling said:
ipad is the one of the best technology today. but i need to see all the feature before i buy.
March 10th, 2010 at 5:49 am -
darjeeling said:
by the thanks for sharing this info i really love it.
March 10th, 2010 at 5:50 am -
used tires said:
There is a file sharing system built into the device. ” During Phil Schiller’s demo of iWork for the iPad today, he explains that with the iPad you can create and save documents and easily sync/access them back up from your Mac. This is big. We have confirmed that Apple will indeed be allowing developers to include new file sharing capabilities within their apps. The first benefit is that they will be able to make files saved in their app accessible from inside other apps. Secondly, when the iPad is connected to your Mac, a “shared drive” will pop up in Finder in which users will be able to manually add and remove files. Files that are added to the folder will automatically be recognized from within the app when it is launched”
Till then,
Jean
March 14th, 2010 at 3:21 am -
used tires said:
And for the record, I never owned an Apple product until I got the original iPhone. Now I’ve bought the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, Apple TV, and a MacBook Pro. This iPad will open even more people up to Apple products and maybe down the road they’ll also be buying iPhones and MacBooks.
Till then,
Jean
March 14th, 2010 at 3:23 am -
book buy back said:
I just watched the Release of Iphone OS 4.0 and it looks like the IPAD was a hit, it at least hit alot of the same goals that the Iphone originally hit.
April 14th, 2010 at 8:48 am -
cheap hdmi cables said:
Ipad is alright. I’m looking forward to the HP touch that should be coming shortly
April 14th, 2010 at 4:31 pm
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