The Release of the iPad: Will it fuel the social media flurry?
It was little over a year ago Jan 27th 2009 at Mac World that Steve Jobs took to the stage in his Walmart jeans and 5 year old black sweater to bring us news of the iPad., the latest Macintosh gizmo to occupy the middle ground between smart-phones and laptops.
Reviews that I read thought it looked like a big iPhone or iPod. What use is this thing? Is it supposed to be superior to any netbook and laptop, just because you are able to be use it in any direction that you want with drop downs in the re-designed e-mail interface as well as a large onscreen QWERTY to get those emails sent out?
A year has gone by and Apple announced on Monday morning that it sold more than 300,000 iPads in the U.S. on the first day of sales, including deliveries of pre-ordered iPads to customers, deliveries to channel partners and sales at Apple Retail Stores.
Furthermore, iPad users downloaded more than one million apps from the App Store and 250,000 e-books from the iBookstore on the first day.
You got to sit back in your chair and wonder…
- Will this be a game changer in the PC/MAC world?
- Will it fuel the social media flurry?
I was on Facebook and had smiled as former KelownaSun Fm DJ Bri Cook had posted that she needs a new laptop. Out of 12 comments all but one suggested getting a Mac over a PC and 3 mentioned getting an iPad over a Macbook.
This begs the question: Should the TV advertisements change from “hi I am a Mac” to “hi I am your other Mac” Is the “i” revolution only just starting to take a hold?
If I am allowed to make some predictions, which hey I am going to any way, the #ipad is going to show itself up in more house holds than expected. More die hard PC lovers are going to sneak one home, just like they were never going to trade in their blackberry for an iPhone. Also the demographic of the iPad user is going to stretch the bell curve at both ends with both younger and older folks finding it to suit their life styles.
So what does this mean for the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, MSN and all the other social media platforms out there? It can only mean one thing. More and more interaction. Larger online communities, more followers more fan pages, more uploads, more downloads, more Youtube videos etc…
The design of the iPad seems like it should be perfect for multitasking (although we may not seen the OS upgrade until later) to be able to be reading the latest Grisham Novel or researching a recipe for Easter lunch and being able to scan over several twitter accounts all at the same time. With large display the e-reader is the perfect get starter component offering catalogs, digital magazines, newspapers and TV viewing.
It does not scream Laptop/Computer but the new way for Mr. and Mrs. average to get up to date with everything going on around them. And when it comes to getting up to date, we have mentioned on this show over and over again there is no better up to the second information than that flowing through the likes of Twitter.
Fire up your iPad on your comfy couch to watch a movie, and flick to your Facebook and Twitter status updates.
Also can not forget that MAC still only accounts for less than 5% of computer user!!!