There is a BIG difference between "shipping" numbers and "sold" numbers.
Apple sells every iPad & iPad 2 it makes/ships. Demand has always outstripped supply. So every one of the 9.3 million iPads globally last quarter were actually sold to end users.
Manufacturers of competing tablets only give the numbers they "shipped" not "sold".
For example, Samsung told the media that it had shipped 500,000 Galaxy Tabs. They stuck to this number for the longest time, until recently when they admitted that only 20,000 Galaxy Tabs were actually "sold" to end users.
Knowing this, Apple's "68 per cent of the market" is most probably much higher than that in reality.
You may not realize it, but Apple's iPad design patent dates back to 2004... 6 years before Steve Ballmer showed off non-working mock-ups of iPad competitors!
Apple has NEVER stated that an iPad 3 would be released this year. In fact, they have NEVER even used the term "iPad 3" or discussed future iPad releases.
What we have here is one rumor disputing another rumor, in a long chain of rumors about a rumored product.
There is no point in getting caught up in all of these rumors. In the end, Apple will release its next generation iPad only when Apple releases it... not when rumors say it will.
Apple's competitors wish they could be that "desperate" ;-)
The writer of this article is either ignorant of the facts (and reality in general) or he/she/it is just trolling for hits and will do anything ridiculous to accomplish that.
Starting with the article title "Apple's record sales are signs of desperation"... What!?!
Record sales increases (while all other competitors are losing sales) is a sign of desperation? If that's desperation, Apple and its investors must be hoping it can be more "desperate" in the future.
"And the iPad... is not yet proving that the category itself is a winner". You can't be serious. Is this meant as a joke? News flash: April Fool's Day was 3 weeks ago.
You base your premise on this nugget of ___ : "The iPad sold 4.69m tablets, fewer than the 6.1m predicted by analysts or the 7.3m of the holiday quarter."
Hello!?! The quarter reported on ended March 26, 2011. The iPad 2 which purchasers were holding onto their money for, only went on sale in the US on March 11th (the first shipment sold out nation-wide in 24 hours!), and it only went on sale in select other countries on March 25th (the day before the quarter ended).
Most intelligent people realized that the numbers would be low for this quarter even before the iPad 2 went on sale, but apparently you did not understand this.
The iPad 2 sold over a million units in its first day on sale (in the US only). By comparison, the original version of the iPad, crossed the one-million mark 28 days after its launch.
With the iPad 2 selling 28-times faster than the original iPad (which was the fastest selling consumer device of all time) this, to you, bizarrely is an indication that the iPad "is not yet proving that the category itself is a winner". ???
Next you write that Apple is displaying it's "vulnerability' by suing companies that steal its intellectual property. That is insane! Any company will rightly sue another company that steals rather than licenses its patented IP.
You try to support this ridiculous notion by using FUD to understate the situation, by saying Apple "allege copying of the colors and rectangular shape of the Apple products." Either you again do not have any understanding of why Apple is suing Samsung, or you are intentionally trying to mislead your readers.
You only need to look at the side-by-side comparison photos on the Web, to see that Samsung blatantly copied both the hardware design and the user interface design of the iPhone in the Samsung Galaxy phone.
Your article continues with other similar misleading information.
You might be hoping that your readers are buying all of this nonsense, but most people are more intelligent than that, and the result of your article is that you have lost any credibility as a writer.
OK Apple & Google, stop advancing your tablet operating systems, and wait a few years so that Microsoft can catch up to you ;-)
Of course, we can expect the strong possibility that Microsoft won't have Windows 8 ready in 2013... or 2014... or...
But everyone just stand still so that Microsoft can try to compete with you. Because we all know that the world REALLY wants to use Windows on their mobile tablets. Just look at how many Windows tablets have sold since Steve Ballmer presented all sorts of Windows tablets at CES 2010... 13 months ago!
OK Apple & Google, stop advancing your tablet operating systems, and wait a few years so that Microsoft can catch up to you ;-)
Of course, we can expect the strong possibility that Microsoft won't have Windows 8 in 2013... or 2014... or...
But everyone just stand still so that Microsoft can try to compete with you. Because we all know that the world REALLY wants to use Windows on their mobile tablets. Just look at how many Windows tablets have sold since Steve Ballmer presented all sorts of Windows tablets at CES 2010... 13 months ago!
"In future, I suspect we'll see "tablets" with physical keyboards"
You mean like large Blackberry phones (top half a screen, bottom half a keyboard)?
Imagine the 7" Samsung tablet with a 3.5" screen (like the iPhone) and the other half covered by a keyboard. Would you actually want to buy something like that???
Not very likely.
The other option might be to have a keyboard & trackpad slide out from under the 7" or 10" screen, but doing this you double the weight and thickness of the tablet, making it less portable... and ending up with what we currently know as a "netbook".
So do you want a multi-touch tablet or do you want a netbook?
Apple adds even more security to an already secure OS, and some devious people use this to convince the clueless that Mac OS X is now MORE vulnerable to malware (instead of the opposite). "We am in Bizarro World."
For a good explanation of why Mac OS X is so secure, read this:
Register
10 posts • joined Wednesday 26th August 2009 18:15 GMT
Real numbers
There is a BIG difference between "shipping" numbers and "sold" numbers.
Apple sells every iPad & iPad 2 it makes/ships. Demand has always outstripped supply. So every one of the 9.3 million iPads globally last quarter were actually sold to end users.
Manufacturers of competing tablets only give the numbers they "shipped" not "sold".
For example, Samsung told the media that it had shipped 500,000 Galaxy Tabs. They stuck to this number for the longest time, until recently when they admitted that only 20,000 Galaxy Tabs were actually "sold" to end users.
Knowing this, Apple's "68 per cent of the market" is most probably much higher than that in reality.
You may not realize this...
You may not realize it, but Apple's iPad design patent dates back to 2004... 6 years before Steve Ballmer showed off non-working mock-ups of iPad competitors!
Kinda makes you go "Hmmm". ;-)
Rumors vs. reality
Apple has NEVER stated that an iPad 3 would be released this year. In fact, they have NEVER even used the term "iPad 3" or discussed future iPad releases.
What we have here is one rumor disputing another rumor, in a long chain of rumors about a rumored product.
There is no point in getting caught up in all of these rumors. In the end, Apple will release its next generation iPad only when Apple releases it... not when rumors say it will.
Apple's competitors wish they could be that "desperate" ;-)
The writer of this article is either ignorant of the facts (and reality in general) or he/she/it is just trolling for hits and will do anything ridiculous to accomplish that.
Starting with the article title "Apple's record sales are signs of desperation"... What!?!
Record sales increases (while all other competitors are losing sales) is a sign of desperation? If that's desperation, Apple and its investors must be hoping it can be more "desperate" in the future.
"And the iPad... is not yet proving that the category itself is a winner". You can't be serious. Is this meant as a joke? News flash: April Fool's Day was 3 weeks ago.
You base your premise on this nugget of ___ : "The iPad sold 4.69m tablets, fewer than the 6.1m predicted by analysts or the 7.3m of the holiday quarter."
Hello!?! The quarter reported on ended March 26, 2011. The iPad 2 which purchasers were holding onto their money for, only went on sale in the US on March 11th (the first shipment sold out nation-wide in 24 hours!), and it only went on sale in select other countries on March 25th (the day before the quarter ended).
Most intelligent people realized that the numbers would be low for this quarter even before the iPad 2 went on sale, but apparently you did not understand this.
The iPad 2 sold over a million units in its first day on sale (in the US only). By comparison, the original version of the iPad, crossed the one-million mark 28 days after its launch.
With the iPad 2 selling 28-times faster than the original iPad (which was the fastest selling consumer device of all time) this, to you, bizarrely is an indication that the iPad "is not yet proving that the category itself is a winner". ???
Next you write that Apple is displaying it's "vulnerability' by suing companies that steal its intellectual property. That is insane! Any company will rightly sue another company that steals rather than licenses its patented IP.
You try to support this ridiculous notion by using FUD to understate the situation, by saying Apple "allege copying of the colors and rectangular shape of the Apple products." Either you again do not have any understanding of why Apple is suing Samsung, or you are intentionally trying to mislead your readers.
You only need to look at the side-by-side comparison photos on the Web, to see that Samsung blatantly copied both the hardware design and the user interface design of the iPhone in the Samsung Galaxy phone.
Your article continues with other similar misleading information.
You might be hoping that your readers are buying all of this nonsense, but most people are more intelligent than that, and the result of your article is that you have lost any credibility as a writer.
Delusional
"The battle will commence in 2013"
OK Apple & Google, stop advancing your tablet operating systems, and wait a few years so that Microsoft can catch up to you ;-)
Of course, we can expect the strong possibility that Microsoft won't have Windows 8 ready in 2013... or 2014... or...
But everyone just stand still so that Microsoft can try to compete with you. Because we all know that the world REALLY wants to use Windows on their mobile tablets. Just look at how many Windows tablets have sold since Steve Ballmer presented all sorts of Windows tablets at CES 2010... 13 months ago!
Uh yeah, never mind that.
Delusional
"The battle will commence in 2013"
OK Apple & Google, stop advancing your tablet operating systems, and wait a few years so that Microsoft can catch up to you ;-)
Of course, we can expect the strong possibility that Microsoft won't have Windows 8 in 2013... or 2014... or...
But everyone just stand still so that Microsoft can try to compete with you. Because we all know that the world REALLY wants to use Windows on their mobile tablets. Just look at how many Windows tablets have sold since Steve Ballmer presented all sorts of Windows tablets at CES 2010... 13 months ago!
Uh yeah, never mind that.
Tablet or Netbook?
"In future, I suspect we'll see "tablets" with physical keyboards"
You mean like large Blackberry phones (top half a screen, bottom half a keyboard)?
Imagine the 7" Samsung tablet with a 3.5" screen (like the iPhone) and the other half covered by a keyboard. Would you actually want to buy something like that???
Not very likely.
The other option might be to have a keyboard & trackpad slide out from under the 7" or 10" screen, but doing this you double the weight and thickness of the tablet, making it less portable... and ending up with what we currently know as a "netbook".
So do you want a multi-touch tablet or do you want a netbook?
You are absolutely correct.
There are no viruses for Mac OS X, and never have been since it came into use ten years ago.
Thanks for pointing that out ;-)
And...
In other news, a Dutch boy stuck his finger in a dyke… and she loved it ;-)
Mac OS X already secure
Apple adds even more security to an already secure OS, and some devious people use this to convince the clueless that Mac OS X is now MORE vulnerable to malware (instead of the opposite). "We am in Bizarro World."
For a good explanation of why Mac OS X is so secure, read this:
http://rixstep.com/2/20090826,00.shtml