Too many parallels between the iPad reveal today and the Wii’s life-to-date NOT to do another of these poorly drawn, corny comics. Name calling? Check! Industry “experts” think it’s too casual or light on features? Double check! Attacking hardware from a proven company without seeing ANY of the 2nd gen software yet? Triple check! We have a winner!
Now, I’m not saying this thing will be a success, but come on. With the wild success of the Wii, and the incredible success enjoyed by the iPhone (which was also doubted, at first)…I mean, come on. To even clarify further, I don’t “care” one way or the other if it succeeds or not either. If it’s fun/useful, I’ll buy, just like my iPhone. If not, I’ll retain hundreds of dollars for some other fun gadget purchase later on.
Update: Also inspiring this post is the fact that Steve Jobs could give a shit what you think about the name.
I think the problem here is the price: it’s just too expensive for a market that doesn’t actually exist and may not ever actually exist. (And it certainly vaulted the Wii since the pricing was key to it reaching the heights it did.)
Even funnier when you consider that many of these complainers will turn around and praise iPad because it will hurt the Nintendo DS (as Sideshow Pii Wii has already done). That tells you what these people really are.
As of iPad; they have a shot if they expand beyond their relation with AT&T with other phone companies. I think there is a market out there for iPad; but Apple needs to eliminate more barriers if they really want to surpass Nintendo DS (the limitations of phone service; better response to customers outside of the US; I think Canada has yet to get a release date for the system; I don’t know what the deal in other countries right now.). To Apple’s credit though; they did their homework on the battery life, SD card presence and even a reasonable price considering what it is supposed to do.
@ECM: “It’s just too expensive for a market that doesn’t actually exist and may not ever actually exist”
That may be true, but it’s yet another parallel. Many people said the Wii’s target market didn’t exist either. Here’s some further reading on this from an editor colleague of mine (it’s quite good), on the iPad and it’s target audience:
http://gizmodo.com/5458531/the-ipad-is-the-gadget-we-never-knew-we-needed