In general, tough convincing might be needed for consumers that they need an iPad. With the introduction of the new gadget, that is like a tablet-computer smartphone packed-in-one, it immediately appeared in the front pages of newspapers in at least 47 states in the United States. It also appeared in front pages of no fewer than 24 other countries such as Uruguay, Turkey, Bulgaria and Portugal.
But releasing this new product isn’t like a bed of roses of after all. It possesses different challenges to Apple, its manufacturer. First off, it the challenge of building a new market. It would be hard for them to transform consumers who were already so acquainted with iPhone and iPod in their daily life. To many, an iPod simply makes their digital entertainment lifestyle better, the same goes for iPhone. Take this scenario – when iPhone was released there were already billions of people who had cell phones.
It even got a not-so-good feedback from broadcasters. For one, Seth Meyers said, “This week Apple released a thing that does stuff that its other stuff already does.” And consumers are not excited about spending $500 more where they don’t have to spend a single penny with their smart phone and laptops.
Another challenge that is hounding them is the missing software. Remember, the success of iPod came about what people can do about it such as having a digital bookstore and library in it.
As what analyst Charles Wolf said, “The device will need to capably handle content that would ‘otherwise provide an inferior experience on smaller devices, or more traditional products,’ like phones and laptops, he said. And that will mean unique software that takes advantage of the hardware features like the large screen.” In one way or another, the iPod became interesting when music was added with iTunes.
But it is still on its very early days. We really don’t know what is going to happen in the days to come. After all, Apple excels in educating consumers.