The Release of the iPad: Will it fuel the social media flurry?
A little over a year ago, on January 27th 2009, at Mac World, 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 smartphones and laptops.
Reviews that I read thought it looked like a giant iPhone or iPod. What use is this thing? Is it superior to any netbook and laptop because you can use it in any direction with drop downs in the re-designed e-mail interface and a large onscreen QWERTY to send those e-mails out?
A year has passed, 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 over 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 smiled as former KelownaSun Fm DJ Bri Cook posted that she needed a new laptop. Out of 12 comments, all but one suggested getting a Mac over a PC, and three 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 hold?
If I am allowed to make some predictions, which; I am going to anyway, the #ipad will show itself up in more households than expected. More die-hard PC lovers will sneak one home, just like they were never going to trade in their Blackberry for an iPhone. Also, the demographic of the iPad user will stretch the bell curve at both ends, with both younger and older folks finding it to suit their lifestyles.
So what does this mean for the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, MSN and all the other social media platforms? It can only mean one thing. More and more interaction. Larger online communities, more followers, fan pages, uploads, downloads, Youtube videos, etc.…
The design of the iPad seems like it should be perfect for multitasking (although we may not see the OS upgrade until later) to be able to be reading the latest Grisham Novel or research a recipe for Easter lunch and being able to scan over several Twitter accounts all at the same time. With a large display, the e-reader is the perfect get-starter component offering catalogues, 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 happening 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, we must remember that MAC only accounts for less than 5% of computer users!!!