Apple is getting increasingly desperate to flog its over hyped and very underwhelming iPad.
Since the launch of the gadget it has mostly been laughed at by any tech press with a semblence of credibility. However, that has not stopped the hype surrounding the iPad continuing.
Yesterday MacWorld ran a yarn with the headline “Doctors interested in Apple's iPad; 1 in 5 plan to buy one”.
A desperate piece of free Apple promotion if ever there was. According to the article a medical software vendor called Epocrates, yeah really, conducted a survey of 350 clinicians. The result was that 22 percent of them said they planned to buy the device within a year.
This figure is incredibly high as surveys indicate that most of the great unwashed are not thinking of buying an iPad at all.
However, looking at the figures it is clear that there is something else at play here. Epocrates has 275,000 physicians which subscribe to its free or paid software. It could only find 350 to answer its survey.
But in addition Epocrates software provides access to clinical information from smartphones like the iPhone, Blackberries and Palm devices.
It also wants to adapt its clinical reference application for the iPhone and iPod touch devices for the new iPad. Since the iPad is a giant iPod Touch, upgrading is not a big job.
Product placement time. Dyson Hoovers.
Epocrates' survey showed that nine percent of respondents plan to buy an iPad as soon as it's available, and another 13 percent plan to buy it within a year.
So an outfit which makes software for iPhones and iPads conducted a survey of its users. You would think that the proportion of fanbois and other people would be high. Yet only .12 percent of them took part and of those 22 percent said they would buy an iPad in a year. So .03 percent of gadget mad doctors will put their hand up and admit that they are going to buy an iPad within a year is not much of a headline is it.
It seems that the Apple press is getting increasingly desperate about what it will run to prove that the gadget will be a success. Well Stephen Fry thinks so.
"It's transcendentally smooth and fast. It's astounding. God, it's beautiful. The display is stunning. I am in love with it and am drooling in anticipation at being able to buy one. I want to fondle it and lick it. In fact I am going to run away with it now."
I guess the other little bugbear with your post, Nick, is your opening statements. Because the iPad isn't directed at the power user market Nick, it's directed at everyone else. And everyone else, geeks and tech press excluded, will buy iPads and post iPad tablets to follow, in their droves.
Not to mention that you could not have held an iPad in your hand at this point in time, so your opinion is worthless for that reason alone. It's hilarious how anti-apple bloggers think they understand business better than the most successful tech company on the planet.
Let's revisit this post in 2 years time and see where the iPad is.
"Nurse Betty" and other helpers will be at their side when they need them. Throw out the ($35.00 per month) life alert and use a real solution like a "Nurse Betty". Lifestyles will get better with the iPad.
That is what our Seniors are saying...
How so? everything in this article is about non-Apple related events.
The article subtitle is "Quacks roped in" and the article contains this: "Since the launch...it has mostly been laughed at by any tech press with a semblence of credibility."
So any tech press that isn't laughing has no credibility? Anyone who is pro-iPad is automatically a "quack"? Ad Hominem Fallacy much?
"...a desperate piece of free Apple promotion if ever there was. According to the article a medical software vendor called Epocrates..."
Any proof that this is not as the article says? Is there no such entity called "Epocrates"? Does the author prove this is really Apple marketing?
"But in addition Epocrates software provides access to clinical information from smartphones like the iPhone, Blackberries and Palm devices."
WAIT! I thought Epocrates was just an invention of a desperate Apple marketing? Now, you claim is IS REAL and you continue to do so through the end of the article? That seems contradictory.
"....Apple press is getting increasingly desperate about what it will run to prove that the gadget will be a success. Well Stephen Fry thinks so...."
The quote that follows sounds to me like someone who wants an iPad, not someone describing how desperate Apple is.
Posted by a lifelong business and personal PC owner/user, a current iPhone user (after Treos and Blackberrys) and both a Microsoft and Apple investor.
how do pieces of crap like this blog article get on a investor information site? This isn't information, it's more like some 'wannabe' spouting small-minded opinion.
Oh yeah... I almost forgot, maybe our friend, 'mr. nick' should take a statistics course and learn about probabilities and such!
Now the average person can get this thing, use their fingers to do what they need, and not have to wait 5 min for it to boot. Apple WILL sell millions. And the tech geeks of the world will diss it. BFD!
Car geeks were upset when computer controlled fuel injection took away the ability to tweek the carburator and timing. The average person just cares that the car starts and runs well. This is where computers are heading.
Sybok
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The ithingy may be useful for physicians provided it manages a pen and a functional text recognition. Still the details of the poll are scarce, are those 350 a true random selection or only those who were willing to participate from all (or a larger portion of) their users? If the former is right it means that the poll is statistically valid and shows interest in a very specific market, but if is the latter the poll would be unscientific and the number meaningless (like most internet polls).
Like most gadgets certain uses are more rational than others and carve a niche on the market, and perhaps that is the big question here, is the ipad a niche product for specific applications in a tablet form, or a consumer product like an ipod touch or an e-reader destined for mass appeal and production?
So far it seems like a niche product with some potential for a more general consumer product and it's success in that arena will depend of useful apps and the competition (android looks very promising in that area).
So, shill up fanbois, go do your duty and line up to buy it so that uncle steve can buy another Ferrari. In a year we'll see if the thing proved useful or not.
I've heard it again and again and I agree the applications are important. But you are WRONG, flat - wrong, completely backwards understanding of the key factor that makes the IPAD a huge success (already, I know - scary) That is it is easy to use, it does it fast and you just point at it and make it work... with your finger anon1mat0, with your freaking finger. Do you realize how mind blowing this will be for uncle rick, now 60, who just wants something he doesn't have to worry about. The IPAD as far as I can tell is some NICHE, that is such any easily often repeated term that I expected you to use it after reading the first sentence.
All I'm saying is that how can you say it is NICHE, when it does everything most users use a computer for already... except you point at it, yes - see it sounds dumb, me saying it like this, but again... you point at it...
" I feel that I need to pick holes in your argument"
This is Dick Barrell we're talking about. You could pick holes in his arguments all day long if you had the time.