Sep
Apple broke the news today that another 9 countries are going to join the iPad age as of this Friday. This coincides almost perfectly with Apple’s announcement of its 3rd quarterly financial reports due tomorrow. I wonder how well Apple’s done. Considering they managed to shift over 3 million units in just 80 days of sales, I stagger to imagine what the total may be now. Added to this the newly released iPhone 4, Apple seems to be gifted with the Midas touch. As the iPad enters more markets around the world, I wonder if the gold will continue to flow Apple’s way?
As of this Friday, lucky customers in Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore will be able to buy an iPad. This seems a curious mix of countries to me that belies logic. Why wasn’t iPad released in New Zealand when it was rolled out in Australia? More curious is this: why weren’t Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Austria or Ireland included in a pan-European release? After all, what’s to stop an intrepid Belgian taking a quick trip into France to buy an iPad there? It’s not like crossing the border from USA to Mexico, more like jumping the State-line between Virginia and DC.
Market research company iSuppli updated its April predictions to take into account the iPad’s unprecedented success. Earlier this month, iSuppli estimated that sales of touch-screen slate-style devices would rocket by the end of 2010 by 5000%. This incredible rise is clearly fuelled by the iPad’s success, and the adrenaline drive this has given to the development of rival products by Apple’s competitors, such as the Microsoft Courier. Other electronics developers look set to enter the playing field by the end of the year with products based around Google’s Chrome OS and Android. Diversity in the market place is always a good thing, but they’ll have their work cut out as Apple has a massive head start. With the continued roll out through various world-wide markets, competition with any rival tablets will become increasingly difficult for the new-comers following in iPad’s wake.
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