Thu, 02/04/2010 - 17:50 — Wendy
| Apple iPad Hoopla Fails to Convince Buyers |
| A follow-up Retrevo Pulse study looking at consumer interest in buying the new Apple iPad indicates a failure to convince any new buyers to consider the iPad. Not only did Apple fail to convince new buyers, it may have lost many potential buyers who now say they don’t think they need an Apple tablet computer. |
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| Consumers Lose Interest after Announcement |
| Retrevo’s study asked consumers whether or not they had heard about the tablet before the tablet was introduced and again after the announcement. The word definitely got out as the number of respondents saying they had heard about the tablet rose from 48% shortly before the announcement to over 80% after the media frenzy on January 27th. |
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| Unfortunately for Apple, the number if respondents saying they had heard about the tablet but were not interested in buying one, doubled from 25% before the announcement to over 50% following the announcement. |
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The World Was Abuzz Over the Tablet
There is no question whether or not the word got out on the Apple iPad. Retrevo even created a new tool called the Retrevo Buzzmeter to measure Twitter activity around the announcement and also for the State of the Union Address that evening. Not surprisingly the 7,000 Tweets Per Minute (TPM) peak rivaled the 9,000 TPM peak value for President Obama.
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Most Consumers Don’t Think They Need an iPad |
| Responses to a more direct question that was asked before and after the announcement further reinforced the bad news for Apple. When asked before the announcement if they thought they needed the tablet, 49% of respondents answered “no” with 30% saying they needed to know more about it before they could decide. |
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| After the announcement the percentage of respondents indicating they needed more info had dropped by half but the overwhelming majority of those who felt they now had sufficient knowledge, decided they didn’t need a tablet. This raised the total number of respondents saying “no” to the iPad, after the announcement, to 61%. |
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| Buyers Don’t Want to Pay for 3G |
 Apple will be adding an extra $130 to the price for adding the optional 3G connectivity. This doesn’t appear to be a very popular option as more than half the respondents to the study, after the announcement, said they wouldn’t pay extra for 3G. |
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| Software Sells Hardware |
| As we like to say, it’s the apps that sell smartphones like the iPhone and it could very well be those same apps that motivate buyers to run down to the Apple Store and get in line to buy a shiny new iPad. Whether this device becomes a big hit is anyone’s guess but based on this study it sure looks doubtful. |
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Editors Note: |
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Due to the interest this study, Retrevo's editorial department would like emphasize and clarify a few points. First, we should have emphasized the positive side of the results more, where the number of respondents indicating interested in an iPad tripled from 3% to 9%. Also, at the end of the day, having 30% of respondents as potential iPad buyers is not a bad thing for Apple. Second, we should say that it was not so much Apple that created the "hoopla" surrounding the tablet, as much as it was the media; so much so that consumers may have been underwhelmed when the product was finally announced. Furthermore, Apple should be given more of the benefit of the doubt for being able to drive sales of their iPad when it actually goes on sale. Given the media hype around the launch, our study offers conclusions that some may disagree with but we feel our data suggests the iPad may have to prove itself before becoming as popular a product as the iPhone. |
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About Retrevo Pulse Report |
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Data for this report came from a study of more than 1000 randomly selected Retrevo users. A first random sample of users were surveyed between Jan 16-20, 2010 before the Apple Tablet was announced. A second random sample of users were surveyed between Jan 27 – Feb 3, 2010, after the announcement. The sample was distributed across gender, age, income and location in the United States. Most questions had a confidence interval of 4% at a 95% confidence level.
Retrevo is the ultimate electronics marketplace that helps people make decisions about what, when, and where to buy electronics like LCD and Plasma HDTVs, Digital Cameras, GPS, Laptops, Monitors, Wireless Routers, and even Air Conditioners, Vacuum Cleaners, and Refrigerators.
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Comments
How's that working out for
How's that working out for you?
over 25 million now.......
Maybe you're asking the wrong people
Graphics Software
What program did you use to draw the charts?
I wouldn't buy iPad, have
I wouldn't buy iPad, have iPod Touch and I really love it. But just don't see any purpose in in iPad's for listening music iPod is much better because of it's size. For browsing internet you can have decent laptop for the same price, which will have a lot more functionality.
Just spotted this on August
Just spotted this on August 17th - 4 million iPads sold.
The whole things looks very silly in retrospect.
Ipad
Doesn't matter what product will Apple will come up with these days will have a huge success just because their brand in worldwide fashion. kasyno online
Just goes to show that
Just goes to show that consumer research is generally completely useless ;)
Pulse
Did you do a similar study when the iPhone came out? It'd be revealing to see what your "research" said about the future success of that device back then. Would put your current charts into some perspective.
Reminds me of...
Reminds me of:
Elevation Partners Roger McNamee, a major investor in Palm, spoke with Bloomberg yesterday and had some bold statements about the upcoming Palm Pre relative to the iPhone. “You know the beautiful thing: June 29, 2009, is the two- year anniversary of the first shipment of the iPhone,” McNamee said today in an interview in San Francisco. “Not one of those people will still be using an iPhone a month later.”
How people will spend their hard earned money is very hard to predict.
The make or break for the
The make or break for the iPad will come if it really is useful, has great apps and early adopters start hyping it with their friends. Way too early to tell at this point. kasyno online
Doesn't matter what product
Doesn't matter what product will Apple will come up with these days will have a huge success just because their brand in worldwide fashion. kasyno online
Not to early now
Verdict = complete success. "Anyone's guess" indeed. If it was "anyone's guess," why did you bother writing a post?
26% (A: heard of it but not
26% (A: heard of it but not interested in buying one) + 35% (B: not heard of it and not interested in buying one) become = 61%
becomes
52% (A) + 18% (B) = 70% (plus 15%) , BUT
3% becomes 9% !!! (plus 200%) (not to speak of the 21% who just need more information)
so in my opinion this "statistics" speaks in favour of the iPad
What this analysis (biased,
What this analysis (biased, and unscientific though it may be) would tend to indicate is that like the iPhone, the success for the iPad will come from viral adoption and word of mouth.
If you would have asked people if they would be lining up to see a movie about blue aliens, most would have probably said now. And the first weekend sales reflected that. But after seeing Avatar people started telling their friends and it became the best selling movie of all time.
The make or break for the iPad will come if it really is useful, has great apps and early adopters start hyping it with their friends. Way too early to tell at this point.
OK, but even if its wrong by
OK, but even if its wrong by 4%, if 6% of the adult U.S. population bought one during the first year that is 13 million unit sold, or 3% MORE than Apple's own WORLDWIDE sales projection.
So while this survey is couched to suggest demand is slipping, it's actually quite healthy for what is essentially an impulse item, and expensive one at that.
So what you're essentially
So what you're essentially saying is that 30 million people want to buy an iPad, and a further 60 million are interested in buying one?
If only half the people who say they want an iPad end up buying one, it'll be a runaway hit.
this is not what I
this is not what I experience in every day life. People who have always bashed Apple have talked with me about the iPad and said that they think about buying one.
Why? I looked around the market and could not find a similar device that is useful for the same range of things as the iPad.
Tablets: they are really expensive. And even then, they are just notebooks without a keyboard. Bad touch screen. No fun to use.
eReaders: very limited functionality. I don't want a device I can only use for one thing!
I was not that excited about the iPad in the beginning, but seeing what else is on the market, I realised just how great the iPad is. And yes, of course I will buy one too.
This is such a troll of a
This is such a troll of a post. Nothing meaningful here, move along.
You might as well make your next post title "Before iPad 20 People had Heard of Retrevo, After, 2,00000,000" -- but you know what, you'll need another chart for "After iPad Story Number of Repeat Visitors" because I don't see much value here.
Misleading Silly Nonsense
This so-called study has so many flaws that it is hard to know where to start. This site makes its money selling things that compete with Apple, and is supported by Apple's competitors. The author never tells us who the participants were, nor how many subjects were interviewed. The graphs have mistakes. But perhaps the silliest of all is that fact that Apple has yet to market or put its iPad up for sale or try to educate consumers. The only people who saw the keynote were a tiny minority of very tech-savvy people and the people who have written about it have barely used it, if at all, and are generally critical that it lacked imaginary features that OTHER journalists specified for it. The consumer is largely uneducated about this new category of device, other than the abject failure of the Tablet PC fiasco, so it is entirely premature to determine how it will sell. My guess, however, is that it will sell very well indeed.....
Bogus Study
I agree that this is certainly not a scientific study where there were no controls for the random groups. In fact, they flat out state that the participants were Retrevo customers, which itself already presents a flawed biased group (certainly NOT RANDOM).
I found this "survey"
I found this "survey" dubious at best, and as others have said, skewed in favor of the PC manufacturers who support this site.
When this device starts showing up on planes, subways, coffeeshops, and college campuses, sales will skyrocket. I've already added more AAPL stock to my portfolio because I'm convinced of this.
Why? a) the huge base of available apps, which will swell even farther when this huge screen is available for developers; b) the iPad's immediate usefulness to physicians and hospitals; c) Apple's commitment to quality ensures that this will be a well-built device with a superb OS; this is what has hurt other tablet wannabes; d) low sales entry point; e) the iPad's ability to replace what most coffeeshop users are using their heavy laptops for, which Kindle, Nook, et al cannot do.
I'll be buying the mid-sized 3g model; why? Because it will have full GPS, and that will make all the difference in the device, as it did in my iPhone 3G.
retrevo is associated with
retrevo is associated with PC computer companies, it's not a surprise they'd try to change positive new for apple into negative news.
HEADLINE: Number respondents saying "I will buy iPad" TRIPLES!
WOW!
The number of people who replied "Yes I think I would like to buy one" tripled from 3% to 9%! And no one has ever seen this device "in the flesh"
"Yes I am interested, but would like to see more" also increases from 19% to 21%. Let's say only 1% move from this group to buying. That would mean 10% are ready to buy. Roughly 300 million people in USA, oh - 1/2 are too young, OK this = 150 million people X 10% = 15 million people ready to buy an iPad.
That is pretty good news!
Why do you guys always slant the news to negative? Isn't that a bit biased?
A little slight of hand
A little slight of hand going on with these pies. Looks like the ones that didn't know about it (non-techs) once they found out about it, still don't see the need.
What is not pointed out is the number tripled for "Yes, I think I would like to buy one." And nearly doubled for "Yes, Definitely"
The question "From what you've heard about the tablet, do you think you need one?" is silly. Most of the tech we own, we don't NEED. Tech (gadgets) get things done. Hopefully they get things done faster and more accurately and/or allow us to do more things at once. If they don't, they fail...simple.
Anyone have the pie for the iPhone? Many of the people that couldn't care less have come around after being exposed to friends and family that have one. If they didn't get the iPhone they got the iTouch.
The same thing will happen with the iPad, but at a somewhat slower pace. Tablets (iPad is not a tablet) have never really taken hold. Until now, tablets were just computers; same computer problems but smaller package with a slightly more familiar input device (pen/stylus).
The iPad has the potential to be a game changer for industry and gaming (pun not intended) even without the consumer.
After more people are exposed to the iPad, it will catch on. The first (early adopters) will be industry and most likely will have external add-on accessories.
Back to work....
(AcousticVisions on twitter)
Dumb companies often make grammar errorz
I really had a good laugh about these numbers, the best thing of all is that no one seems to notice they misspelled "definitely" as "defintely". Come on don't take Retrovo too serious, they don't do that either!
Not that deceptive
The presentation in the pie chart is a little sloppy, but the gist remains:
Before: 35 + 26 = 61% didn't want to buy an iPad
After: 52 + 18 = 70% don't want to buy an iPad
While not as stunning at 26 => 52, it does show they did lose potential consumers.
And note, this is a fair bit different than than the iPhone. My neighbor needed a new phone and asked me. I recommended the iPhone or Pre if he wanted to use the web. This same guy would never come ask about a tablet. It's just not on the radar. This is really going to be more like Apple TV. The hardcore will get it, but most will sit on the sideline.
Big :D !! Boy where you
Big :D !! Boy where you wrong !
I *never* believe any consumer surveys - certainly not those influenced by MS in any way.
My next computer will be a MacPro IMHO anyone sticking to buying MS OS systems is a grade 1 idiot.
You forgot this piece of information
And so did the author.
Before: 3% said they would buy an iPad
After: 9% said they would buy an iPad
For a product with the hype machine in overdrive before the announcement, triple the number of people who are going to buy it is stunning. The iPad will be a home run.
generally critical that it
generally critical that it lacked imaginary features that OTHER journalists specified for it. The consumer is largely uneducated about this new category of device, other than the abject failure of the Tablet PC fiasco, so it is entirely premature to determine how it will sell. My guess, however, is that it will sell very well indeed.....Free Games
The Hardcore Will Get It?
If you think only the hardcore will "get it", I believe you should think again. I know of only 2 people in my limited little world who WILL be getting one, and neither of them are techies in the slightest.
That's my survey and I'm sticking to it.
Note, this is a fair bit
Note, this is a fair bit different than than the iPhone. My neighbor needed a new phone and asked me. I recommended the iPhone or Pre if he wanted to use the web. This same guy would never come ask about a tablet. It's just not on the radar. This is really going to be more like Apple TV. The hardcore will get it, but most will sit on the sideline.
John from Нарды Онлайн