While, admittedly , it was difficult to find bad news about the iPad last Friday (for the first story in this series) , it is much easier today. Now lots of people have them (but not nearly as many as Apple wanted) and the buyers (plus the media, thank the Lord…finally) have begun looking beyond the pretty screen to see what is missing. Here is my second set of “cherry picked” “iPad Sucks” stories.
Nick Farrel: http://www.theinquirer.net : iPad sales fall short of estimates
Sales Suck
“But there were a few indications that things were not quite as good in Apple land as the reports indicated. While there was some of the usual hysteria, the numbers of actual bodies in queues outside Apple stores were significantly low…more than 300,000 Ipads were sold on day one. This would be considered great, but if you take into account the fact the figure included all the pre-sales and the hype that said a million would be flogged on Day One that number is dismal.”
Dan Frommer: San Francisco Chronicle : The Reason No One Is Bragging About iPad App Sales: The Numbers Are Too Small
Software Sales Suck
“…in the early days of Apple’s iPad app market, no one’s bragging about anything. Because the numbers are just too small so far.”
Yukaru Iwatani Kane : Wall Street Journal: First-Day Sales of Apple’s iPad Fall Short of Sky-High Hopes
Sales Suck Redux
” But though buyers flocked to Apple stores on Saturday in the first hours after the device went on sale, the long lines petered out at many stores by midafternoon. “
Nick Farrel: Tech Eye: iPad is packed full of problems
Bugs Suck
“Apple’s iPad appears to be chock full of problems which seem to have gone pretty much unreported by big media.
A trip to the Apple news boards shows that not everyone is happy about the gizmo which shipped with a few bugs. Most of the problems are related to faulty wifi on the iPad. “
Telecom TV One: http://www.telecomtv.com/ : iPad, iFad or iFade? the iPhone is outsold but the WiFi’s not working
Wifi Sucks
“A worrying proportion of the 300, 000 new owners are inevitably finding their customer experience is not up to scratch and attention has particularly focused on the iPad’s WiFi. Users are reporting on bulletin boards that the iPad is finding it hard to receive signal from WiFi hubs – today, the iPad’s only wireless connectivity option.”
Guy Clapperton: DaniWeb: iPad: the Backlash starts
No Internet Browsing Sucks (because of the WiFi bug)
“Apple’s new golden gadget, the iPad, appears to have laid its first golden egg. There are reports abounding of it failing to connect to WiFi networks properly – and Apple appears to have confirmed them….It’s difficult to overstate the importance of this bug, if it’s going to be a bug that lasts. Various research suggests that the vast majority of iPad owners will want to use the device to browse the web. “
Matt Phillips: Wall Street Journal Blogs : Apple iPad Launch: Takeaways on Margin, EPS Impact
Kids Think It Sucks
“Cross Research: ‘As has been widely noted, the iPad lacks Flash which does impact the user
experience. While we were not impacted by the lack of Flash, we note that games and other media sites do require it. Our children were unable to use clubpenguin.com and webkinz.com…’ “
Juli Weiner : Vanity Fair : iPad Backlash: The Time is Nigh
Backlashes Suck (for Apple)
” Just 24-hours after the initial (generally quite positive!) reviews came in, the iPad is already the subject of Internet backlash, hype’s dreaded doppelg’nger.”
Ker Than and Robert Roy Britt: LiveScience.com : 13 Glaring iPad Shortcomings
Shortcomings Suck
“awkward…heavy…slippery…glare…forget reading in the sun…fingerprints…it does not multitask…the browser is limited…keyboard stinks…no USB…iPhone only apps look horrible…the price is too high…it does not replace anything”
John Davision : GamePro : Apple iPad (Review)
No Flash Gaming Sucks
” As something intended to completely replace a small laptop as an entertainment media consumption device, the whole “not running Flash” thing is definitely a set back. If you could visit sites like Kongregate or Addicting Games and play everything they offer on the iPad, it probably would be the ultimate entertainment player for all ages.”
This is getting fun. I think the next one of these stories will be like shooting fish in a barrel. Within a few days, more kids will complain to their parents that they can’t play on their favorite Flash game sites on the shiny new iPad. Oh, but you can BUY a kids game for for the iPad $9.99 (or more). 1000s of games for free, or one for $9.99. Let’s see how parents feel after that.
Adobe: Listen, you need to start talking about this stuff. You may have lost the video battle (in the long run), but the WAR for games has just begun. Nothing, especially not the HTML 5 Canvas can match Flash for free web games.
This is your secret weapon.