Apple's iPad 2 Sells Out, Again

Why?

Have to wonder if apple hold back supply and even entire models (iPhone White) just to try and increase the buzz around their products and make demand appear higher.

Yes, a sad spectacle...

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe.” - Albert Einstein

Preach it brother.

The "Buzz" is the biggest factor Apple has been able to bring to bear on the tablet market. Somehow, Apple has been able to get most media outlets to report anything "Iphone or Ipad as
"News" instead of as tech trivia. Kudos to Mr. Jobs. He has most of the media outlets advertising for him. Shear Genius!!

I wonder how much more extremely successful products Apple has to create for the "people buy Apple products because they are stupid" crowd to finally accept that their oh-so-superior intelligence might have gotten it wrong? Maybe they make good products that people actually WANT to use. Just because you don't like their exorbitant prices and business model doesn't mean you are right and everyone who disagrees is wrong.

And yeah I'm exclusively a PC user but I'm not a fucking fanboy like many article commenters.

Sorry about the double post but did they take away the edit button from the forums? Bad grammar is kind of embarrassing.

znegval -

The direction the corporate world has taken: ditching "liabilities" like manufacturing plants and shifting into "branding". There are industrial psychologists who study brand imaging and how to get consumers to increase their brand loyaltly.

This is not to say that for many people that the iPad is not a good choice. However, there are people upset at what constitutes "news" for the Apple products. I don't recall seeing many years ago any articles on the power of a tablet PC using Corel Painter or ArtRage, yet when someone uses a dumbed-down app to fingerpaint on an Apple product is is headlines. Why?

Well, we know. People are obsessed with Apple. Tom's staffers have admitted that the Apple articles drive clicks, and clicks mean more ads served and greater revenue. As they have said, it is not a minor difference either. I believe it was at least an order of magnitude greater.

I have seen many good products drown out because of iMania. For example, do you think having an eReader with a plastic screen that wouldn't shatter would have a good use in the market? Say, perhaps as a substitute for heavy books used used in an academic environment (k-12 or college)? PlasticLogic had such a device, but under the media mania of the iPad they withdrew it. Now we do not have an eReader with a plastic display that was flexible, a device that you could step on and still have it function - whereas most devices if you stomp a boot on it will have a busted screen.

Branding alone does not drive all products, but there are many products that succeed by branding. Again, another example: The Coca-cola paradox. When doing a blind test, people often picked Pepsi as the better of the two products. However, when the brand was shown then people chose Coca-cola. Why would people in a blind test say they liked Pepsi, but in a non-blind test say they like Coke? Branding, brand loyalty, and the way it makes them feel.

You cannot tell me that there is not an "image" that Apple pushes for its products. Old, nerdy, and somewhat incompetent suit versus a sassy, young, and edgy hipster sound familiar? "It just works" is another aspect of their brand, even though there are those who show their products still have warts.

Yes, people want to use it - but do they want to use it because they looked at product capabilities for the cost and said it was good, or do they want it to fulfill some psychological or social need brought about by a marketing department? For some, the former is true - for others, the latter. It is the latter we concern ourselves with.

What apple is doing (if indeed they are doing) is not much different than the marketing ("buzz") of black friday. People are willing to go extreme measures to get products they want or think they want.
I can't say how apple is handling their supply, but as a manufacturing engineer, a product like this does take time to manufacture (milling the case is probably the bottleneck). I think apple should have postponed the launch date, but probably gave in to competition (Xoom, etc).
Also, I thought I read that they're only selling to US citizens/residents ... I'm pretty sure a lot of those waiting in line are only buying to sell overseas...

[quote][/qYes, people want to use it - but do they want to use it because they looked at product capabilities for the cost and said it was good, or do they want it to fulfill some psychological or social need brought about by a marketing department? For some, the former is true - for others, the latter. It is the latter we concern ourselves with.
quote]

But the same can be said for Windows, Google, Facebook and a host of other brands. The only brand people want to bash on Toms seems to be Apple. Like another poster said; I don't personally own a single Apple product, but I don't feel the need to bash Apple or their users. As I have posted before Apple comes out with a new product; and then all the PC brands (HP, Dell,etc...) and Phone makers (RIM, Motorola) Play catchup. The have Ipad beaters and Iphone beaters. Why didn't they market their product first if it was so good. Or do they just wait to see what Apples' ideas are and then try to copy the idea.

MDillenbeck - agree with you in a lot of areas, but not quite on plastic vs. glass screen. I believe one of the main reasons glass is used is because of higher precision (touch) for capacitive screens (in apple's case parasitic capacitance).

Buzz is part of what creates demand, stupid. If Apple holds back supply, the media says "Apple sells out!" and people buy it because if "that many" people buy the product, it must be good regardless of what the numbers sold are. People hear "sold out" in the media and it creates buzz.

Of course it sells out, better to create a huge line of people that wants it by artificially holding back supply.

You're the proof...

This doesn't surprise me. Considering Apple's brand image and the level of brand loyalty they are able to generate, it wouldn't surprise me that the next batch and the next batch after that sell out quickly too, it's just the way they've done things.

I have a Xoom on pre-order and can't wait for it .

I love the haters, because they wouldn't buy it, it is stupid. Because it doens't have certain specs, it is stupid. It continues to sell because it has a large demographic (ages 2 to 200) and doesn't take a rocket scientist or manual to use it. Since most computer users are content consumers, it is the perfect device. I can't wait to get my mom and Aunt one!

iPad is still the daddy.

I only had to wait about an hour in line at Best Buy, and I received mine on March 11. I feel sorry for the folks that have to wait, this is a wonderful tablet.

My cousin was the girl who sold her spot in line for $900, she didn't want the tablet at all, she was doing it to make money. Good for her I say. Sad for the buyer.

As far as the bashers are concerned, get a life. The iPad 1 is leaps ahead of most tablets out there, not to mention significantly cheaper as well. Now with the iPad 2, Apple has taken a giant leap foward. The Xoom, which isn't even on the shelf yet, is inferior in nearly every fashion. I find that most amusing. Oh well, to each their own.

Is the general public still thinking: "OMG it shines!!! I must have it!!!" ?

and out of the ones who bought this I wonder how many are having a hard time paying their mortgage or car payment....or rent. but yet everyone can run out and blow 500 bucks on one of these....

According to the news Apple may have sold 500,000 iPad 2 tablets on the weekend. This is impressive and millions more will be sold in the coming weeks. But the iPad 2 can be obtained for free if you follow certain conditions at http://www.digitalundivide.com

It obvious that Xoom gave in to Apple instead of the other way around. Why else would they release a product that unfinished? IE the SD card slot doesn't work and won't till they release an software update in the future, plus you have to send it to have the 4g card installed in May?

It's so funny to hear the same arguments about "people only buy Apple products because they're sheep and believe hyped marketing or want to be trendy" - the same arguments that have been applied to Macs, iPods, and iPhones.

Yes, there might be some people who are true "fanbois", but I think most people buy their products because Apple makes great hardware and software, makes them highly usable, and have great support (whether in-person at Apple Stores or over the phone) where other vendors try to win purely on specifications.

The truth is, it is not possible to get where Apple is by marketing and hype alone - look at Microsoft.

Damn! And to think I missed waiting in line for 8 hours............*yawn*

To each their own christopherknapp. I'm glad you like your new iPad, but most of us couldn't care less. I, like many others are sick and tired of Apple product releases being headlined as major news on EVERY. SINGLE. NEWS. OUTLET. IMAGINABLE. If you took a step back you'd see how ridiculous it is as well.

And 'We' have a life thank you very much. We're just tired of you Apple fans and interested parties polluting the stream of what constitutes 'real news' and our lives with Apple product announcements. Keep it on a dedicated forum or web page thankyouverymuchsirandiwouldn'tlikeanother.

Oh I know this is a tech site and its logical for it to cover all tech-related news, even Apple, but its ridiculous when it gets to a certain degree. People doing art or music on their iPads isn't tech news. It belongs on a webpage/forum *dedicated* to iPad users.

I would get one too. The $500 (16gb wifi) price tag is better than the $800 Xoom or $600 Samsung Tab.
Just saw one in person today and it's a beautiful piece of work. I'm still rooting for Honeycomb because I'm a Android guy.

Fact: Apple news generates more clicks/revenue than others, so its going to stay top news for a long time. Here on Toms "haters" clicks probably outnumber then pro-Apple users 10 to 1, as the haters stampede to bash Apple products.

So, if you hate Apple and want to see them gone, STOP CLICKING ON THE APPLE LINKS.

This has been a public service announcement.

[citation]Oh I know this is a tech site and its logical for it to cover all tech-related news, even Apple, but its ridiculous when it gets to a certain degree. People doing art or music on their iPads isn't tech news. It belongs on a webpage/forum *dedicated* to iPad users.[/citation]

iPad is tech news, as is any other tech product.
Your issue with apple is silly (which yes, they - like ANY company have issues, especially Microsoft, HP etc). Its NOT your problem there is a line... but you have a LIFE issue if you spend energy hating Apple.

As I type this... I'm installing iTunes for the first time ever, setting up my very first Apple product. No, its not an iPad2 - they are sold out big time and my company needs such a device by this weekend. We tried to get our hands on an iPad2 and we check out the other products.

So we bought a price-reduced iPad1 because it was STILL better than anything else on the market. And that IS sad. We tried the Galaxy Tab (we have Galaxy phones) and it wasn't good enough.

That *IS* not Apples fault that nobody has a competing product.

If apple starts selling to other countries before taking care of those who are listed as 4-5 week wait times, there will be hell to pay at the apple stores. No 3g units for sale anywhere within 200 miles of me. Ordered from verizon by phone, only to have them now claim their order number they gave me doesnt exist and they cant confirm the order for which they removed about $640 from my bank account.

MN - sorry to hear that... Hope you get your money back! Go through your bank to reverse charges.

The sales of the iPad2 are quite a bit higher than I expected. I wish I had one because of its feature set, but *I* needed an iPad device... which after I bought it, I realized it didn't have any cameras on it. But for my company needs, that is OKAY- it'll make me money, I sure wouldn't have mind having a thinner and more advanced iPad2.

Samsung's GalaxyS2 is thinner than the current models - gee thanks, thats ALL we need, a wider, taller - yet THINNER PHONE?!

I know Apple's secret: Any time the word Apple apears in an article's title, thousands of rabid Apple haters click on the link to post their intense burning, indifference toward the item in question. Companies don't read the comments, they just count the hits. More hits means more revenue...so, they crank out as many Apple announcements as they can. The general public sees all of these Apple headlines and figures whatever it is, it must be important. They begin lining up to purchase anything with the word Apple on it. So, on behalf of all the staff at Apple, thank you Tom's readers for making Apple the number one tech company in the world...couldn't have done it without you.