Tag Archives | Tablets

Hold It: Apple Shelving iPad 2s to Ease Inventory Pressure?

Posted by Matt Peckham on March 16, 2011 at 9:10 pm

Let’s say you’ve arrived at your local Apple Store with intent to purchase an iPad 2, but alas, the salesperson tells you they’re out of stock. Tragic, right?

But what if they’re really in stock after all? What if the next time you’re politely turned away with one of those frowning smiles, there’s actually a stack of perfectly salable iPad 2’s nesting comfortably in the store’s back room?

Why would Apple (or anyone) hang on to iPad inventory? Well, because they’re Apple, and they work in magical-mysterious ways, but also–according to an AppleInsider tipster–because the company’s hoping to ease pressure on store inventory checkers, who’ve apparently been pretty stressed getting new iPad 2 shipments properly catalogued before they land on store shelves.

Continue Reading →

One comment

Dear Samsung: Enough With the Tablet Teasers Already

Posted by Jared Newman on March 16, 2011 at 12:23 pm

Oh Samsung, you’re such a tease.

For a couple of weeks, you’ve been hinting at an 8.9 inch tablet, first with a press event invitation, and now with a YouTube video of some dimly-lit, stylized renderings. Just one problem: Nobody cares.

Admittedly, it was cool when you teased the original Galaxy Tab late last year. Back then, Apple’s iPad didn’t have any legitimate contenders. Even if the 7-inch tablet was a bit of a let-down — picture a steroided smartphone OS with a tablet app deficiency — you gave us something to talk about while we waited in line at the Apple Store.

Continue Reading →

3 comments

The iPad 2’s Display: Nice, But Not Perfect

Posted by Harry McCracken on March 16, 2011 at 10:43 am

My friend Dr. Ray Soneira of DisplayMate Technologies has reviewed the iPad 2′ screen, comparing it to the iPhone 4’s “retina” display. The news is mostly good–he likes the iPad 2’s display a lot and says that “retina” resolution isn’t all that important–but he also has some interesting technical quibbles which he says Apple could fix with a software update.

One comment

iPad 2 Supply Levels Worsen, Queues Reappear

Posted by Ed Oswald on March 15, 2011 at 6:20 pm

On Friday, I reported that just hours after the iPad 22 was made available though Apple’s online store, ship dates had slipped to two to three weeks. Stock has continued to dwindle, and on Tuesday the company pushed back ship dates further to four to five weeks.

The story at the company’s own stores and its retail partners was much the same. Many stores reported that they were completely sold out, with shipments only appearing at some stores Tuesday and not others. Yesterday, the Apple Bitch blog reported that some stores would open early — which they did in some cases — but many did not know until this morning whether the shipments they received included new iPads.

Anecdotal reports indicate that the reporting yesterday may have triggered some consumers to queue at various Apple Store locations (See the comments on this Macworld story, for example), typically much longer than the number of available iPad 2s. What does seem to be a repeated refrain is that even if stores receive shipments midday, they would not be available for sale until the next morning.

Unfortunately, the only recommendation if you’re still looking for one is to keep calling, and keep checking. Or wait until this all shakes out. One has to wonder if the iPad 2s international availability is again in jeopardy.

3 comments

Apple’s iPad 2: It’s Still the One

Posted by Harry McCracken on March 14, 2011 at 11:12 pm

When Apple unveiled the iPad back in January of 2010, the company’s competitors rightly saw a huge opportunity. Now that Steve Jobs & Co. had created the first modern tablet computer, other manufacturers could build on the ideas it originated. They could offer features that it didn’t. They could deliver more bang for the buck.

Almost fourteen months later, the promise of a tablet market is still mostly just that: promise. RIM, for instance, announced its intriguing BlackBerry PlayBook last September but still hasn’t revealed a ship date. HP says only that it hopes to have its TouchPad out by summer. Motorola’s Xoom, meanwhile, hit stores in February with so many of its theoretically iPad-crushing features yet to be implemented—4G wireless, Adobe’s Flash Player software, the memory-card slot—that it should have come with a wad of IOUs in the box. (Adobe says that Flash will be ready on March 18th.)

Clearly, this tablet stuff is tricky. There is, however, one company that’s managed to ship a model that’s unquestionably superior to the iPad. That company would be Apple–and the tablet is the iPad 2, which went on sale at Apple Stores and other retailers on March 11th. It’s not a profound rethinking of the first-generation iPad; plenty of things, in fact, haven’t changed a bit. But it’s a significantly more refined take on a device that was pretty darned polished in the first place.

Continue Reading →

9 comments

iLines Part Deux: Some Apple Stores to Open Early Tuesday

Posted by Ed Oswald on March 14, 2011 at 3:11 pm

By all accounts, Friday’s launch of the iPad 2 was a success. Analysts say the company likely sold at least 500,000 units over the weekend — with some saying Apple may have sold close to a million units. If you found an iPad on Sunday, consider yourself lucky: most places had sold out of the device on Saturday if not on launch day itself.

This success may be the reason why Apple may be quietly planning to open some of its stores an hour early on Tuesday, according to the Apple Bitch blog. Those walking into Apple Stores today are being told that even if they receive shipments today to replenish stocks, iPad 2s will not available until Tuesday.

With many stores opening typically at 10:00am, this would mean those stores would open at 9:00am instead.

Continue Reading →

No comments

No iLine for Me This Year

Posted by Harry McCracken on March 11, 2011 at 2:02 pm

I got up at the crack of dawn and waited in a long, long line for the original iPhone. I did the same for the iPhone 3G. And the iPhone 3GS. And the iPad. (In all cases, I did it partially to acquire products to review, and partially to report on the all the wackiness associated with the iLine experience.

But I’m not in line right now to buy an iPad 2–instead, I’m on my way to Austin for the South by Southwest conference. (Or trying to get there, at least–a three-hour flight delay turned my flight to Austin into a flight to Houston, plus another three hours in a rent-a-car.) There are, however, still iLines around the country–maybe not of record-setting length, but still formidable. AppleInsider’s Daniel Eran Dilger has a report on the one at the flagship Apple Store in San Francisco. (I took the photo above at the same store during the 2007 iPhone launch.)

6 comments

Adobe’s Better Mobile Flash: Coming March 18th

Posted by Harry McCracken on March 11, 2011 at 8:16 am

Adobe has announced that Flash Player 10.2 for Android–the first version that supports the tablet-friendly Android 3.0 Honeycomb and which supports the performance-boosting, power-minimizing Stage Video feature–will be available on March 18th. One way or another, Its arrival will surely restart the whole “Should iOS users be distraught over Apple’s refusal to permit Flash?” debate…

5 comments

The Tablet Bubble May Be Ready To Burst

Posted by Ed Oswald on March 10, 2011 at 9:37 am

We may want to file this one in the so-obvious-it-doesn’t-need-an-analyst department: the tablet sector may be en route to a shakeout later this year. JP Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz wrote in a report released Wednesday that competitive pressures put on companies by the iPad 2 might be enough to cause the “bubble” to burst.

Let’s face it, CES 2011 was a sea of tablets from just about every company known to man. I’ve heard some accounts that the number of devices shown off the show was near a hundred, so it’s obvious some will fail in the marketplace or not even see the light of day.

Continue Reading →

3 comments

The First (and Last) Words on the iPad 2

Posted by Harry McCracken on March 9, 2011 at 11:43 pm

The iPad doesn’t show up at retail stores until 5pm on Friday, but the first reviews of big tech products usually break on Wednesday evenings–and so a bunch of major sites rendered their verdicts on Apple’s second-generation tablet tonight.

There are no shockers. Everybody likes it. They find it a thoroughly pleasing refinement rather than a reinvention of iPad #1. They all find a nit or two to pick, but nobody identifies another company’s model as superior. Actually, they agree that it’s the best tablet on the market.

As usual, the last paragraphs–or, occasionally, the last two paragraphs–of the reviews tend to nicely summarize the author’s take. So here are a bunch of ’em…

Continue Reading →

4 comments