There is a long and noble tradition in the UK whereby bookmakers, presumably bored of laying odds for the 3.30 at Kempton, succumb to attacks of whimsy and engage in the far more interesting task of assessing (amongst other things) whether it is likely to snow on Christmas morning; whether aliens will visit us at some point in the next year; which actor will be the next Doctor Who; which celebrity will win whichever tedious reality show is the flavour of the month.
And the British public responds in kind by placing large amounts of money on said bets. And everybody is happy, particularly the bookmakers, except when its snows in London on Christmas day.
Well, then. I can now announce that we have finally, definitively, entered a high-tech age, an age where gadgetry is supreme. This is because Paddy Power, God bless ‘em, responded to the veil of secrecy that had been cast over the launch of Apple’s new product by opening a book on the name of said product. As I type these words, we’re still four minutes from the grand announcement, so I could – if I was that way inclined, plump for iTablet (1/2 fav), iPad or iSlate (both 3/1), iBook (12/1) or, moving down the field, place my money on outsiders like The Microsoftner and Googlebuster (both 100/1) or – a blast from the past – EtchaSketch (500/1).
One minute now…
OK, it’s three minutes past six now… here’s Steve Jobs… lots of numbers, yes three billion apps downloaded, we heard that the other day…
And over to Steve:
“All of us use laptops and smartphones now. Everybody uses a laptop and/or a smartphone. Is there room for a third device in the middle?””
But what’s it called Steve, what’s it called?
IPAD!! Ooh, iPad. The second favourite wins it at 1011 PST.
OK, now the nomenclature has been sorted out – what’s it for?
“Browsing the web . Do(ing) email. Enjoying and sharing pics. Playing games. Reading ebooks… It’s so much more intimate than a laptop and so much more capable than a smartphone with this gorgeous, large display.”
Thanks, Steve. But – what’s it like?
Well, it’s slim – less than half an inch thich – with a ten inch screen, a 1GHz processor, 10 hours of battery life, and built-in iTunes.
It looks sleek, elegant and streamlined, and the apps that Steve Jobs et al demonstrated during the presentation were of high quality. But the answer to the question that Steve posed above – “Is there room for a third device in the middle” is what will decide whether the iPad sinks or swims. Now that betting on the name has closed, perhaps Paddy Power should open a book on that one?
I am not a betting man. But if I were, then my instincts would tell me to put my money on the iPad. Because, you see, it’s from a stable that has produced a lot of winners; and pedigree counts for a lot in this business.
Just one downside.
They should have called it EtchaSketch. Sure, there’d have been copyright issues, but, you know, nostalgia and all that…
Tags: iPad; Apple; Paddy Power
“I am not a betting man. But if I were, then my instincts would tell me to put my money on the iPad. Because, you see, it’s from a stable that has produced a lot of winners; and pedigree counts for a lot in this business.”
Wow –
It’s the iPhone OS vs. the Mac OS. It costs more than a netbook & their is no validated market “in-between”. Not to say that there may not be pent up demand, but it’s definitely a big gamble. Laptop people with smartphones are likely not going to want another browsing/game-playing device, so that leaves desktop people (or no PC people) with feature phones who want something more powerful.
I can sort of get that, but not at the iPad price point – particularly after you buy the docking station & the data plan. No GPS, no vid cam for web conferencing and tied back to the app store business model, where most (not all) apps download half-lives are short-lived and make limited money for their developers. Just seems like it’s a half a bubble off what most people need/want. I guess time will tell. For me, the hype and the reality are out of whack.
I also must disclose that I am a Mac laptop person (which I love) running a Windows 7 VM so I can work with the rest of the world and demo non-apple software, with a non-Apple smartphone. I am neither a die-hard Apple fan or nor an Apple basher. Just a curious, and slightly surprised technology user and proponent of mobile Web services (to which I’m thankful for Apple’s attention to the smartphone category).
Like you say, Liz, it’s certainly a big gamble. That said, there are substantial numbers of “Mac Heads” out there who will presumably form the core of early adopters. On top of that, Apple demonstrated with successive editions of the iPhone that, as far as product marketing goes, they are at the very top of the tree – they may have been in part identifying a customer need but they also created one…