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Apple steps up iPad 2 campaign to push functionality over hardware specifications

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Apple steps up iPad 2 campaign to push functionality over hardware specifications
AppleInsider | Apple steps up iPad 2 campaign to push functionality over hardware specifications
Apple has started airing a new spot promoting iPad 2 as a collection of "delightful, even magical" integrated functions rather than just a device with various hardware specifications.

I don't like this ad. Sure it's great cause it focuses on what we want to hear. But I much preferred the old "An ipad is this and an ipad is that apps". Cause it put ideas into people's heads, "hmmm if an ipad is all this, then maybe it can be so much more too". I think Apple is just assuming the world knows exactly what an ipad is. Maybe the world does. But it's a touch well not arrogant but more complacent from Apple.

A good ad over all but I preferred last year's one more.
 
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I thought that was a good ad. Showed off some of the cool 'tricks' (turning pages, etc) that the iPad does, which I think is a big part of what grabs people's attention about it. Plus, it showed a wide range of apps.
 
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Each time I wander into Fry's and ask about iPad2's, only to be told "we have a waiting list that's 2-3 weeks" or the Apple Store guy says "we'll have some this weekend but I don't know what kind or how many" and there's a line at 6am that day, I am reminded that actually trying to market this device is unnecessary.

Producing MORE iPad2s is necessary.
 
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Apple steps up iPad 2 campaign to push functionality over hardware specifications
AppleInsider | Apple steps up iPad 2 campaign to push functionality over hardware specifications


I don't like this ad. Sure it's great cause it focuses on what we want to hear. But I much preferred the old "An ipad is this and an ipad is that apps". Cause it put ideas into people's heads, "hmmm if an ipad is all this, then maybe it can be so much more too". I think Apple is just assuming the world knows exactly what an ipad is. Maybe the world does. But it's a touch well not arrogant but more complacent from Apple.

A good ad over all but I preferred last year's one more.

I think the ad is probably going to be effective within its target market: folks who think of hertz as a car rental company. Technology geeks aren't going to be swayed by the argument that hardware doesn't matter (and those of who have been around for a while probably remember that the last time they tried this, they were seriously lagging behind the rest of the industry), and Apple evangelists probably already have an iPad, will be getting an one, or recommending one, or drooling over one anyway.

As for iPad's recognition -- I don't know that this ad assumes you know what an iPad is. It seems to show a device that's doing some nifty things and then telling you what it is. It's meant to say "Hey, check this out." To which your brain replies, "Oh, that's awesome. What is it?" and then the commercial answers: "It's an iPad."

On a purely subjective level, I like the ad because it's understated, yet powerful. But, ultimately, the only measurement that matters to Apple is "Did it work?"
 
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I wish someone handed the people at Apple a dictionnary. Or at least removed the word "magical" from the one they're using. They've really over-used the word in the last 2-3 years.
 
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Sure, except that's how people describe their products--often without prompting. When people adopt a product the way they have with the iPhone, iPod, and iPad, where it almost seems like there's no competition, and it just works--which is something most people don't experience outside of the Apple ecosystem--I think that they're allowed to say 'magical'.

Great ad, but totally unnecessary. Marketing this thing is pointless because it has to be held and used; friends, family, and a trip to the Apple store already get that ball rolling.
 

iWhat

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Apple tends to push experience of the product over selling the hardware, especially in the iPad. Looking at a Dell's laptop page as compared to Apple's Macbook page, the message and language used is very different.

You'll notice this, when Steve Jobs mentioned that other tablet makers are pushing to replace the PC with the tablet. The other tablet makers are trying to make it as similar to a laptop replacement as possible -- trying to stuff it with the most hardware and desktop OS experiences as possible.
 

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The other tablet makers are trying to make it as similar to a laptop replacement as possible -- trying to stuff it with the most hardware and desktop OS experiences as possible.
Here is the perfect evidence for that statement. I saw a commercial for that this morning and genuinely thought "who makes this tablet?" only to be surprised that it was in fact a notebook.
 

iWhat

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Here is the perfect evidence for that statement. I saw a commercial for that this morning and genuinely thought "who makes this tablet?" only to be surprised that it was in fact a notebook.

They keep showing those on QVC. And my mother shops with them all the time. So naturally, she keeps getting more interested in it. I keep telling her it's NOT a tablet, it's a gimmicky laptop with a fake tablet experience. :p
 
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They keep showing those on QVC. And my mother shops with them all the time. So naturally, she keeps getting more interested in it. I keep telling her it's NOT a tablet, it's a gimmicky laptop with a fake tablet experience. :p

Only, if Apple made it first... I'd bet yer own biddy that you'd be calling it revolutionary and magical. I think that Dell really have something with that design. It's a great hybrid. If only its form factor were as slim (all together) as the iPads'.

Its main issue: Windows 7. Windows is not meant to be an OS for multitouch screen functions. Also, from what I can see, the GUI they're using has been written on top of the original one. That seems silly to do. If that thing had an OS built from scratch written for that type of machine, it would be a lot better. But all this is a moot point.

The design is wonderful IMO, but shot down by its form factor and OS. This will continue to be an issue for every other tablet manufacturer out there IMO. Android's main issue is market fragmentation. Google needs to get a grip on what goes on beyond the OS code, such as when updates are to roll out, and keeping said updates at the same interval between all OEM manufacturers, and so on...

Doug
 

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It's a great idea and looks pretty cool to me.
If there were no iPad, I might even consider something like this.

Couple of big issues:

The 1st gen iPad at 1.5 lbs is too heavy to hold up in the air for anything longer than a few minutes. This thing weighs in at 3.4 lbs and someone is going to hold it like this?
20110405-e2ijwptcuexui77wpwkamwrg3f.jpg


I don't think so. At least not long enough to read more than a couple of pages. They couldn't even get their own model to hold it up like that without having a thumb over on the screen!!

The other really bad idea - Windows 7. Not designed for a touchscreen we all know already. But the other, much bigger issue, is that people will think they can install any app they can install on Win 7 on this thing. That's a problem.

At least with iOS and Android... the developers are redeveloping for the hardware in the machines. There's not a developer in their right mind that's going to put out 2 versions of an app for the same OS.

Can't you just see a game developer coming out with 2 Windows 7 versions of a game? Here's the version if you have a real PC with a real video card in it and here's the version if you have one of those junkie netbook things. How else would they spin this?

While the pricing is similar - starting at $550 - the warranty Apple offers on the iPad at $79 is $170 for this Dell and goes up from there.

The best part of it is, Dell knows this is yet another PC. And Dell knows where the price of a PC goes after it's sold. They have one of the new buy back plans where you can pay Dell $25 up front and they'll give you 50 cents on the dollar up until it's 6 months old and that goes down to 30 cents on the dollar when it's 12 months old so you can trade up. Meanwhile, if you can't get 70 cents on the dollar for a 1 yr old iPad, you just wanted the first offer instead of waiting for the 2nd offer.

This is Windows. I'd like to know how you can have a Windows machine with out an optical drive. Yeppers, that's extra too. There's no restoring this thing by connecting it to your computer and reinstalling the OS. You're gonna need a copy of the OS and a drive to get it installed.

Again, this is a great idea and concept for a portable mini-notebook. Competitor in the tablet market, it's not. Competitor to the MBA? Yeah, I'd say for a lot of people it surely is that. If I could fold a MBA in half like this, I'd already have one and probably be turning my nose up at the iPad.
 

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At least with iOS and Android... the developers are redeveloping for the hardware in the machines. There's not a developer in their right mind that's going to put out 2 versions of an app for the same OS.
Aside from the weight, which will likely be a deterrent for most, this is the biggest problem. Excluding hardware for a moment, Apple has a much more elegant solution in the tablet market given that iOS was designed from the ground up for mobile touchscreen devices. The tailored nature of apps for iOS devices means that the experience is leagues ahead of what will be available for this device. If Dell was serious about having a tablet/notebook hybrid, they'd look into some system in which the device would have the best of both worlds. For instance, the machine could dual boot Windows and Android (or some other mobile platform) with quick switching between the two.
 
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Even Google realised you need a mobile touch based OS for tablets. Right OS for the right device. But the windows crowd still don't get this. And they've been told over and over. Sad really.
 

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