New iPad not greeted by rioting mobs – is this the start of the end of apple?
SOMETHING really rather strange has happened over at Apple. They’ve released a new product and yet we have no reports of stampeding crowds or rioting mobs screaming into the stores to get their hands on one.
Indeed, it’s rather the opposite:
Braying hordes of fanbois hungry for new iPads failed to turn up outside Blighty’s Apple stores today despite months of rumour, hype and speculation. Although slab shoppers were nonchalant in London, they were positively wet in Scotland. A queue of hundreds swiftly ebbed away outside the fruity tech titan’s Regent Street outlet, allowing at least one punter who rocked up at 9am to grab the improved fondleslab five minutes later.
The line was much more muted than previous iPad launches during which unlucky fans were turned away empty-handed.
A queue that only lasts an hour after the doors have opened just isn’t what we’ve come to expect from an Apple launch.
It’s possible that this is a sign that the magic is rubbing off. People just aren’t as excited about these new products as they used to be. That has damaging implications for Apple’s future share price.
It’s also possible that they’ve simply managed to get their logistics worked out. Enough stock in enough stores on the day of launch that there’s just no need for long queues.
Of the two I’d tend to believe the first as the second is just too fantastical to ever actually happen.
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Apple fans put on free promotional t-shirts with purchase of the newly launched iPad device Friday March 16, 2012 in Singapore. The customary storefront crowds gathered as Apple's latest iPad went on sale starting in Asia on Friday. Gadget fans lined up in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore so they could be among the first to get their hands on the device. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
Posted: 16th, March 2012 | In: Technology Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
