Looks like the new iPad is going to be a much bigger hit than New Coke.But there's the right way, the wrong way, and the Apple way to solve the "killing too many Chinese workers" problem with the iPad.
On Friday, Apple started selling the third version of its tablet computer, which comes outfitted with a faster processor and a so-called Retina display screen, which is four times sharper than its predecessor.
The device made its debut as the day began across the globe, first in Tokyo and Australia and a few other countries, before arriving in the United States at 8 a.m Eastern time. Several news outlets have been reporting that throngs of people eager to be among the first to own the new tablet are lining up around the world. Among them was Steve Wozniak, Apple’s co-founder, who announced on Twitter that he planned to queue up in Los Angeles to buy his device. “Starting a line for the new iPad tomorrow,” he wrote on Twitter late Thursday night.
The new iPad, which starts at $499, boasts an avalanche of pixels and a version compatible with LTE, or the fourth-generation wireless network known as 'long-term evolution'.
The crowds, however, seem to be more muted than they were last year for the release of the iPad 2. The reason is mainly because there was no pre-order available for the iPad 2, forcing shoppers to line up at Apple’s retail stores, said Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray. “We observed 750 people in line at 8 a.m.,” wrote Munster in a note. “This compares to 1,190 last year at the time of the iPad 2 sale.” Even so, Munster said he expected Apple to report that it sold more than a million devices over the weekend.
In San Francisco, a steady rain reduced the usual festive spirit among the crowds. Nevertheless, several hundred people were in line before doors opened at 8 a.m. Two protesters stood out in front of the store with a banner decrying labor practices in China, where the devices are made.
One of the loneliest corners of a shopping mall on the day Apple’s new iPad came out has to be (what else?) the Microsoft store. But, in fact, the spacious Microsoft-operated retail store in the Bellevue Square mall outside of Seattle had a respectable number of people milling about in the early afternoon, including a young woman swinging her arms around wildly as she played a Star Wars videogame using Microsoft’s Kinect motion-sensing controller for the Xbox.
Still, the Microsoft store in Bellevue Square, one of a handful around the United States that has sought to capture some of the cachet of Apple’s stores, couldn’t compete with the iPad-hungry crowds at the Apple store just a short walk away. One store employee estimated that there were a couple hundred people lined up in front of the Apple store when it opened in the morning. By early afternoon, the store was still jammed, but the store had not yet sold out of the new iPads.
Rico says the Chinese in the factories were dying because of having to polish the aluminum housing for the iPad and iPad 2. The new one (not called the iPad 3, to everyone's surprise) comes in either black or white, thus solving the problem the Apple way...
Rico says he's buying a new iPad any day now, but wouldn't buy a New Coke if you paid him to...
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