The Apple iPad leap of faith
The questions of the day are really quite simple: Should you preorder a device you've never touched, played with or used in any fashion? And will gadget lust trump logic?
That's what everyone is wondering. It's the curse of the early adopter. The logic goes like this:
- I have to preorder the iPad or I may not get one.
- OK, so I've never tried it but man it looks good.
- But I want to be the coolest geek on the block.
- And it's revolutionary.
- No wait, do I really want to plunk down $499.
- Oh why not I'll order two.
Logically, you know that this preorder fiesta may not work out well. Early adopters never win, but Apple folks can't resist. The preordering is probably off the charts. The logical move would be to wait to see it in stores, try it out and then buy.
But as we all know logic is no match for gadget lust. And there are a lot of lusty folks out there right now (and some of them blog at ZDNet):
- Matthew Miller: iPad: To pre-order - or not?
- Adrian Kingsley-Hughes: iPad: Should I pre-order or wait?
- Jason O'Grady: Hoarding iPads? Here's how to order four
- Gallery: the iPad pre-order process (updated)
- Jason Perlow: Apple iPad: The Deed Is Done
- Joel Evans: Apple iPad: Pre-order complete
And me? I just can't bring myself to preorder this iPad. I want to see it first. I still have a lot of questions and more importantly I haven't quite discovered the personal use case for me yet.
The pace of tablet, laptop and smartphone technology is really beginning to favor the late adopter. You know Apple will drop prices with the second generation iPad. You know there will be more memory in the future for less money. Simply put, it's a leap of faith to be an early iPad adopter.
That willingness of Apple customers to make that leap is the company's biggest asset. Apple can make almost anything and sell 1 million units. From there, Apple can refine the product. So many companies struggle to hit that 1 million unit mark yet Apple can hit it relatively easily even with a device no one has really seen or held. The formula is quite beautiful from a business perspective: Generate buzz; Sell; Delight customer; Refine; Repeat.