Posted on 08/06/2010 1:27:38 AM PDT by Swordmaker
I'm taking time out tonight to share my iPad purchase story. My experiences in buying this device provide corroborating anecdotal evidence as to why I believe Apple will achieve $20 billion in revenue this quarter and blow away most revenue and eps estimates.
My $1,000 iPad Purchase
At the end of that day I had made a $1,000 iPad purchase (accouterment and sales tax included). I spent $1,053.60 to be exact and $960 before CA sales tax was added. The pre-tax amount is a nice even number because Apple doesn't do the silly ninety nine cent thing on hardware devices. The purchase odyssey required an eighty five mile round-trip trek along the highways and byways of Southern California and visits to two extraordinarily busy Apple retail stores on a Sunday afternoon.
I have nothing against Best Buy per se and certainly not when the store is located conveniently in my home city of Santa Clarita. On this Sunday afternoon the local store had the 64 GB Wi-Fi + 3G iPad in stock. It's not the model I wanted and I was determined to purchase the desired iPad accouterment at the same time. My list of accessories included the external keyboard, AppleCare, additional power cable and the Apple iPad case. I also wanted the 32 GB iPad and wasn't willing to fork over the additional $100 for the 64 GB model. Off to the Apple store in Glendale we go.
Glendale Apple Store
My wife and I arrive at the Apple Store in Glendale about 3:30pm and the store is absolutely packed. Every digital device on display has someone tending to it and every store staff member is busy with at least one customer and another waiting impatiently for their attention. The store also has absolutely no iPads in stock. Being the resourceful person she is, my wife grabbed the first seat that became available by a Mac on display, took out her iPhone, Googled store numbers and started making calls. The Best Buy in Burbank had no iPads in stock, the Best Buy in Santa Clarita still had the 64 GB model available and the Sherman Oaks Apple Store had the 64 GB model in stock but only if we hurry.
Not to leave the store empty handed and just in case the Best Buy in Santa Clarita was the only option remaining by the time we drove to Sherman Oaks, I bought all of the iPad accessories I wanted at the Glendale store. The accessories were easy to find. An available sales person to handle the sales was the challenge. Finally we get a staff person's attention. While processing the purchases he recommended we get on the waiting list for an iPad purchase at the store. Estimated wait time was three weeks. I reluctantly signed up as the purchase mode of last resort. We made a beeline for the Sherman Oaks Apple Store. By the time we made the 20 minute drive I had already received my confirmation email from Apple of my reservation at the store for the 32 GB iPad I wanted. I grumbled all the way to Sherman Oaks I didn't want to spend the extra $100 for the 64 GB model, but I had resigned myself to that fate if I wanted the iPad that day.
The Sherman Oaks Apple Store
Similar to the Glendale store, the Sherman Oaks store was packed. Not a single device on display was unattended. We did quickly find a store staff member and explained to him we were told 64 GB iPads were available. As he went to check, I mentioned to him I really wanted the 32 GB model just in case one was available. A few minutes later he comes out from the back of the store with a 32 GB iPad and two small, square boxes. He was intent on selling me MobileMe and AppleCare. I told him I had purchased AppleCare for the iPad in Glendale and had been a subscriber to MobileMe from its early days as a free service called iTools. He didn't want to relent. He said we could get a $30 discount on our MobileMe renewal. I told him my subscription renews in January and I was spending enough that day already. I told him the sales pitch was a good one. If it wasn't a hot day in July and wasn't so far from my January MobileMe renewal, I might have taken him up on the offer.
Purchase Complete!
To complete the purchase we had walk back by the Genius Bar. I took out my iTunes Rewards Visa Card. The sales person was curious about the nondescript black card. I explained it's an iTunes card and I was getting 2% back on the purchase in iTunes dollars. He seemed bewildered. I told him after he swipes the card he'll have the option of sending me an email receipt and the address is already encoded. I told him I wanted an email receipt and a paper receipt for the bag before I walked out of the store. He smiled and obliged.
I looked around and said to him and my wife, "Just look at this store. It's as busy as the Glendale store. No wonder Apple will report record revenue in eight days." Again, he looked bewildered and asked me if I was a stockbroker. By then two other store staff members were listening. I told him I wasn't a stockbroker but I follow Apple, publish revenue and earnings estimates for the company and believe it is and will remain the most amazing enterprise of our times. He smiled again. I think we both enjoyed the encounter.
Denouement
We drove home. I cancelled the purchase reservation at the Glendale store and unpacked the iPad. That was three weeks ago and when at home I hardly ever put it down. It's the most immersive Apple device I've ever owned.
All told I spent over a $1,000 at the Apple stores on that Sunday and about 25% of the iPad's purchase price on accessories and services. That's not including the $30 I immediately spent from home on the iPad versions of Pages, Numbers and Keynote. The Apple iPad is a revenue and earnings monster and these days the Apple retail stores are jammed with foot traffic. I reiterate my early 4th fiscal quarter revenue estimate of $20 billion and my share price forecast of $400 by early May 2011. The law of large numbers be damned.
You want me to celebrate Apples profits with you, knowing where the political donations those profits allow them to make are going?
I just wanted to say that every time I go to the malls in my area in SoCal (and I do go often!) the Apple stores are jammed with people.
Bill Gates is a Liberal. When making a choice for a computer, I chose the one that I like. Since I know Windows is not to my liking and gets viruses, and I love the Apple OS, I buy from them. And, they are top quality and well designed. It has nothing to do with politics.
The problem with the Apple threads lately has to do with ‘trolling”. Otherwise, why go on them if you prefer another OS?
This doesn't appear to be an OS thread. It's a hardware and money thread. Perhaps I misunderstood. Is OSX supposed to exempt Apple from any kind of criticism?
My most recent computer cost me a total of around a $1000, and that included a 27 inch monitor, 2 terabytes of harddrive space, a real keyboard and the ability to run flash games.
Thank the author of the article. I just posted it. I did buy an iPad, but I got my 64GB on the first day it was available in 3G.
I'm responding to to your non sequitur comment about your purchase of a PC 27" desktop computer on a thread about a tablet computer that weighs 1.5 pounds on my iPad while riding as a passenger in a car on Bradshaw Road in Elk Grove, Ca. Now, exactly where do you put that 27" monitor if you want to do something similar with that $1000 PC you just purchased???
What exactly is an iPad for? What are the top 5 things you do with it? I know what they look like, ... don;t know what you do with them.
I’m just pointing out that you can get a lot more than an iPad for a grand. His dollar:: computing power ratio with the iPad is pretty poor.
There’s non-game stuff to do with Flash too, at least that’s what I hear. The point being that you can’t do any Flash, productive or otherwise, on an iPad. And while Jobs has some good reasons (Flash is a pig) at this point in the web that’s kind of limiting. When I’m on the web I’m either using Flash or typing, one won’t work on the iPad and the other is kind of weak.
I didn’t say the iPad is no good. Just pointing out that for $1000 buck you can get a HELL of a lot more computing power. And yeah it’s not portable, which frankly is a good thing, people haul their computers and gadgets around too much. You should enjoy your DESTINATION when you travel, not the computer like device you could have stayed home to play with.
What are the top 5 things you do with your main computer?
For most: web browsing, email, minor financial, lightweight games, mapping, music, videos.
iPad does those, plus ebooks and a few other things. And it does them really well in a tiny, light, robust, slick, no hassle package.
The iPad does what it does anywhere (wireless ~8x10x0.5”), anytime (instant on, no unfolding and arranging and booting), always on (6-12 hours battery), always connected (3G makes a world of difference, cloud-oriented data model).
Other than prolonged typing, mass storage, software development, and hardcore gaming, I do everything on it because it’s always with me and easy to turn to. For those few uses, I have a quad core dual monitor terabyte storage gigabit networked monster - which isn’t going anywhere.
I rarely miss Flash.
And you’d be amazed how often an iPad is useful per the destination.
People used to say the same kind of things about cell phones.
Now it’s odd to not have one.
Like I said, if I’m on the web I’m doing something with Flash or I’m typing (probably here on FR). I wouldn’t want to type on a touch screen and Flash is out.
I’m not saying any kind of thing, other than if you want to blow a grand on a computer like device you can get a lot more computer for that kind of money. A pretty kick butt level of computer actually.
I don’t have a cellphone. Not a phone call kind of guy.
Yup, can have a kick butt computer for that price.
But you can’t carry it everywhere. And i mean everywhere.
Apply needs to your options.
That's a dubious premise.
Many people will not always upgrade to the newer one. And some folks will be lured away by competitors.
That's a risky premise to be resting your theory upon.
I’m a price comparison kind of guy. Knew somebody that worked someplace where whenever they upgraded the infrastructure the CEO would explain the outlay in how many cases of Milwaukee’s Best you could buy for how much this stuff was going to cost. Small companies can do silly things like that, and it really does help you visualize how much server class machines, Cisco routers, and other sundry actually costs. And since this one so closely matched how much my computer cost ($1030) it’s a pretty easy and obvious comparison, and kind of forces me to think of iPads as overpriced. If you like it great, but really, a thousand bucks, no flash, no DVD, no keyboard, and a tiny screen I couldn’t hope to see without my glasses which I’d need to be cleaning my fingerprints off of constantly?! No way jose, even if I wanted portable computing there’s no way I’d do it.
Here’s my Apple safari today....
This is NC taxfree weekend.
Apples stores opened at 7AM instead of the usual 10AM.
Found out they flew in extra sales staff from around the Country to handle the expected crush.
Apple was not disappointed.
My wife and I arrived around 8:45A. The line was about 200 ft. long out the door and around the corner of the store.(it had been so since 7A.)
It took us 1 1/4 hr. to get into the store. Sales staff was bringing out large tubs of cold water bottles for us. Nice touch.
Starbucks across the walkway was also taking orders.
We got inside, met our personal salesman, from NJ, and proceeded to pick out what we came for, an iMac 21.5” for my wife.
She used her school discount, got an iTouch. W/ rebate $0. I was going to replace my gen. 1 iTouch but my wife talked me into getting an iPad. (gotta love her)
Also exercised the printer rebate and bought a Canon all in one .
Between rebates, educator discount, taxfree weekend we saved a bundle, big bundle!
Happy, happy, happy
Oh, one more observation.
We walked out around10:45AM. The line outside was 300ft. long at least.
Jordan Creek?
Yeah. Very tiny and the only one in the state!
Still... always PACKED.
Picked up a 3G iPad myself in Greensboro this evening, line wasn’t too awfully bad, a little over half an hour.
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