My $1,000 iPad Purchase Odyssey (And The Law Of Large Numbers Be Damned)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Who the hell would want to spend too much to Apple, and have to spend too much monthly for something that is not necessary?

I’ll take my Kindle and laptop and home build Windows 7 PC. I can access whatever I need for free with it, and I don’t need to answer to what Apple deems I need to see and not see.

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.

Portability: the 27" monitor will probably fit through your car door with minimal difficulty. It will, however, reduce windshield visibility and limit the maximum number of passengers in your vehicle.

The last time we tried to carry a 27" monitor and 2 terabyte hard drive box into a ballpark, we were forced to purchase two extra tickets. The big beautiful monitor just sat there, precariously hanging off the seat, dark and forlorn. The hard drive was a better fit, but it wouldn't boot up properly. Eeesh, we forgot to bring the 40 pound backup energy supply.

Next time, we plan to buy a bigger vehicle, and bring along another friend to haul the power supply. Then we can use the system as it was originally designed. "Live and learn" is our motto.

Like I already pointed out to people, since that was a recent purchase and almost the exact same price it made an easy comparison of just how much computer one COULD buy with that money vs how much the writer of this article actually did buy.

If portability was my A#1 then I’d probably get an Asus Netbook. Real (small) keyboard, non-touch screen (I don’t know what the world’s current fascination is with touch screens, they really aren’t that great, come down to Tucson and get some August sweat going and play with the touch screen), 250GB of storage, more I/O ports, and it runs full operating systems so you can run all the same software your desktop does for easy work sharing. And you can almost buy 3 of them for the price this guy bought an iPad for.

Now stick your petty sarcasm where the sun don’t shine.

come down to Tucson and get some August sweat going and play with the touch screen

In Florida, we just mix the humidity with sweat and then it rains, and we start all over again. It's a whole lot easier to wipe off a touch screen than to clean each individual key on a qwerty during road trips and airline flights.

Never touched one. My MP3 player is a Samsung P3 intended for the Korean market but you can get it from Amazon. One of my non-negotiable features for an MP3 is that I be able to access it like a thumbdrive, I don’t want to be forced to use some annoying sync software, I want to just put the files on there my way. Which pretty much ruled out iPod and Zune from the start.

But you don’t have to clean each individual key, you can just accept that there’s dirt on there and move on. With a touch screen you have to look through the dirt because that’s where your content is, on the wrong side of the finger prints. Then there’s how the finger prints interfere with touch detection. I consider touchscreens to be one of the 5 most generally overrated pieces of technology ever. Hopefully the tech world will fall out of love with them soon.

When does the iPad hit the wall?

E.g., I know it can surf the web. Presumably, it can look up stock quotes. But would you use it to log onto your broker and trade?

The iPad struck me as too big to be a phone, too underpowered to function as a personal computer, and thus not warranting a slot in my luggage (since I need to bring the phone, and I need to bring a computer, if I'm to get any serious work done). Serious work, in my case, means software development, not just stock trading. It's clear I'd need the computer for the former if not the latter.

Maybe I'm just getting senile, but my preferred environment is not mobile, but static, with my MacBook Pro plugged into a 2560x1600 external monitor (the bigger the screen, the more immersive the experience) with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse (I never use the MBP's keyboard and trackpad if I can avoid it).

Should be great for trading stocks. That one time you realize you should buy or sell RIGHT NOW will pay for the iPad alone.

It hits the wall with heavy-duty anything.
It shines with light-weight RIGHT NOW anything.

I’m writing this while on the patio enjoying a nice afternoon. Dragging the desktop out here is impossible, and dragging the laptop out is easy yet still requires deliberate fiddling. Having this iPod handy is as easy as having a magazine.
Any time I don’t have it I find a reason to miss it.

It is not a desktop replacement.
It is not really a laptop replacement.
It is not replaced by a phone.
It fills the gap of anywhere, anytime, realistic screen size.

No it’s not for everyone.
But for those for whom it is for, it is awesome.

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