

IPad Will Be Available In The U.S. Starting On April 3 - whyleym
http://techcrunch.com/2010/03/05/ipad-will-be-available-in-the-u-s-starting-on-april-3/

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joezydeco
Not saying this is deliberate, but I wonder if there's an advantage to
launching a new device around tax season in the USA.

If you're crunching numbers and discover you're getting a few hundred back,
are you more inclined to spend it on something like this if the hype syncs up
with the money?

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tiffani
There's definitely a benefit to doing that. Didn't have to pay this year, so I
took part of my refund and got a new MacBook Pro.

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joezydeco
If a MacBook Pro takes up "part" of your refund, you really need to modify
your exemptions and stop letting the IRS hold your money all year long.

The IRS even gives you a handy calculator to figure it out:
<http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96196,00.html>

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staunch
Unfortunately for too many people their excess tax withholdings are their only
saving plan.

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notauser
If your IRS refund is your only form of saving, then spending it on a MacBook
Pro takes you to a whole new level of bad decision making.

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staunch
Unfortunately it also makes you a fairly typical American.

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mattmaroon
It is baffling how many people treat a tax return like it's found money, when
in reality it's the end result of you losing money. People think "oh sweet I
can buy a laptop" rather than "oh crap I lost a bunch due to inflation and
missed interest".

Sometimes I wish I knew less about math, I would probably be happier.

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Willie_Dynamite
Now if they would only release some updated MacBook Pros. The current line is
really outdated specwise.

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jsz0
It seems like Apple is very careful to let their current inventories run
nearly dry before introducing updates. I'm sure it saves them a lot of money
but they should probably be a bit more concerned with keeping up with the
market.

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aaronblohowiak
"they should probably be a bit more concerned with keeping up with the market"

why? is the average user's experience going to be any different between the
current crop of MBP's and the next?

I'd rather a longer wait and then have x25-m's standard =)

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mixmax
It will be interesting to see whether the publishing industry, and
particularly Old Media, will be able to leverage the Ipad and start making
some money on their content.

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metachor
It looks like they are ready to take a shot at it:
[http://paidcontent.co.uk/article/419-first-look-how-
penguin-...](http://paidcontent.co.uk/article/419-first-look-how-penguin-will-
reinvent-books-with-ipad/)

~~~
mixmax
The Ipad and other devices that will undoubtedly appear are probably the best
shot they've got. It's not about paying it's about psychology and transaction
costs that are too high and cumbersome.

Apple already proved with the Ipod/itunes combination that consumers are
willing to pay for music even though the recording industry said they weren't.
The same is probably true of print - it's simply a question of delivering a
great user experience, no hassles, and low transaction costs.

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metachor
"[I]t's simply a question of delivering a great user experience, no hassles,
and low transaction costs."

Absolutely. Looking at the video in the above link, it appears they will nail
"great user experience" (obviously I won't know for sure until the iPad is in
my hands, but those Space, Human Body and Travel app/books look slick).

Apple seems to have the "no hassles"/"low transaction costs" angle covered for
the consumer.

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whyleym
Looks like pre-ordering starts March 12 - [http://www.prnewswire.com/news-
releases/ipad-available-in-us...](http://www.prnewswire.com/news-
releases/ipad-available-in-us-on-april-3-86560327.html)

~~~
ivankirigin
Congrats, your comment had more value add on top of a press release than a
techcrunch post.

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whyleyc
And many other countries in late April:

"iPad will be available in both Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G models in late April in
Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the
UK. International pricing will be announced in April. iPad will ship in
additional countries later this year."

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noarchy
This is one I'll have to watch closely. Given the near-parity of the US and
Canadian currencies, I'm not sure how forgiving Canadians will be if the iPad
ends up costing noticeably more up here.

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chrisbolt
The current MacBook Pro lineup is $100 more in Canada for all models (from
$1199 -> $1299 to $2499 -> $2599) with the base Mac Mini $50 more. The price
difference is probably close enough to duty that it won't be worth it to cross
the border.

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petercooper
And they've pushed back the UK release a whole month, to late April!

This is ridiculous. Now British iPad developers be a whole month behind most
of their customer base (the US is the biggest market even for most UK
developers)! Can't Apple at least find a way to get iPads into the hands of
the many _developers_ over here, even if regular users wouldn't be supported?

We're being held back weeks for no good reason and will have to organize
getting them sent via intermediaries or hop on a plane to pick some up.. which
is a crazy, unnecessary waste of money. As such, we'll miss out on being early
on the iPad App Store which is a massive disadvantage. Poorly played, Apple.

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hboon
Worse for us developers that operate in "additional countries later this
year."

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allenp
Finally, we can get past the hype and let the device speak for itself.

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sachinag
I think this PR is a fake. It doesn't read quite right.

EDIT: well, looks like my bullshit calibration was off this morning. I still
cannot believe they threw "magical and revolutionary" into the first sentence
instead of into Steve's pullquote.

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booticon
<http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/03/05ipad.html>

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Luyt
"iPad a Kindle killer", as the article states? I don't think so. Nothing beats
e-Ink for readability in the bright sunlight outside. LCD's are hardly
readable under such conditions, especially if they have a shiny finish. [well,
maybe a book or a newspaper beats an eBook reader ;-)]

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jamesmcintyre
"readability" is feature book-readers care about, unfortunately most
"consumers" aren't "book consumers" therefore if the iPad is designed for the
average "magazine (ultra-light) reader" than it will be a "kindle-killer". If
the iPad is good for the "reading on the toilet" it WILL kill kindle's chance
of "tablet dominance", BUT kindle will still have a sizable market if it
remains merely the choice "e-book". As long as Amazon manages to convert a
large portion of book-readers to kindle-readers than Bezos could care less
(and should be thrilled).

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glhaynes
Yay.

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kerringtonx
Yes! Super excited to get my pre-order in

