iPad News & Tablet PC Reviews

The iPad went on retail sale today at the Apple Store and BestBuy in limited supply, and pre-order customers could come to pick up their iPad tablets today…and the sales numbers reflect just that.  But we’re just at the tip of the iceburg.

iSuppli, an electronics research group, predicts that the iPad will sell well over 7 million units and will almost double in 2011.   iSuppli doesn’t see the product so much as a tablet pc as it does a hybrid of that and a pure internet device.  In essence, once again, Apple has created a market for a device that really didn’t exist or have traction before.

In the article, it is noted that Adobe Flash (or lack thereof) may be a barrier that could open up a door to a market for another tablet pc vendor.  While Safari will play video on iPad’s HTML5 browser, it’s unrealistic that the millions of websites in the world are going to migrate so quickly to a technology that is not even adopted completely by other browsers.

Backwards compatibility will somehow be a key factor in future tablet pc players…and Flash falls into that genre.

“Until Apple addresses this issue one way or another, its decision not to support Flash … will have a limiting effect on the iPad’s sales potential,” iSuppli analyst Francis Sideco said in a statement. “This is because one of the key use cases of the device, as marketed by Apple, relates to Web browsing or consumption of online content. Absent Flash, iPad uses will not be able to enjoy Flash-driven content, which is used in a considerable [number] of Websites, as well as Web-based games and video.”

Story by: Michelle Maisto | Original Published Date: 4/2/2010
Original Title: Apple iPad Sales to Soar, Limited by Lack of Flash, Analysts Say
Source: eWeek

Filed under: iPad News · Tags: adobe flash, iPad Launch, sales