Best Buy CEO: iPad is cannibalizing laptop sales by as much as 50% | Hacker News Reader

Best Buy CEO: iPad is cannibalizing laptop sales by as much as 50%

online.wsj.com

30 pointsdrtse444 comments

The disappointing for most consumers will be that iPads require a computer to sync to itunes before you begin to use.

Apple must fix this soon, but that require the ability to connect OTA and probably redownload purchased content (without a mobile me account).

Ease up a little apple and you will add gasoline to the ipad fire.

I wish they would release an intelligent dock that had some storage or USB connectors for a printer and external hard drive. That would be a neat for iPad syncing. Adding an HDMI so you could park the dock next to a TV and control it with and iPad would really be nice.

Alternately, syncing with a Time Capsule would be good too.

Add ports and a keyboard and it will be perfect! Make it a clamshell style so fingerprints wont get on the screen, and protect it when your not using it.

So... Eliminate its differentiating characteristics and turn it into something that resembles the competing netbooks and sub <$500 notebooks whose lunch Apple is devouring, according to Best Buy's figures?

Tactile feedback is pretty important to some people. I haven't tried an iPad yet but when it comes to emails on the iPhone, I would sometimes kill for the ability to just type the way I could on a real keyboard. An iPad with a keyboard hookup is still an iPad.

Yeah, but they have that. You can buy the keyboard dock or hook up a bluetooth keyboard. Or hookup a USB keyboard using the camera connector.

I was being sarcastic...

The point is not wanting a portable of any sort and just wanting a place to set the iPad so it can sync and exchange what media you have on it.

Most of this stuff is being done over wifi. AirPrint, AirPlay, cloud storage like iDisk, Dropbox, AirSharing, etc. I use an application called Serve-To-Me which does real time video transcoding so I can access my entire video library on the iPad or iPhone. For music I use Subsonic and the Z-Subsonic client. I don't even bother syncing anything locally at this point.

  USB connectors for a printer and external hard drive

iOS 4.2 offers printing over Wi-Fi.

Most low-end printers are not wi-fi enabled. I am assuming that people not buying a computer are probably going to buy a cheap printer.

Some already own a printer (and another computer), so sharing can be enable via that machine, instead of talking directly to printer.

If they already own a computer, then they don't need an alternate way to sync. (see ajleary's post that started this thread)

"most consumers

Is there any research that this is actually the case? I'd be willing to guess that this is the case for many folks on HN, but I haven't heard many iPad owners (of which I am not one) complaining about this.

Count me in with the folks that prefer syncing to a computer rather than OTA.

I'll just wait for a chrome os tablet instead.

Agreed. Chrome OS table will be awesome. It'll be like upgrading from iPhone to Android. Escaping from the walled garden of "Sorry, you can't do that", to a feature rich device without stupid design decisions - iPad has to sync to a computer running iTunes????? WTF

Does the iPad really need a computer? Apple doesn't seem to advertise this anywhere. Seems odd that you can't turn it on and instantly have a web browser.

Based on my iPhone 3G experience the umbilical cord is only needed for backups, restores, upgrades, and contact sync. You don't need it often, but you certainly can't live without it for more than a few months at a time.

That may be just the datapoint I need to shift a new project away from Flash to HTML5.

If your project would need Canvas, you may want to look at the performance numbers from this blog post: http://www.phoboslab.org/log/2010/09/biolab-disaster Hopefully Canvas performance improves in the future.

Yeah because there's only a bajillion existing flash capable browsers out there. But apparently the 'hip' crowd are buying iPads! ;)

FWIW though, I'd choose HTML5 over Flash, but not on the basis of this datapoint - for all the other more important (IMHO) reasons.

Flash's current installed base isn't really the point, though, is it?

What's interesting about this is that it demonstrates momentum away from Flash in a fairly dramatic way. That momentum is important to consider if you're investing in any decently sized project that could depend on Flash.

People have been saying flash is dead for the last 5 years. If not 10 years.

Don't get me wrong, I hate flash, think it will die eventually, and wouldn't build anything on it.

But I also hate kneejerk decisions based on a tiny amount of data.

The article is definitely worth considering if your users are the type that buy iPads, but I find it incredibly hard to believe that the iPad will go 'mainstream'. It's still a niche luxury 'extra' device.

People aren't replacing their laptops with an iPad. That would be insane. They're just buying an iPad as well.

Call me insane then. I bought an iPad instead of a laptop, which is slightly different from what you said.

Why? It's a family computer. Great for kids. Portable.

>> "Great for kids."

Oh come now. It can't even render things like nickjr.com

If it were really an extra device, though, why is it impacting Best Buy's laptop sales?

I'm thrilled to take one on vacation in six weeks instead of my laptop. It's perfect for travel.

I think the proper term is "eating", not "cannibalizing". It would be called "cannibalizing" if the laptops were MacBooks, and if it were unintentional.

From Apple's perspective, yes. But he's talking from Best Buy's perspective.

Excellent point.

Good point, but it's cannibalizing in term of revenue not product unit sales.

I am in no way surprised by this. I have 2 laptops and a desktop computer that are collecting dust now that I have an iPad.

I still can't figure a use case for me to justify an iPad. That and I refuse to have itunes on my computer at this point.

I find that my iPad is the perfect fit to replace my laptop.

I have never been able to completely ditch using a desktop anyways, so my use case for a laptop has always really been exactly what the iPad provides; a dead simple internet browsing, media streaming and content consumption device.

If I need to work, I'll use my desktop. I generally feel limited by a laptop screen, mouse and keyboard as it is. If I want to browse the internet, stream some videos, and consume content the iPad on the couch is a perfect fit.

OTOH I want to buy or assemble a powerful desktop. I need speed.

Yeah, I was trying to figure out what to replace my 17" MacBook Pro with when I get to that point. I am starting to think a desktop and an iPad would be better than buying another portable.

I'm in the same boat. Figured I'd never own a desktop again — why, when I've got a laptop that's plenty powerful? But now a desktop looks potentially more attractive... cheaper, more powerful/expandable, giant screen, and even the fact that it's always in one place is somewhat desirable.

I spend most of my time between my desktop (iMac) and iPad. The always-on-ness of my desktop and the instant-on-ness of the iPad make just sitting down and doing things like shopping or checking email so fluid.

Waiting the 10-30 seconds for my (generally good) Windows laptop to wake up feels like forever.

I dunno what your experience is with the 17", but I found mine to be a delightful, wonderful machine when set up and ultimately unsatisfying to move from place to place, largely due to the weight. The iPad is very, very portable by comparison.

It is quite the handful to lug around, but the HD screen is so sweet. I only really take it two or three places, so a desktop / iPad combo might not be bad.

on a tangent: I was considering getting an iPad and a Mac mini and switching out the HD with a SSD. The places I need to do heavier stuff all have monitors - so.... Not practical, but the Mac mini fits nicely in a camera bag.

As a side note on the conversation, I'm impressed by how well Best Buy is adapting to the changing demands of the consumers. Rather than desperately promoting the same stuff that has worked for them for decades, they see the writing on the wall and are changing their focus.

I completely agree. I love and respect businesses that are flexible enough to embrace changes in consumer demands rather than vehemently attempt to avoid changes in the marketplace.

Businesses like Blockbuster are a prime example of this. Entire industries such as the entertainment industry (namely movie and music) have tried very hard to avoid changes in consumer demands.

Happy to hear you see that, we are trying every day to pivot where we need to... it's hard... it's a big company but these posts remind me we have definitely made movement... thanks.

It's amazing how Apple disrupts a whole market with new categories of products again and again. They might not be the first to enter a nascent market but they are the one to make it big.

I can't write code on an iPad (not efficiently at least), so my recent need for a replacement laptop ate up my budget for an iPad.

I'm guessing I'm in the minority, however.

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