Best Buy CEO: iPad had cannibalized sales from laptop PCs by as much as 50%

That's pretty surprising, 50%... Testament to how many casual computer users there are that are happy with email, web surfing, watching video's, etc. And Apple's marketing power and iTunes as well I suppose.

An iPad would be nice to have but if I went to the store with a mind to buy a laptop, there's no way I'd choose an iPad. Cool gadget but they're priced similar to PC laptops and you can't do that much comparatively.

that said I'm probably going to wait and get an iPad 2nd gen next year (planning on using tax return because I think the first gen came out around April) but then I already have a Lenovo ThinkPad for work and a MBP that's my own.

 

It simply, reinforces what P.T. Barnum said about a sucker being born every minute.

 

I'm more than a little skeptical of the way this is being interpreted. "Mr. Dunn also said internal estimates showed that the iPad had cannibalized sales from laptop PCs by as much as 50%." What does it even mean, "as much as 50%"? He must be referencing a particular laptop model. He can't mean all laptops. I absolutely do not believe he meant that iPad sales = laptop sales, which is what many of you seem to be thinking he meant.

Also, many iPad purchases have no impact on laptop sales, because the iPad doesn't always replace a laptop. I'm sure many people who have nice laptops still buy an iPad. And people with iPads will still buy laptops.

 

You have to remember they are looking at Quarters. Laptop sales are down, iPad sales have been phenomenal. Obviously it's an estimate so there is some wiggle room but I don't think it's out of the question.

Edit: as an example, I can think of around 10 people I know of personally that have bought an iPad within the last three months. The only person I know who bought a laptop in the same span is my little sister who's off to college. Loads of people already have laptops, iPads are new.

 

To be fair, it was actually referring to netbooks, and he didn't actually have firm numbers, it was just speculation that the drop in netbook sales was attributable to iPad sales.

 

I would speculate that the drop in netbook sales is because they suck, and people are starting to realise this

But that's just me

 

Update: It did seem weird to us that the mighty laptop would be that vulnerable to the iPad, and sure enough, our queries with Best Buy were met by the following response:

"The paraphrase that was used in the WSJ wasn't really an accurate reflection of what Brian said to the reporter.

What Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn said was that we had no firm numbers, but that we speculated there was some replacement of netbooks by iPads going on. We did not provide specifics because we do not presently have the hard numbers on which to base those specifics."



to those who may have read the original.
before the update.. have to love ow the media reports what they want these days.
chris.