Claim Chowder: ‘The iPad: In the Middle (of Nowhere)’

Marketing brainiac Mohan Sawhney, after the introduction of the original iPad two years ago:

What’s the outlook for the iPad? There will be long lines on the day it becomes available, because a million or so die-hard Apple fanatics will buy anything Apple puts out, even if it is a brick. Seduction and lust is a powerful emotion and it will drive sales for a while. Once the early adopters have forked over their money, the rest of us will start to ask difficult and inconvenient questions about the value relative to the price. And Apple will be forced to make some drastic adjustments to the pricing and the connectivity fees.

Actual result: 15 million iPads sold last quarter; same prices, same connectivity fees as when it debuted.

★ Tuesday, 24 January 2012