The pundits have called it! The word is in on the iPad mini and the word is “mud!” Yes, with astounding credulity, pundits have rushed to report yet another survey by a site no one has heard of before, this one detailing the colossal sales fail that is the iPad mini.
Joe Wilcox: “You can forget iPad mini”
Forget it!
IntoMobile’s Dusan Belic: “iPad Mini may not be something users want”
Who wants it?!
PC Magazine’s Angela Moscaritolo: “Consumers Wants [sic] iPhone 5, New iPad More Than iPad Mini”
We know this because a survey said so!
This is all extremely interesting and certainly quite damning for the chances of an iPad mini succeeding. Certainly there is nothing the Macalope could link to that shows the same ridiculous hackery in the guise of science was attempted before the original iPad shipped OMG WHAT’S THIS?! Yes, once again it is up to the cartoon pundit with the antlers and a head shaped like a Classic Mac to point out that we’ve seen this movie. Apparently the non-cartoon pundits are too busy to figure this out or something.
Yes, back in February of 2010, bargain shopping site Retrevo pulled the same stunt, saying “iPad hoopla fails to convince buyers.” The iPad, as we all know, was a tremendous failure, and Apple canceled the line shortly thereafter.
Sheesh.
There’s two aspects to this buffoonery. First there’s the credulity on the part of pundits that a survey conducted by a bargain-shopping site is in any way indicative of how well an Apple product will sell. Second, they fail to really look at the results of the survey and understand them in the context of, well, reality.
This time around on the merry-go-round of misunderstanding, a site called TechBargains says “only” 18 percent of people they surveyed in August were interested in buying a device they know nothing about. By means of comparison, 45 percent said they planned to purchase the iPhone 5.
BOOM. Take that iPad mini! Totally doomed! DOA! See ya, wouldn’t want to buy ya!
Yeah. Except for the fact that when you look at how many iPhones were sold so far this year and compare it to how many iPad were sold, you will find what? That Apple sold a little more than twice as many iPhones as iPads. For those of you not good at math, 45 percent is also a bit more than twice 18 percent.
So, another way of looking at this is that the iPad mini—specifications and pricing for which no one knows—is just as popular as the iPad.
“Given Apple’s recent success it would be easy to assume that all new Apple products will be wildly popular. Our survey results indicate that theory is no longer the case,” said Yung Trang, president and editor-in-chief of TechBargains.com.
Noooo, your results indicate the iPad mini might not be as popular as the iPhone. With people who responded to your survey, the press release for which does not detail how it was carried out.
Seriously, people, a cartoon of a mythical man/Mac/antelope hybrid shouldn’t have to be the one to point these things out.
[Editors’ Note: In addition to being a mythical beast, the Macalope is not an employee of Macworld. As a result, the Macalope is always free to criticize any media organization. Even ours.]