Apple enjoyed its best non-holiday quarter ever, with sales up 49 per cent and profits up a whopping 90 per cent. But it’s gone all coy on just how many iPads it has shifted so far, and its failure to address iPad buyers’ concerns has dismayed some of the most loyal Apple fans.
The shiny white gadget and computer maker sold 33 per cent more Macs than a year ago, 131 per cent more iPhones but 1 per cent fewer iPods.
It didn’t give official figures for the number of iPads it has sold, saying that they went on sale after its latest financial quarter had ended, but the lack of detail may just be telling. It was happy to brag about selling 450,000 in the first five days they went on sale, but that was before news of their flaky Wi-Fi connectivity hit the media. We shall have to wait for its next set of results to see if it’s going to give iPad sales figures.
So far Apple has also been characteristically quiet about the scores of complaints about iPad Wi-Fi lodged on its own discussion boards and technology blogs. There were nearly 600 comments posted about the issue on one thread alone.
It did post a support article which dealt with some users who couldn’t get any Wi-Fi signal whatsoever, but those complaining of a very weak Wi-Fi signal or signals being dropped have been told to simply move nearer their wireless router or move their wireless router nearer to them.
“We’re thrilled to report our best non-holiday quarter ever, with revenues up 49 per cent and profits up 90 per cent,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’ve launched our revolutionary new iPad and users are loving it, and we have several more extraordinary products in the pipeline for this year.”
I always thought the 3G version of the iPad – which will give you true roaming capabilities – would be a far more compelling proposition than the Wi-Fi only model. Obviously now that the iconic company has managed a Wi-Fi tablet with iffy Wi-Fi, we must hope that its 3G version has decent 3G: otherwise you’re going to be told to move nearer the mobile phone mast, or move the mast nearer to you.
Jason Stamper is technology correspondent for NS and editor of Computer Business Review.
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