Apple invited the press to an informal media event on October 23rd, 2001. Steve Jobs got up on stage and announced the first iPod. It had 5GBs of storage, retailed for $399, and went on sale November 10th. Everyone — even the most devout Apple fans — had their complaints. NPD analyst Stephen Baker said the iPod would “have trouble digging out a niche in the market.” Popular technology blog Slashdot called it “lame.” And Sony — the company that popularized the portable music player — didn’t think the iPod was a threat. No one predicted or understood the effect the iPod would have on the market. Yet five and a half years later, on April 9th, 2007, Apple announced it had sold over 100 million iPods.
Apple invited the press to an informal media event on January 9th, 2007. Steve Jobs got up on stage and announced the first iPhone. It had 4GBs of storage, retailed for $499, and went on sale June 29th. Everyone — even the most devout Apple fans — had their complaints. ABI Research said the “iPhone is not a smartphone.” A Palm spokeswoman argued the iPhone will fail because “it lacks a physical QWERTY keyboard.” And Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer infamously laughed it off, saying, “I like our strategy. I like it a lot.” No one predicted or understood the effect the iPhone would have on the market. Yet three and a half years later, on March 2nd, 2011, Apple announced it had sold over 100 million iPhones.
Apple invited the press to an informal media event on January 27th, 2010. Steve Jobs got up on stage and announced the first iPad. It had 16GBs of storage, retailed for $499, and went on sale April 3rd. Everyone — even the most devout Apple fans — had their complaints. PCWorld called it “just a big iPod Touch.” E-Ink CEO Russ Wilcox said his company’s products would outsell the iPad because “you need two hands to hold it.” And Microsoft chairman Bill Gates unflatteringly said it’s “okay.” No one predicted or understood the effect the iPad would have on the market. Yet nine months later Apple announced it had sold nearly 15 million iPads — making it the second most successful launch in the history of consumer electronics.
It took more than five and a half years to sell 100 million iPods. It took more than three and a half years to sell 100 million iPhones. How long will it take to sell 100 million iPads?