A website called iPad Death Watch keeps an ongoing collection of quotes from industry pundits who, at one point or another, predicted the doom of the iPad.
The iPad didn't tank. Instead it changed the world, giving consumers a new way to consume content and giving businesses a whole new way to work.
Since today is the iPad's three-year anniversary, let's look at some of the people who predicted the iPad's demise.
There are dozens of quotes on the Death Watch site. Here's a few of our favorites:
“You might want to tell me the difference between a large phone and a tablet.”
Eric Schmidt, Google, 10 January 2010
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“The press weren’t cheering and whooping. I didn’t see anybody pee their pants … Not one! The only people I saw cheering were the people who work at Apple down in the front two rows … Al Gore was going crazy. I wanted to see more. It’s a big iPod. What is there to do there? Play a video game on a bigger screen? I thought it was ‘paving the cow path’. I really thought it was underwhelming.”
Dan Lyons aka Fake Steve Jobs, 27 January 2010
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“... the iPad is to the iPhone& iPod Touch as the MacBook Air is to the MacBook. In other words, a cool product with a devoted base of happy customers, but in relative terms, a niche product in Apple’s arsenal of rainmakers.”
Mark Sigal, O’Reilly Radar, 28 January 2011
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It’s not like I sit there and feel the same way I did with iPhone where I say, ‘Oh my God, Microsoft didn’t aim high enough.’ It’s a nice reader, but there’s nothing on the iPad I look at and say, ‘Oh, I wish Microsoft had done it.’”
Bill Gates, Microsoft, 10 February 2010
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iPad Killer: Truly, Really, I mean It
I’m the first to admit that I fall victim to shiny objects at trade shows, and I regularly call every new tablet an iPad Killer. But now, really, I’ve found it. OK, it may sound like I’m the boy who cried wolf – but Motorola’s new XOOM tablet is poised to become THE best non iPad tablet on the market when it ships later this year.”
Jim Louderback, Huffington Post, 6 January 2011
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Android phones were like, “What is that?” And now there are more Android phones than iPhones. I don’t see any reason why the same won’t occur with Android tablets.”
Michael Dell when asked by WSJ, “Do you think Android tablets will outpace iPads moving forward?”, Dell, 25 April 2011
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“We have a really good opportunity to become No. 2 in tablets fairly quickly. Possibly No. 1.”
Jon Rubinstein, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Palm Global Business Unit, HP, 23 June 2011
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“As for tablets , there simply aren’t any good Windows-based choices, so the iPad is a natural pick. But Windows 8 tablets are on the way, and there will be no need for iPads in the enterprise.”
Preston Gralla, Computerworld, 13 Feb 2012
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To these naysayers, we say:
Apple has sold over 100 million iPads, and it's expected to sell 33 million more in 2013, plus another 55 million iPad minis.
How do you like them Apples?
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