Ars Technica ponders the seeming lack of interest in 3G iPads:
AT&T activated 4.1 million iPhones last quarter, but only 442,000 tablets. Considering Apple shipped 7 million iPads during the same period, we wonder where the love for 3G data has gone.
Oh, I think we all love 3G data, but it's all about context... when and where we use iPads. Mark Zuckerberg caused a stir a few weeks back when he said, "The iPad is not mobile," but for many typical users he's exactly right. Me, I use my iPad almost exclusively when I'm in places that have wifi: home, offices, coffee shops, airports, hotels, airplanes. Unlike my phone, which I constantly use in unwired (and unwifi-ed) places, the iPad is a device of settled contemplation. It's form dictates that: it's difficult to use when you're not sitting down.
I bought my WiFi iPad the first day the iPad was available, a month before the 3G models came out. My expectation was that I'd flip it immediately for a 3G device, but during that first month I realized that I didn't miss 3G even once. I haven't looked back. For the millions of others who consider the iPad primarily a device for breakfast table, bed, and living room, the WiFi-only features are just fine, thank you very much.
As the price of the device drops, more may be willing to pay a few extra bucks for 3G. But for now, it seems it's not urgently needed enough to be worth the cost.
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Hi Josh, Thanks for your post. It's been interesting to watch the different uses between myself (w/3G iPad) and my business partner (WiFi-only iPad). I obviously use mine much more outside the office, e.g. at client meetings, while he doesn't. I've come to rely on the 3G and find the iPad less useful when it isn't on the network. It's easier to get onto the internet than my laptop and has a bigger screen than my iPhone, so it tends to be the first device I refer to if I'm in the back of a taxi or on the train.
Oliver! Great to hear from you. Yes indeed, it's all about context, isn't it? I definitely see that for some folks, 3G is super-useful (even urgent). I think sales calls and client work is a great example of that. While I believe that most folks' behavior doesn't justify 3G (at least not at any significant expense), you're also right to remind that the presence of 3G would also shift/shape behavior, too. We're just at the beginning of this thing.
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