Apple has announced that it has sold three million New iPads in just three days.
“The new iPad is a blockbuster with three million sold – the strongest iPad launch yet,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Customers are loving the incredible new features of iPad, including the stunning Retina display, and we can’t wait to get it into the hands of even more customers around the world this Friday.”
The industry, like it or not, is changing, and mobile, tablet and browser gaming is proving to be the turning point. These are figures that the likes of Sony and Nintendo dream about, and whilst (naturally) the iPad isn’t all about gaming, that’s three million more devices capable of playing games out there.
For a publisher or developer, it’s clear that it’s a market worth investigating.
Sure, the tablet gaming field is a little different, but the gap between the likes of PS Vita and the iPad is getting smaller constantly – both in terms of tech (there’s little difference now between the two) and in terms of the games on offer. Will there ever be an Uncharted or WipEout on iPad? No. Will there be something similar?
Yes, and there already is.
It’s that price difference argument again, Gameloft’s Uncharted ‘tribute’ might be scale the same heights, figuratively, but it’s available for 69p. And regardless of those that scream “no buttons!!!” – even though there’s a valid point there it’s clear there’s a market for games that just use the touch screen to try to emulate a console control method.
It might not be for you, but it’s definitely something that’s happening. Those sales figures are insane, especially given that the New iPad isn’t that big a step up from an iPad 2 aside from the screen and the RAM – but it’s what people want and it looks like it’s what people have been waiting for.
Here’s hoping PS Suite has the desired effect for Vita.
Mike
-Awaits for another Apple debate- lol
Eldave0
Impressive figures indeed, especially considering everyone is apparently poor at the moment! I personally would never get one (not portable enough for me) but grats nontheless
Bilbo_bobbins
it is amazing that people have no money at the moment, or claim not to, but spend big time on new electronic devices, whether its PS Vita or Ipads.
I’ve been thinking of getting and Ipad but not sure if its worth paying the extra for the new one, what do people think? It would be used mainly for games/internet/photos and possibly some imovie editing/watching.
3shirts
If you are concerned about the price, go for an iPad 2. They are at a good balance point at the moment of being reasonably priced (for Apple anyway) while still a strong spec with plenty of life left.
The new one is really only a new (admittedly very impressive) screen and boosted CPU and to my mind, not worth the difference in price over the 2.
Amphlett
…all of which you can do on your laptop and/or smart phone.
I’ve also thought about getting a tablet but for the life of me I can’t see what it would deliver over and above my current laptops apart from a touch screen.
Bilbo_bobbins
thanks guys, I think you might be right, I have thinking the same. It will save me £70 too. I know laptops can do the same thing but its something to carry my photos around on and videos, plus its instant access to the internet, rather than on/off with a laptop.
KeRaSh
If photos are a big deal for you I’d actually recommend the new iPad because of the higher resolution. Your high res pictures will probably look way better on the new screen. If you only carry smaller pictures with you then it’s not that big of a deal.
jimmy-google
How long before those 3 million can’t play the latest iPad games on their iPads? Probably 2 years, 3 at best. How long until you need to replace your vita? Probably at least double that of the iPad.
nofi
There’s only one game that doesn’t run on an original iPad, I think. One.
3shirts
So your saying, there is no point buying the new one? :p
nofi
Kinda, yeah. :) Apart from the gorgeous screen and much better browsing (due to the RAM) I’m seeing little benefit.
jimmy-google
It’s still very early in the new iPads life. There’s only about 20 games that will run on my vita but not on my psp.
If developers aren’t going to use the updated spec then there really is no point in ever buying the latest iPad.
Andrewww
There’s probably just one game that doesn’t run, as long as you comply with the pressure to keep upgrading to the latest iOS. But you may not want to do that, and then it’s pretty quickly game over for you, I guess.
cc_star
but that RAM will boost will become even more apparent as time goes on, they’ll be a point where the iPad2 limps along like the iPad1 has started to but new iPad will be going strong.
3shirts
For me at least, there will always be a market for physical button devices.
I have GTA3 on my Sony Xperia S and while it plays brilliantly and the on screen buttons are about the best you could hope for, I still find it frustrating that my fingers can’t easily jump between the brake and handbrake (for example).
I have loads of great games on the device which are built to utilise the touchscreen and sensors and they are excellent but for a truly in-depth gaming experience like you get on a home console or portable like the Vita, you just need a controller.
That said, the SixAxis app for Android is immense for this (bluetooth connect your PS3 controller!)
Bilbo_bobbins
really, you can do that with tablets too?
KeRaSh
Only on Android. ;)
cc_star
Yeah, just connect a 360 or PS3 pad and as Android has USB Host support they’re automatically recognised and you can control all the emulators, games & stuff like OnLive via your pad.
Best of both worlds or it would be if more games were made, but that corner now appears to be being turned with stuff like Shadowgun, Riptide GP, Bladeslinger (shown off here http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2U2r3yKg0Ng ) There’s also stuff like Soulcraft, Combat Arms, Lost Planet 2 and many more who’s graphics look better to me than most console games, especially when you take into account many of them are running at 60fps as opposed to 20-30fps we’re used to on consoles.
So with the rest of the stuff like the emulators & OnLive it’s certainly worthy of consideration.
minerwilly
Hey 3 shirts im waiting for my Xperia S through the post , got it for £16.50 a month with my mates discount (works in o2) . Moving from the amazing HTC Desire and im going to really miss it but couldnt turn down that bargain .
According to my mate in o2 its an amazing phone with bigger screen ,much higher resolution, more memory , better processor , quicker internet , better camera , scratch proof screen ,better music quality etc etc than even the excellent iphone4s.
Ice cream sandwich to come soon as well , cant wait to get my hands on it this week.
jimmy-google
Considering a month ago it seemed everyone was comparing about the vitas price and memory cost it seems odd to see the significantly more expensive iPad selling the way it is with little complaint about the cost.
Andrewww
I said it before and say it again: I thought this was a gaming site, so why this reporting about iPads all the time…? It may be a (very expensive) toy, but gaming (just as much as doing anything else) on it is such an inferior experience, I’m just not interested at all.
nofi
Because it plays games. Some of which are brilliant.
Not sure what your ‘inferior experience’ is referring to, but some applications, like browsing, reading books etc, are superb.
Andrewww
In a scientific study, we did a large scale usability test of a website on it (about 90 participants), directly comparing it to desktop usage. As the site was quite new, it used quite some mouseovers, and people were struggling with it as hell. Of course, this affects tablets in general, but ‘the best surfing experience’ is clearly marketing rubbish. I see it could be useful just to read books or stuff, but anything else, no thanks.
nofi
Personal preference. I quite like browsing on the iPad. It’s infinitely better than on the Vita, for example, if we’re doing scale references.
Andrewww
Of course, it’s personal preference, just wanted to give the minority (?) of people not liking iPads too much a voice… ;o)
DJ Judas
I understand that Ipad news has relevance on a gaming site, it’s just a shame that this gets immediate coverage and more direct gaming news, that’s also for a good cause like Humble Bundle gets overlooked.
Tuffcub
3 Million Sheeple can’t be wrong.
Deathbrin
^ This.
Awayze
Only amazing Apple products can pull sales like that.
Poor Vita has sold about half of that in 4 months. iOS is the worlds number one gaming platform, that’s why TSA cover iPads and iPhones!
DJ Judas
This depends on how you look at it and determine ‘number one’, but by many definitions it’s the PC.
colmshan1990
Seriously?
I was reading a few articles over the weekend which suggested (albeit via anecdotal evidence only) that this was the weakest Apple launch for sometime.
Then again, they did launch in more countries than they ever have, so I guess that could explain a supposedly weak (relative to previous Apple launches) launch could be the best iPad launch yet.
ultimatepunchrod
I keep waiting for people to tell apple that releasing a new iteration of hardware every year is not okay, but I guess they feel that it is perfectly acceptable and not worth getting angry about, but if any console manufacturer did this, it would be justly deemed as unacceptable.
cc_star
It can be a replacement for computers & laptops – they get about 100 revisions a year from other manufacturers, Apple’s is just once per year.
skibadee
they tend to not drip feed features like apple.