iBook/Powerbook cover questions

[Charles Martin]

> From: ILLUMINALL at aol.com
> What is the size of the 12.1 and 14.1 ibook owner base (U.S. and 
> global) --=20=
> h
> ow many have been sold?

This is an easy question to answer in general. Just go back and look at 
Apple's quarterly reports for every quarter since the introduction of 
those models, find the number of iBook sales and add.

If you want to do it "quick and dirty," here's a loose take:

Number of iBooks sold in Q1 2003 (Oct1-Dec31 2002): 186,000
Number of iBooks sold in Q4 2002 (July1-Sept30 2002): 180,000
Number of iBooks sold in Q3 2001 (first quarter they were really 
available): 250,000

So let's project that Apple averaged 180,000 "icebook" style iBooks per 
quarter since they were released for sale in May 2001 (wow, was it that 
long ago?). Adding that up, you have 7 quarters x 180,000 (avg) = 1.26 
million. Call it 1.5 million by the time your product gets out there.

>  What are the iBook niche or target market(s), i.e.=20
> education, etc.? =20
>
Humans. :)

Until the 12" Powerbook was announced. That will kill off iBook sales 
something rotten until Apple updates the iBook. I'll self-snip my 
theory about the future of the iBook (in summary: the iBook will morph 
into a true low-cost tool for EDU) as we all move to present and future 
Powerbook models in the consumer space.

> For instance in the education market, last Fall the state of Maine 
> began=20
> providing iBooks to every seventh-grader in the state (18,000 of them).

That's 180,000, not 18,000.

>  Does=
> =20
> anyone know if any other state or school system is doing this kind of 
> thing?=
> =20
>
Canada and Scotland are implementing similar programs, but in the US 
the "Maine" model has not yet been widely adopted, though a lot of 
districts are either looking at it or starting to implement it. I've 
seen reports of districts in Pittsburgh, Hampton VA (which could be 
part of the earlier "Henrico County" program, I'm not sure), Palo Alto 
CA and a school in Hong Kong, among others.

And that's all the free research I'm willing to do for you. If you want 
more, hire me. I do this sort of research all the time for a wide 
variety of companies, including Apple.

_Chas_
"We don't want to be like Windows. We want to do everything better. We 
are intent on creating the greatest computers and the best computing 
experience in the world. And we are the only ones who can say that with 
a straight face."
- Greg Joswiak, Apple VP of hardware product marketing