Not saying this is deliberate, but I wonder if there's an advantage to launching a new device around tax season in the USA.

If you're crunching numbers and discover you're getting a few hundred back, are you more inclined to spend it on something like this if the hype syncs up with the money?

There's definitely a benefit to doing that. Didn't have to pay this year, so I took part of my refund and got a new MacBook Pro.

If a MacBook Pro takes up "part" of your refund, you really need to modify your exemptions and stop letting the IRS hold your money all year long.

The IRS even gives you a handy calculator to figure it out: http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96196,00.html

Unfortunately for too many people their excess tax withholdings are their only saving plan.

If your IRS refund is your only form of saving, then spending it on a MacBook Pro takes you to a whole new level of bad decision making.

Unfortunately it also makes you a fairly typical American.

It is baffling how many people treat a tax return like it's found money, when in reality it's the end result of you losing money. People think "oh sweet I can buy a laptop" rather than "oh crap I lost a bunch due to inflation and missed interest".

Sometimes I wish I knew less about math, I would probably be happier.

I'm sure Apple would be thrilled if all of the typical Americans bought MacBook Pros.

In the UK, purchases shoot up in March as people make up their allowances and budgets before the new tax year (which starts April 6) :-)

There's also the other side where you may find that you owe a lot and have to cut back spending for a month or two. It might be a wash.

Most people aren't in this situation--especially since, as in previous years, the government is adding a little "stimulus" to our tax refunds.

As a very early filer I already received money back. I am considering getting either an iPad or a new computer with it.

Now if they would only release some updated MacBook Pros. The current line is really outdated specwise.

I would imagine they've got stuff in the pipelines, but they'd most likely want to get through the iPad intro season before distracting the world with lesser updates.

Apple Insider recently posted an interesting analysis speculating the reason for the delay.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/02/19/apple_plans_du...

It seems like Apple is very careful to let their current inventories run nearly dry before introducing updates. I'm sure it saves them a lot of money but they should probably be a bit more concerned with keeping up with the market.

"they should probably be a bit more concerned with keeping up with the market"

why? is the average user's experience going to be any different between the current crop of MBP's and the next?

I'd rather a longer wait and then have x25-m's standard =)

When your business model revolves around making the previous product look old and unappealing, you work hard to make sure you have none of that model left when the new one launches.

It will be interesting to see whether the publishing industry, and particularly Old Media, will be able to leverage the Ipad and start making some money on their content.

It looks like they are ready to take a shot at it: http://paidcontent.co.uk/article/419-first-look-how-penguin-...

The Ipad and other devices that will undoubtedly appear are probably the best shot they've got. It's not about paying it's about psychology and transaction costs that are too high and cumbersome.

Apple already proved with the Ipod/itunes combination that consumers are willing to pay for music even though the recording industry said they weren't. The same is probably true of print - it's simply a question of delivering a great user experience, no hassles, and low transaction costs.

"[I]t's simply a question of delivering a great user experience, no hassles, and low transaction costs."

Absolutely. Looking at the video in the above link, it appears they will nail "great user experience" (obviously I won't know for sure until the iPad is in my hands, but those Space, Human Body and Travel app/books look slick).

Apple seems to have the "no hassles"/"low transaction costs" angle covered for the consumer.

There's also this: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/02/the-wired-ipad-app-a-...

I think premium magazines are going to make a huge comeback on the iPad, with a lot of attention paid to rich media, professional design, and smooth transition effects (none of which the Kindle has).

Looks like pre-ordering starts March 12 - http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ipad-available-in-us...

And many other countries in late April:

"iPad will be available in both Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi + 3G models in late April in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. International pricing will be announced in April. iPad will ship in additional countries later this year."

This is one I'll have to watch closely. Given the near-parity of the US and Canadian currencies, I'm not sure how forgiving Canadians will be if the iPad ends up costing noticeably more up here.

The current MacBook Pro lineup is $100 more in Canada for all models (from $1199 -> $1299 to $2499 -> $2599) with the base Mac Mini $50 more. The price difference is probably close enough to duty that it won't be worth it to cross the border.

What's the source for this? UK Apple site make no mention of late April as far as I can see...

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EDIT: Ahh, in the press release: http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/03/05ipad.html

And they've pushed back the UK release a whole month, to late April!

This is ridiculous. Now British iPad developers be a whole month behind most of their customer base (the US is the biggest market even for most UK developers)! Can't Apple at least find a way to get iPads into the hands of the many developers over here, even if regular users wouldn't be supported?

We're being held back weeks for no good reason and will have to organize getting them sent via intermediaries or hop on a plane to pick some up.. which is a crazy, unnecessary waste of money. As such, we'll miss out on being early on the iPad App Store which is a massive disadvantage. Poorly played, Apple.

Worse for us developers that operate in "additional countries later this year."

Finally, we can get past the hype and let the device speak for itself.

I think this PR is a fake. It doesn't read quite right.

EDIT: well, looks like my bullshit calibration was off this morning. I still cannot believe they threw "magical and revolutionary" into the first sentence instead of into Steve's pullquote.

"iPad a Kindle killer", as the article states? I don't think so. Nothing beats e-Ink for readability in the bright sunlight outside. LCD's are hardly readable under such conditions, especially if they have a shiny finish. [well, maybe a book or a newspaper beats an eBook reader ;-)]

"readability" is feature book-readers care about, unfortunately most "consumers" aren't "book consumers" therefore if the iPad is designed for the average "magazine (ultra-light) reader" than it will be a "kindle-killer". If the iPad is good for the "reading on the toilet" it WILL kill kindle's chance of "tablet dominance", BUT kindle will still have a sizable market if it remains merely the choice "e-book". As long as Amazon manages to convert a large portion of book-readers to kindle-readers than Bezos could care less (and should be thrilled).