There's no doubt that the invention of e-readers has greatly impacted book sales. Here are some numbers to look at:

• 51% of e-reader owners increased their purchases of e-books in the past year. ¹
• 9% of consumers increased their purchases of hardcover books in the past year. ¹

Hikosaburo Yasuda says he knows a trend when he sees one and plans to buy Apple Inc.’s iPad to keep up with junior members in his computer club. Yasuda is 95.

“It’s important to always try new things, otherwise you get left behind,” Yasuda said. “All these books in just one place, and so many familiar, classic titles that I’ve never had a chance to read. I want to buy the iPad just for that.”

Any concerns regarding a cannibalistic impact of the iPad on Mac sales, were recently laid to rest by Apple’s Q3 2010 earnings call; the iPhone and the iPad, which run on iOS, led an impressive, best-ever, everything-but-the-iPod, sales quarter. For a closer look at who is buying two of Apple’s most popular devices, we turn to The Nielsen Company’s survey of more than 64,000 mobile subscribers, fielded April through June 2010.

Oklahoma State University professor Bill Handy has big plans for the Apple iPad this fall. If the text messages he has received since the school announced he would test the tablet-style e-reader in some courses are any indication, students are eager to get their hands on the devices, too.

Handy, who teaches in the School of Media and Strategic Communications, is quick to stress that his intent is not to celebrate the new technology so much as to evaluate its effectiveness in the classroom.

 

Wells Fargo & Co. spent two years studying the iPhone before letting bankers use the device at work. Apple Inc.’s iPad, released in April, took just weeks to get cleared.

This time around, safeguards against security breaches are stronger from the start, according to Megan Minich, a senior vice president at the San Francisco-based bank. Her colleagues used two of the first shipment of 15 iPads to demonstrate financial products at an investors’ conference in May. More are on the way, Minich said.

Since the iPad announcement, certainly there has been a strong consumer pitch, but business users are also in the target market. Some of the clear niche uses for the iPad are areas that are strong among businesses. Is it really so surprising that business use would be high on customers’ agendas?

Are you an Apple bull looking for even more ammunition to bolster your faith in the company? Barclays Capital has you covered. In a report today the research shop predicts that:

• Tablets computers, a category that didn’t really exist until this spring, will be here to stay;
• Apple (AAPL) is going to own most of that market for years to come;
• This is yet more bad news for Microsoft (MSFT) and its Windows franchise, as well as PC manufacturers like Dell, in particular.

Apple has reason to boast about its iPad sales. With 3,000,000 units in 80 days just think where this is going. After you've held an iPad you can quickly see why others are so enamored and that 3 million iPads is just the start.

Update to the iPad Sales Timeline, once again:

• April 3rd – 300,000 WiFi iPads sold on launch day
• April 8th – 450,000 iPads Sold total 5 days after launch, 3.5 Million iPad Apps and 600,000 iBooks downloaded
• April 10th – 500,000 iPads sold
• May 3rd – 1,000,000 iPads sold
• May 31st – 2,000,000 iPads sold
• June 21 – 3,000,000 iPads sold in 80 days

New York City may soon be run from an iPad touchscreen.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who got his iPad 3G last month, unveiled the tablet at a meeting in Staten Island on Tuesday.

As the Daily News reports, Bloomberg bought the device at the behest of his scheduler, Shea Fink, and used it on Tuesday in place of his daily briefing book. The mayor told his audience that the device will save both time and paper.

"He wants to try using it for speeches, as well as...for reference - things like news clips, key budget documents," a spokesman for the mayor said in an email.

 

Luxury car buyers now have another reason to buy a new car. They will be getting an Apple Ipad as their car’s electronic manual. Hyundai has announced that their new top of the line 2011 Hyundai Equus be packaged with an Apple Ipad accessory. The new product feature will host an iPad application is called by Hyundai the Equus Multimedia Tablet. Hyundai hopes that new Equus owners will use the automatic dealership contact features to increase customers services and automobile maintenance.

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