14 DAY TRIAL // People familiar with Apple’s plans reportedly told The Wall Street Journal that the Mac maker is seeing strong demand for its recently-unveiled iPad. One of these people allegedly said that Apple is on track to sell more iPads in the first three months than it sold iPhones in the same timeframe back in 2007, when the revolutionary smartphone debuted.
However, regarding the iPad’s highly-anticipated debut next month, not all is going according to plan in Cupertino, these people allegedly told WSJ. First of all, “Apple is still negotiating with media companies for a price cut on TV shows that people can download onto the device,” folks familiar with the matter said, adding that “Apple also hoped to work closely with newspaper, magazines and textbook publishers on new ways to digitally present print content on the iPad, but has for now put the effort on backburner,” the report reveals, citing one of these folks.
Second, the Journal apparently learned that Apple cut down some of the priorities it had initially set in place for the tablet device. One such example concerns TV subscriptions, which Apple reportedly planned to offer through the iPad. According to the people cited by WSJ, “[Apple] has put on hold its idea to offer TV subscriptions that would be viewable through the iPad, because few media companies were interested.” Trying to leave a door open for this niche of the market, “Apple is discussing dropping the price of TV shows to 99 cents from the $1.99 and $2.99 charged for most shows on its iTunes store,” the same people allegedly said, adding that Apple is yet to reach a deal with many major TV producers on the price cut.
The Journal concludes this topic by outlining that these last-minute discussions are a clear testament of the complexities that Apple and CEO Steve Jobs are facing in shaping up the iPad to become an Internet-connected multimedia device.