This is apparently now going viral, evidenced by me putting it up here in part. The video below features a 100 year old woman named Virginia who bought her first computer: an iPad. . .
No I don’t think the association of the centenarian with the iPad will scare away younger users.
Here’s the related article.
Screenwerk 
April 23, 2010 at 6:25 pm
omg, that is so funny, i wonder if she fell for all the adsvertising or her kids bought it for her a a gift.
if it was a gift it is a stupid gift, why would a 100 yr old need an ipad
April 23, 2010 at 10:12 pm
Her kids apparently bought it for her.
April 26, 2010 at 4:52 pm
This is awesome. I have been trying to convince my family that we should get one for my 95-yr-old grandmother and everyone thinks she won’t want anything to do with it. She is an assisted living facility and her hearing is going. She has lost contact with most of the world. I think an iPad would be an amazing thing for her if we could get her to try it.
April 27, 2010 at 5:59 pm
I disagree, as the iPad evolves into its defacto branding of a grannie computer, it will lose a lot of its hipness with younger users.
Already the iPad has lost a lot of its luster which already pales significantly to what the iPhone was able to achieve and maintain.
Case in point at a recent conference I was using an Android tablet that I was provided as a review unit and more people were asking me what it was than the person next to me with his iPad – as well preferring it over the iPad as that person next to me was even talking about returning the iPad.
Apple relies heavily on PERCEPTION & STYLE just as people feel its safer than PCs but hackers are clear that Apple devices are much EASIER to hack but don’t have enough of the market share to make it worthwhile to them.
,Michael Martin
April 27, 2010 at 6:05 pm
Michael:
This video isn’t likely to scare anybody away from buying the iPad. And I think you’re wrong about the iPad losing its luster:
http://www.internet2go.net/news/other-mobile-devices/estimate-over-million-ipads-sold
In fact I think the device is gaining momentum. Google will probably re-evaluate its entire Chrome netbook strategy and shift to tablets now.
April 27, 2010 at 6:15 pm
Greg,
You are correct on the here and now, but I am referring to the long term view.
Yes the sales are doing well initially as mostly Apple fanboys make their kneejerk purchases.
Also Apple is a master of salivating demand with any perceived shortages (ie Europe) & its recent cryptic 2 iPad lifetime per person policy.
That report you referred to also didn’t mention the return numbers.
In summary you are on firmer ground making your statement, but in my long term view, there will be a shifting of sand with that ground made looser over time.
April 27, 2010 at 6:08 pm
I like Android but the Google “open” vs. “closed” rhetoric is just that. Android is much more open, yes. But Google is also trying to control Android and to some degree its hardware partners. Motorola is the first company to push back.
April 27, 2010 at 6:26 pm
Greg,
You know I am an Android advocate but I keep my eyes wide open.
The reason why Google provides Android for “free” is to make the money in the back-end with mobile advertising along with accumulating current mobile user behavior.
I am wary of what Google is doing with Android as I wasn’t happy they went w a “Google Phone” by directly selling the Nexus One.
Also in true openness I was hoping for a transfer or at least more collaborative oversight of Android development instead of just coming out of the Google Android team.
I am heartened that members of the Open Handset Alliance CAN push back as evidenced w Motorola devices that switch their default search to Yahoo.
Google IO next month should bring more clarity to Android “openness” as it will be front and center again with more advancements on display.
I believe I will see you there and hopefully at SMX Advanced shortly after… providing you select me for one of your mobile panels…or did I shoot myself in the foot by countering Apple too much? 😉
,Michael Martin
April 27, 2010 at 6:21 pm
Watch: we’re going to see a bunch of “me too” products, as with the iPhone, including from Google hardware partners. The netbook may be dead.
Google could make a tablet that offers Android apps and uses Flash, which could in the minds of some people best the iPad.
I believe that this is a new market that will have legs and, as the video suggests, this isn’t simply fanboys.
April 27, 2010 at 6:28 pm
Greg,
Right now in my opinion the iPad has a MUCH better screen, touch responsiveness, UI and battery than the Android tablets I have reviewed.
The delta is much narrower than what the iPhone had which was above and well beyond any true competition for quite some time – you can only now plausibly argue that Android caught up.