Despite strong pre-order numbers, image problems could prevent iPad sales from scaling, reports The New York Times. Jon Byron, a 54-year-old banker from Connecticut, tells the paper that he
doesn't need anymore devices, and that, to him, the iPad equals feature redundancy. "Many consumers do not understand the device's purpose, who would want to pay $500 or more for it and why anyone
would need another gadget on top of a computer and smartphone."
"Technophiles" -- the demographic most likely pre-ordering the iPad -- only makeup 16% of the total potential market for the
device, according to Eitan Muller, a professor of high-tech marketing at New York University's Stern School of Business. In a recent study, research firm NPD found that just 18% of consumers expressed
interest in owning an iPad. Among other consumer interviewed by The Times, "There was a subtle sense of frustration among some consumers that they were being asked to bring yet another expensive
device into lives already cluttered with finger-smudged screens and tangled power cords."