Matt Burns:
The iPad 3 is coming next month. Or so says the endless rumors. These rumors also state the next iPad will have higher resolution screen and high-speed data connection. But I couldn’t care less. The iPad 3, if that’s really its name, sounds like a stop-gap upgrade to me.
Stop-gap, eh? Continue.
You see, I’m perfectly happy with my iPad 2. Save the addition of an SD card slot, there isn’t a single feature I can imagine that will make me trade up to Apple’s new hotness.
Faster connectivity, better cameras, vastly superior display = Meh. SD card slot = the own!~!1. Got it.
I guess the iPad 3 sounds great, but it also sounds boring.
Totally makes sense to me.
That’s not saying Apple won’t sell a zillion iPad 3s. It will.But it’s going to take more than a spec bump for me (and likely many others) to upgrade from the iPad 2.
That what I've been saying about laptops since the PowerBook 100 came out. I mean, it's been 21 years - are they ever gonna revolutionize these things?
Prior to most Apple events, rumors swirl, promising a revolutionary device that will change life on planet Earth forever. But then the iPhone 4S launches. A fine piece of hardware, sure, but far from spectacular.
Best-selling phone of all time. Go on.
But there hasn’t been any wide-eyed iPad 3 rumors but rather just predictable leaks stating there will be a slight hardware bump.
Again, see my note regarding the PowerBook 100.
Part of my dystopian outlook is that I’m pretty damn happy with the iPad 2. I passed on the original iPad, annoyed over the lack of external storage and USB support.
Which they never added to the iPad 2, which you are "pretty damn happy with". I see.
I instead waited for the Android tablets…
And…?
…but quickly discovered Honeycomb’s main fault involves trying to replicate a desktop environment rather than creating a mobile one.
You didn't like that? So many others did.
I have a dozen notebooks for traditional mobile computing.
Oh! So people want a tablet to be different from a traditional desktop experience?
So I got a 16GB Verizon iPad last summer. I’ve never been so happy with a device. I’ve had it since July 2011 and still use it hours a day. Apps make up 95% of my usage — the majority of which are not available on Android. I fire up Safari just to check TechCrunch and Techmeme.
So you totally love your iPad? Okay.
A prettier screen is not going to change or increase my usage unless Apple backsteps and includes a SD card slot — which it won’t.
So that only thing that will make a Retina Display screen better is an unrelated port on the side of the machine? I'm totally tracking with you.
When the original iPad launched, I dreamed of using it as a on-location photo viewer. I imagined using the tablet in conjunction with a cloud service for iPhoto. But instead Apple released a lame Dock Connect adapter which falls short of my expectation.
An SD card slot is the most important thing in your life, but investing $30 to have one on your iPad is out of the question. Makes sense.
The current screen looks great. Have you played Infinity Blade 2 or Rage? Awesome.
This screen is awesome, so a more-awesome screen would not be as good. Understood.
It’s important to remember that Apple doesn’t need to reinvent the iPad.
You just said, "The iPad 3, if that’s really its name, sounds like a stop-gap upgrade to me" which sound to me like you think they do, but… okay.
The company makes piles of cash by outing successful products and keeping them on the market as long as possible.
You're talking about Apple? Is that right? The same Apple that killed the iPod Mini in 2005 — when it was selling very well — to introduce the iPod Nano? The same company that killed it's best-selling white MacBook and replaced it with a MacBook Air? The same company that risked the entire iPod brand when they incorporated a best-of-breed iPod into their iPhone in 2007? Revisionist history, but sure.
The iPad 3 will likely be just a spec bump to stay competitive for 2012 and 2013.
Stay competitive because of all the competition from those Android tablets… I think about 6 of those sold. Or the pseudo-Android Kindle Fire which sold an undisclosed amount. Yeah, sounds like Apple really needs to pull up it's socks.
It will match (and outsell) future Android tablets, causing companies like Samsung, Asus and Motorola to quickly redesign and release an even more “powerful” tablet just to get a bit of an edge.
Well, they're all doing splendidly so far.
Apple didn’t need to release the iPhone 5 in 2011 because the iPhone 4 was still outselling most other phones. Instead, Apple released the iPhone 4S, which while packing some new innards, is mostly a stop-gap solution allowing the company to milk additional revenue from supply contracts on aging components.
Sounds like a flop to me. If only we knew the sales numbers.
It worked. Apple sold 17.1 million iPhones in the last part of 2011 on its way to be the most valuable company. The iPhone 4S gives Apple even more time to refine the iPhone 5 while negating more favorable manufacturing and supply deals.
Oh.
The same thing could happen to the iPad 2. Apple could release the iPad 2S. It would be faster, packing LTE data and a quad-core A6 CPU along with featuring a higher-res screen. Of course there would probably be a new camera and new software to take advantage of the quad-core CPU — the software would likely be exclusive to just the new model, though.
Yup. The name matters more than the product. That's important to remember. Also, Apple is historically TERRIBLE for supporting older devices with late and non-existent software updates.
The WSJ reports that Apple is playing with an 8-inch iPad. But once again, Apple doesn’t need to release an 8-incher right now. Sure, the Kindle Fire is scooping up plenty of marketshare but the tablet scene is far from saturated and the Fire helps bring attention to the product type.
I talk to people all the time who say, "iPad? What's that.. oh, you mean iPod!"
If Apple releases a stop-gap iPad in the coming weeks, I fully expect the company to completely reinvent its mobile line before the holiday season including a smaller, cheaper iPad.
Apple has always been a very reactionary company. And considering not a single one of iPad's competitor's will release actual sales numbers that can only mean dooooooooooom for Apple.
I’m sitting the next iPad out. My iPad 2 works just fine and none of the rumored iPad 3 features justify upgrading to me. Apple will likely hype a meaningless feature during the keynote, deeming it a game changer. But I’ve learned my lesson. Heads will stop spinning shortly after the event and reality will set in. Avoid the Apple spin zone. It has a tendency of sucking credit cards towards pre-order buttons.
Just look at iPod, iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad, iPad 2, and MacBook Air — their sales numbers all trailed off into oblivion within weeks of launch. At least — I'm pretty sure that's what happened… right?
