This is a paradigm shift. Apple is embracing three numeral technology while their competitors are stuck in the two numeral age. Apple's ability to increase numerals a full fifty percent when pundits were expecting a mere incremental refresh is perhaps the most amazing news of 2013.
I think this is just another step towards tablets replacing personal portable computers(notebooks, netbooks). More storage on the tablet means less dependency on other devices.
I don't think storage is something that is standing in the way for tablets to replace portable computers. If it was, all you need to do is to slap in cloud storage and voila, theoretically unlimited space. Its more to do with productivity and flexibility and these two things can never be fully achieved under walled gardens. Once OS providers start porting their full OS suite to tablets, we might see a good traction. Glad to see Windows and Ubuntu are moving in that direction and hoping others to follow.
When I can run xcode, matlab, microsoft word, endnote, spss, sas and every other software product that make me somewhat productive, then I'll buy the post-PC garbage. And I'm not even a developer.
I guess Apple has decided to no longer make it easy to own "the best" of any given Apple device for more than a few months. I don't really see a problem with this (although maybe it will hurt the generally-strong resale value, although that will put less expensive but still great devices into the secondary market faster).
Do you necessarily need "the best" of any given Apple device?
It's probably a smart practise though, if they can make those with a serious Apple product addiction shell out multiple times a year whilst still being able to sell perfectly useful devices to everyone else.
This has been true in most categories of devices for a long time. (Before things shook out and Samsung ascended, HTC and Motorola were leap frogging each other monthly with the "best" Android phone)
It is interesting to see Apple release a bump up in specs outside of a staged presentation. Does this mean their product release cycle will become leaner and quicker to update instead of being on the January -> June -> October release cycle?
What's the difference between the iPad 3 (retina) and this 4th generation they're talking about? Are they referring to an iPad Mini as 4th gen or are they saying the retina iPad (3rd gen) is 4th gen now?
No, the iPad Mini is just the iPad Mini. The 4th gen iPad was updated at the time the Mini came out to give it the same new dock connector and boosted specs, probably to prevent people from flooding to the cheaper option due to the perceived outdatedness of the larger iPad.
I don't know why they didn't stick with just iPad 3 and iPad 4. Maybe people have different reactions to version numbers?
In any case: The third-generation iPad ("The new iPad") was released last Spring. The fourth-generation iPad ("iPad with Retina Display") was released last Autumn. The iPad Minis internally have the same major version number at the iPad 2s. There isn't much difference between the third and fourth generations, other than a new port and a slight spec bump.
Apple obviously knows how to squeeze every ounce of profit margin they can out of the consumer. But why does it cost the same amount to double the 16 GB model as it does to double the 64 GB model?
I'm pretty sure that first $100 upgrade from 16 to 32 is a huge profit maker. It only costs Apple a few bucks, and anyone who wants to seriously use their iPad has to do it because 16GB is just too small.
The increase in margins is huge for them. With a PC desktop, and with most laptops as well, you can simply upgrade the hard drive or ram yourself and save a ton of cash. But tablets have changed how easy it is to do this, and Apple is also soldering their laptop (at least, on the Air) hard drives and ram in place. So if you want an upgrade, you pay for it upfront, and you dig deeper into your pocket to do it.
I suspect some of it will be profit, some of it will be engineering.
I wouldn't be surprised if the cost of engineering from 16gb to 32gb is roughly similar to the cost of going from 64gb to 128gb. The components could be cheaper, the actual hardware for 64gb might be more versatile than the hardware for 16gb and so on.
Because plenty of people just use the iPad for e-mail and surfing the web so they don't need more than 16GB.
I have a 16GB iPad 1 still going strong - I barely use any apps outside of the ones preloaded [exceptions being Twitter, Facebook + Kindle].
When I travel, I load on a few movies / tv eps and I watch those. When I travel again, I just swap them out. I do the same at home. 16GB is ample if you're happy to swap content on & off your device.
My father in law as a 16 GB iPad 2, bought shortly after it was released. Last time I checked he had 8-9 GB of free storage left on it despite having everything he could possibly want in the way of apps and pictures on it.
Eventually long-time users need to be selective for what they sync. Between music, videos and games I've always had to choose what I don't want, even on my laptop these days thanks to HD movies and retina apps.
It will be interesting to find out if most of the people buying the 128GB models will either be affluent assholes or those who do a shit ton of photo/video(/music?) editing on their iPads.
RIP Apple. Your products are no longer interesting...Sad to see such a great company fall to pieces.
Apple's only strength was the desirability factor. And this desirability factor arose from the fact that they had really few product lines that were easy to remember - There was only ONE good iPhone and ONE iPad at any given point in time, so, people would easily remember those.
Right now, what's the newest/best iPad out there?
Is it the iPad 3? The iPad Mini?? The iPad 4?? (I was aware of the 4th version only a few days back).
And what's the newest/best iPhone? The iPhone 4S? The iPhone 5?? The iPhone 5S??
When Steve was alive, the most recent product line from Apple would automatically mean that it was the best. However, that isn't the case anymore. Now, they just increment technical aspects (screen resolution, storage size..etc) of their products to fake desirability.
This was the only difference between Apple's strategy and other companies like Sony/Samsung/HTC's strategy. Heck, even HTC is getting better, they are having fewer phones that make it easier to remember (The two latest and best phones from HTC are the Butterfly J and the One X+)
If Apple is going to follow its competitors, destroying its only edge over the others (ie, desirability), I fail to see how they can sustain this way. In other words, they are digging their own grave.
Just FYI - If you are wondering if I'm a fanboy, no I'm not. I lost all respect for them the day they sued Samsung.
Currently owning both a macbook and a dell laptop, I assure you that there are differences besides the number of lines they carry.
The same holds true if you look at tablets or phones instead of computers. The difference you describe isn't the "only" difference, and it's not even one of the more important differences.
ah, the wonder years when Steve was alive and the last apple product line was better than the previous one aka the iPod shuffle better than the iPod nano - the MacBook Air which he pulled out of a manila envelope better than the MacBook ( or Pro) , where there was just one MacBook or one iPod and when the iPhone 3GS was not sold alongside the iPhone 4.
Cut to present - nobody knows that the iPhone 5 is the best iPhone - and everybody knows that having an iPad mini alongside an iPad has cut it's desirability to zero. All becuase Steve is no longer at Apple and it will soon follow him to the grave becuase of doing exactly what he did when he was alive.
[+] [-] brudgers|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sergiotapia|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ohwp|13 years ago|reply
Edit: for more info check out Samsungs 128GB eMMC memory chip
[+] [-] masklinn|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cjbprime|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] alexkus|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] option_greek|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nikolakirev|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nivla|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rogerchucker|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rdl|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jiggy2011|13 years ago|reply
It's probably a smart practise though, if they can make those with a serious Apple product addiction shell out multiple times a year whilst still being able to sell perfectly useful devices to everyone else.
[+] [-] bdcravens|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] emp_|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] itsmeduncan|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] _b8r0|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] potatolicious|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cytzol|13 years ago|reply
In any case: The third-generation iPad ("The new iPad") was released last Spring. The fourth-generation iPad ("iPad with Retina Display") was released last Autumn. The iPad Minis internally have the same major version number at the iPad 2s. There isn't much difference between the third and fourth generations, other than a new port and a slight spec bump.
[+] [-] randall|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] adrianm|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] uptown|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Sayter|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] frogpelt|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TillE|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] noarchy|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tomelders|13 years ago|reply
I wouldn't be surprised if the cost of engineering from 16gb to 32gb is roughly similar to the cost of going from 64gb to 128gb. The components could be cheaper, the actual hardware for 64gb might be more versatile than the hardware for 16gb and so on.
[+] [-] rthomas6|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mikecane|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] smiler|13 years ago|reply
I have a 16GB iPad 1 still going strong - I barely use any apps outside of the ones preloaded [exceptions being Twitter, Facebook + Kindle].
When I travel, I load on a few movies / tv eps and I watch those. When I travel again, I just swap them out. I do the same at home. 16GB is ample if you're happy to swap content on & off your device.
[+] [-] klinquist|13 years ago|reply
16GB is enough for my books and enough movies (compressed appropriately) to keep me entertained on a transcontinental flight.
I have a large music collection, but that typically lives on my phone, not my ipad.
[+] [-] estel|13 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] dschep|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] smiler|13 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] edparry|13 years ago|reply
That's a lot of space, considering my movies/TV shows are on Netflix, and music on Spotify. Still, makes sense to offer it.
[+] [-] Revisor|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lemcoe9|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rogerchucker|13 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] neya|13 years ago|reply
Apple's only strength was the desirability factor. And this desirability factor arose from the fact that they had really few product lines that were easy to remember - There was only ONE good iPhone and ONE iPad at any given point in time, so, people would easily remember those.
Right now, what's the newest/best iPad out there? Is it the iPad 3? The iPad Mini?? The iPad 4?? (I was aware of the 4th version only a few days back).
And what's the newest/best iPhone? The iPhone 4S? The iPhone 5?? The iPhone 5S??
When Steve was alive, the most recent product line from Apple would automatically mean that it was the best. However, that isn't the case anymore. Now, they just increment technical aspects (screen resolution, storage size..etc) of their products to fake desirability.
This was the only difference between Apple's strategy and other companies like Sony/Samsung/HTC's strategy. Heck, even HTC is getting better, they are having fewer phones that make it easier to remember (The two latest and best phones from HTC are the Butterfly J and the One X+)
If Apple is going to follow its competitors, destroying its only edge over the others (ie, desirability), I fail to see how they can sustain this way. In other words, they are digging their own grave.
Just FYI - If you are wondering if I'm a fanboy, no I'm not. I lost all respect for them the day they sued Samsung.
[+] [-] jcromartie|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tjogin|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dbecker|13 years ago|reply
The same holds true if you look at tablets or phones instead of computers. The difference you describe isn't the "only" difference, and it's not even one of the more important differences.
[+] [-] ohwp|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vvhn|13 years ago|reply
Cut to present - nobody knows that the iPhone 5 is the best iPhone - and everybody knows that having an iPad mini alongside an iPad has cut it's desirability to zero. All becuase Steve is no longer at Apple and it will soon follow him to the grave becuase of doing exactly what he did when he was alive.