Apple to Launch 'iPad HD' This Fall Alongside Pro Apps?

[*LTD*]

Originally Posted by Mattie Num Nums

Ask FCP users what they think of that statement.

Pro App for a niche market (a market that is gradually blending with the prosumer market.) Your example does not apply.

I'm speaking as an average consumer, like the vast majority of Apple's users.

[thatsallfolks]

It's not that they want to segment their market into consumer and pro but that they can't bring in a Retina display and keep their price point. They never could, they knew it and anyone looking at it objectively knew it too. Retina was always going to cost more.

Either they leave their entry level price and force the low end consumers out or they create a pro along side the basic version which keeps the $499 cost for the ipad as well as allows them to introduce a Retina model at a profitable price point.

Everything about this rumor makes sense. And it's going to happen.

[blackburn]

Apple and pro? Now that's not right. As much as people like macbook pros (I do like them too), they are not even that "pro" (under wattage chargers, overheating issues). Just this week I've trashed a friends macbook pro while playing a game (overheated and something went puff), off to service. Professional laptops should always have the option for matte displays, and have decent chargers + coolers.

Apple should stop using the pro word, they are just embarrassing themselves.

Final Cut "Pro", Lion and now this? Whats next? iPod touch consumer pro?

[GQB]

Originally Posted by Reach9

You see, because Apple wants to push on the post-PC era, people might be using their iPads as their primary computing device. I.e, a 128GB SSD sounds fine.

For me, until the iPad can run OS X, it's not replacing my MacBook Pro.

Everyone's different. For me, the iPad means I'll never get a laptop.
iMac for the occasional heavy use at home, iPad the other 95% of the time, mobile and home.
Apple is betting (and me along with them) that the lion's share of use going forward (for the vast majority of users) will be handled perfectly well by an iPad.
I think they're right.

[Jerome Morrow]

Originally Posted by Mattie Num Nums

Ask FCP users what they think of that statement.

Apple used to know what they were doing now they just follow one thing... $

Yeah … others just give stuff away like a charity

[justinfreid]

Originally Posted by HarryKeogh

"HD" as a marketing term. It's just so 2007.

Might as well say iPad now in COLOR

I agree, appending HD to a product name shouldn't pass Apple's marketing department's litmus test.

[gohanmzt]

iPad "PRO"?



Thanks, I needed a good laugh

[chrmjenkins]

Toplosky actually has a very good track record for rumors. Also, it's nice to see someone provide substance behind the rumors in an attempt to explain the motivations behind a product move.

Still, I share the skepticism that people have over apple reaching out to a pro market they seem to be anxious to abandon. On top of that, there's already 18 iPad 2 models. (16, 32, 64 GB) 3 * (white black) 2 * ( WiFi AT&T Verizon) 3.

[Wolfpup]

Originally Posted by jrtc27

This seems very un-Apple-like to me - I thought iOS was all about preventing fragmentation?

This doesn't cause too much fragmentation. It's just got a 4x higher resolution screen, if rumors are true.

But there already is fragmentation. You've got basically 3 separate iOS platforms so far, and then two screen sizes (3.5 and 9.7") on top of that.

Lots of variation besides that too.

You've got:
-original ARM11 + fixed function GPU, + 128MB RAM with 3.5"
-second gen A8 + programable GPU + 256MB
-you've got that on 3.5" and 9.7" screens
-you've got one model with 512MB, while the others have 256MB
-Now you've got kind of a third generation with dual core A9 + 2 more powerful GPUs + 512MB

This is just adding another higher resolution screen...but it's already kind of a fragmented mess, and there's no clean way of telling you what you have. I mean Apple doesn't go "this is a generation 3 iOS device" and label them and programs in the store consistently, like maybe they should.

Heck, when the iPod 3 came out, Apple continued selling the iPod 2 (which was a generation 1 device) AT THE SAME TIME as the entry level device. You had to REALLY be paying attention to figure out that you were getting an entirely different generation of hardware in the case, because they were sold at the same time, it wasn't clearly marketed, and they looked the same.

Not to mention that the jump from MacBook to MacBook Pro is quite significant

Depends what you mean. Typically the Macbook and 13" Macbook Pro are almost the same thing.

Originally Posted by Patriot24

More than just 6...

2 colors
3 capacities
2 networking options (wifi, wifi + 3G)
2 carriers

I forgot about the colors-okay, so technically 18 different models!

But I don't think it's confusing. Should be clear cut for anyone clever enough to use a computer to begin with.

You've got:
-pick a color
-pick a storage size
-pick wifi or one of two cell phone companies

But it's all the same thing besides those easy to grasp choices.

[bailorg]

As someone still holding on to a iPhone 3G, why do I get the sinking feeling that all these rumors are just a massive, coordinated smokescreen to divert people from expecting a new iPhone (4S, 5, or whatever) this year.

[*LTD*]

Originally Posted by gohanmzt

iPad "PRO"?



Thanks, I needed a good laugh

AKA the MacBook Air.

[paul4339]

Originally Posted by Popeye206

... all the iPad HD is, is a way for Apple to introduce a Retina display option....

I agree... The "Pro" is for Pro-sumers ... enthusiasts that will spend more money on stuff because they can (if it's something they are into; or a hobby).

The SLR camera market is an example, I see WAY more photography enthusiasts carrying the high-end cameras than real professionals ... And the camera makers know this - they know that they make a lot of profit off of the pro-sumer and will introduce new features in the product geared directly towards them.

[Wolfpup]

Originally Posted by blackburn

Apple and pro? Now that's not right. As much as people like macbook pros (I do like them too), they are not even that "pro" (under wattage chargers, overheating issues). Just this week I've trashed a friends macbook pro while playing a game (overheated and something went puff), off to service. Professional laptops should always have the option for matte displays, and have decent chargers + coolers.

Apple should stop using the pro word, they are just embarrassing themselves.

Final Cut "Pro", Lion and now this? Whats next? iPod touch consumer pro?

Glad someone else recognizes it's just a marketing term. I don't think a bad one, but it wasx never something to take literally-never something more than just a name.

Years ago I'd actually heard fanboys basically declare the Macbook Pro's price or performance or whatever fine, because "it's not for normal people! It's just for Pros!". And it's like dude, it's a notebook, it has the specs it has. It's for anyone who needs those specs, and it's not high end enough for everyone.

[Wolfpup]

Originally Posted by bailorg

As someone still holding on to a iPhone 3G, why do I get the sinking feeling that all these rumors are just a massive, coordinated smokescreen to divert people from expecting a new iPhone (4S, 5, or whatever) this year.

Oh man, the original iOS platform is just dirt slow. There's a huge speedup going to the second gen platform, and a huge speedup going to the third-you'll be in for a big treat!

[Ecoh]

Next they will be putting a hinged aluminum lid with a keyboard on it.

[lars666]

Originally Posted by Slurpy2k8

128GB SSD? Yeah, completely reasonable for $499, right? I've never come close to filling my 16GB, I can't imagine there's many people out there who need or can take advantage of 128GB. Keep dreaming.

Please don't judge others by your own standards. Music, apps, videos, photos, multimedia magazines etc. Nuff said. Fine for you that you don't need more than 16 GB. Others do.

[Jim Boonie]

As an iPad 2 owner, if this were to happen it wouldn't bother me at all. I'd happily wait for a fully updated iPad 3 while people that don't have a Macbook Pro clamor for these half-breed iPads.

[ecib]

Originally Posted by macduke

An iPad Pro would be great! But Apple needs to understand something. Pros won't take the iPad seriously for work without...

I think Apple is smart enough to not care one bit about the 'pros' if meeting their specs has an adverse effect on the price point that regular consumers are willing to pay.

If the word 'pro' is attached to the iPad in any way, it will be for marketing purposes rather than a serious reflection of specs above and beyond a consumer grade device.

[paradox00]

Originally Posted by Wolfpup

Like what? Potentially real OS X (or whatever they want to call it) can replace iOS, but not the other way around. At least not if they still want to compete as a PC manufacturer, and it seems idiotic for them to give that up, given they're doing pretty great at it.

Possible methods of launching an application (Applications folder, Desktop, Launchpad, Dock, etc) comes to mind.

Did you read the rest of my post, specifically where I said that iOS can't replace OSX, but they could take elements from both to build a new OS? I never said I thought iOS was going to or should replace OSX.

OSX is a great operating system, but it's 10 years old. Apple has a lot of freedom to add to it, but not a lot of freedom to take away from it. It's feature bloated. In Lion, Apple isn't introducing many new things we can do, they are mostly introducing new ways to do things we can already do. At some point you gotta wipe the slate clean, start fresh, and take what you've learned over the last 10 years to make the next great OS (keeping app compatibility if you can of course).

[blackburn]

Originally Posted by Wolfpup

Glad someone else recognizes it's just a marketing term. I don't think a bad one, but it wasx never something to take literally-never something more than just a name.

Years ago I'd actually heard fanboys basically declare the Macbook Pro's price or performance or whatever fine, because "it's not for normal people! It's just for Pros!". And it's like dude, it's a notebook, it has the specs it has. It's for anyone who needs those specs, and it's not high end enough for everyone.

Lately the only pro thing about it is the price. It's a notebook nothing else. I think powerbook was a much nicer term, ambitious yet not that "look its pro".

Professional laptops are those portable workstations or portable servers or even the rugged ones like the panasonic toughbook.

Pro makes people feel good about spending that much money. It's marketing.

[Apple Expert]

It's funny how people are making fun of this new "Pro" model. I bet you will all purchase it anyways.

[komodrone]

A screen having 2048 x 1536 resolution itself would cost more than $499 to make. So we're talking $999 ipad HD?

[peacenfunk]

A Massive shot in the dark here. Say thet drop the ipod touch, streamline it into the iphone. The ipad 2 holds in for the ipod touch and the ipad HD(?) becomes the newest ipad.

Just a thought.

[HiRez]

Sounds to me like the new double-resolution displays are still too expensive for the general population, and they probably can't make enough of them yet until manufacturing capacity ramps up. So, they'll introduce this "pro" model at a price premium until they're cheap enough to produce in mass quantities, when they will trickle down to the regular iPad line. In other words, this is a test.

But how expensive will it be? Up to $200 more for the display (at most) might be reasonable, anything over that won't get much adoption. I'd pay an extra $100 no problem, $200 I'd have to think about it. And of course there won't be many apps that support the higher resolution for a while (at least not games which would need higher-res textures). Should be great for iBooks though, with the antialiasing benefits.

[Dinø]

Angry Birds for Retina Display: $1 – 614K pixels
Angry Birds "HD" for iPad 2 Display: $5 – 787K pixels

The exact same game, for 5 times the cost of the iPhone version, you get 1.28 times more detail.

To make things worse, Apple has intentionally crippled Retina apps when running on the iPad, so that the software you've already purchased for your iPhone 4 only runs with 480x320 detail (yes, even when you zoom it to "2x").

Angry Birds (non-HD) running on iPad 2: $1 - 153K pixels

So, you're already forced to make a separate purchase for your iPad to play what is essentially the iPhone 4 application with 28% more pixels.