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xmichaelp

macrumors 68000
Jul 10, 2012
1,815
626
If I were Apple (like they care about my opinion) here's how I'd arrange the new line, to rationalize (ie not scare off buyers with too many choices) and to clean up the cruft of the past.

Each of the iPad and iPad mini lines splits into two:

We have an iPad S which comes with A7X, TouchID and (greater than 70% chance) 2GB of RAM, 802.11ac, and the A7X has three CPU cores.
We ALSO have an iPad C which is basically the guts of the iPad4 wrapped in plastic, and takes the place of the iPad2.

Likewise we have an iPad Mini S which is basically a scaled up iPhone S (apart from the camera) and costs $50 more than the existing iPad.
And we have an iPad Mini C which is basically an iPhone C (stripped down to as cheap as possible) to get to a retina iPad mini at the existing price point.

The moral is that going forward (at least for the immediate future) iOS devices come in "leading edge/expensive/metal" and "fun/less expensive/plastic". We've seen similar eventual unifications of a single design style across Macs after a few years where the different product lines wandered in different directions.

These, I think, are all the "obvious" changes. The great unknown as the "one more thing" is the mythical 13" iPad.
I can see reasons why this makes sense for Apple, even if it's not expected to be a great seller.
(a) It's a halo item. Whatever magical A7X CPUs can be binned at 2GHz (or whatever) rather than the 1.6(?) GHz of the standard iPad get displayed here as a "we're the king and always will be" statement to other vendors.
It likewise allows Apple to test-drive expensive, high performance (and perhaps even hot) chips before they get sent into the mainstream. Eg it could be the first iOS device to ship with 4GB of RAM (take that all you "64-bit is so dumb in 2013ers!") And it definitely gets 802.11ac, even if the iPad S does not.

(b) It comes with new OS features (most obviously two windows visible at once) to shut up the claims of what a wonderful device Surface is for work.

(c) It makes for great ads (eg radiologists examining X-rays, pilots looking at documents, architects looking at drawings --- basically iOS for the rich professional and his deep-pocketed company).

On the negative side, it introduces yet another screen size. Less than ideal. But the old iPhone size is going away soon, as are the non-retina iPad and iPad mini. Essentially dev's will have four all-retina sizes to target (maybe three depending on how retina iPad mini is handled). That's probably not an unbearable burden, especially since for most purposes you can get away with only two real "layouts", phone and tablet, and rely on auto-layout to just let you see more stuff on differently sized tablets.

I'd rate the 13" iPad as 50% likely.

Having 4 new iPads a year (plus the possibility of a 13'') would be the beginning of the downfall of apple. Just no.
 

Xiroteus

macrumors 65816
Mar 31, 2012
1,297
75
Looks better on the iPad since the back is all one color unlike the iPhone which is now two tone and looks odd.
 

coolspot18

macrumors 65816
Aug 16, 2010
1,051
90
Canada
Apple should consider making the iPad dockable to a keyboard. Would be even better if the iPad starts differentiating itself from the iPhone - perhaps with more business/work/desktop features?
 

mdelvecchio

macrumors 68040
Sep 3, 2010
3,151
1,149
I was hoping for a gold iPad with an SD port :mad:

why would you believe they'd add sd cards now?

----------

Apple really needs to get a handle on controlling the leaks of the up coming product releases. Personally, I like being surprised when a new Apple product is released.

then why on earth do you read rumor and leaks websites? they have a larger supply chain now, controlling it is impossible. if you want to be surprised the obvious solution is not to open your presents early.
 

Patriot24

macrumors 68030
Dec 29, 2010
2,813
805
California
As someone who travels a decent amount, it is extremely rare to see an iPad in the wild without some type of rear/full case. In the end, I'm not sure how much this matters. The color of the front of the device is much more important.
 

giantfan1224

macrumors 6502a
Mar 9, 2012
870
1,115
If Apple announces a retina mini, I'll be giving myself an early Christmas present, in space gray.
 

mdelvecchio

macrumors 68040
Sep 3, 2010
3,151
1,149
Apple should consider making the iPad dockable to a keyboard. Would be even better if the iPad starts differentiating itself from the iPhone - perhaps with more business/work/desktop features?

what are you talking about? ipad already supports a host of external keyboards.
 

carlos916

macrumors regular
Jun 18, 2010
160
95
Sacramento, CA
I like space grey on my car better and ud figure id get the iphone5s and this ipad to match its color but id rather go for the gold lol
 

Xiroteus

macrumors 65816
Mar 31, 2012
1,297
75
I thought I'd get in early before anyone said "what no SD Card slot" which manages to rear it's head every single new iPad thread. ;)

It would be cool yet it will not happen, it's Apple, an SD card slot or blu-ray, or flash are too useful and will never be added. I never think, no sd card slot? One reason for one having one kind of makes sense. It does appear to come up every new iPad and iPhone.

*Yes, I am giving Apple a hard time about that even though I like their products and some of those things don't matter as much as they used to.*
 

ezekielrage_99

macrumors 68040
Oct 12, 2005
3,336
19
What is a SD port?


Just having some fun ;)

The SD card slot debate in an ongoing one where Apple is never going to add one.

Apple really needs to get a handle on controlling the leaks of the up coming product releases. Personally, I like being surprised when a new Apple product is released.

Agreed I prefer the Xmas morning approach, get up and hav a coffee to the delight of a newly awaited Apple release.

Though still waiting on the G5 Powerbooks :rolleyes:
 

richman555

macrumors 6502
Jan 23, 2010
450
214
Collegeville, PA
Space The Final Frontier

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdjL8WXjlGI

Shatner would love this ipad.

slategrayipad.jpg
 

JPSaltzman

macrumors 6502
Jun 5, 2011
363
756
I don't even think the folks at Crayola have a "space gray." It's just called "gray" (or, to honour Jony Ive, we'll spell it "grey"). In space, it's black. Total darkness. Unless, I suppose, you live in Cupertino, where the stars at night are totally grey (with apologies to "deep in the heart of Texas").
 

Jimrod

macrumors 65816
Jun 24, 2010
1,199
659
I don't even think the folks at Crayola have a "space gray." It's just called "gray" (or, to honour Jony Ive, we'll spell it "grey"). In space, it's black. Total darkness. Unless, I suppose, you live in Cupertino, where the stars at night are totally grey (with apologies to "deep in the heart of Texas").

It's a really childish term for a company that's supposed to ooze class - they can be playful as well for sure, but naming a colour "Space Grey" just seems like they've handed over marketing to a 14 year old in a Business Studies lesson.

How about "Graphite" or "Granite" or "Titanium" or "Charcoal" or pretty much anything but "Space Grey". I picture Jony Ive pretending to fly his iPhone 5S around the room making zooooom noises.
 

Xiroteus

macrumors 65816
Mar 31, 2012
1,297
75
It's a really childish term for a company that's supposed to ooze class - they can be playful as well for sure, but naming a colour "Space Grey" just seems like they've handed over marketing to a 14 year old in a Business Studies lesson.

How about "Graphite" or "Granite" or "Titanium" or "Charcoal" or pretty much anything but "Space Grey". I picture Jony Ive pretending to fly his iPhone 5S around the room making zooooom noises.

Maybe the name goes along with their half and half wonky designs. They need to get a few things in order again. Those names are better.
 

lamerica80

macrumors 6502a
May 22, 2008
679
506
It's a really childish term for a company that's supposed to ooze class - they can be playful as well for sure, but naming a colour "Space Grey" just seems like they've handed over marketing to a 14 year old in a Business Studies lesson.

How about "Graphite" or "Granite" or "Titanium" or "Charcoal" or pretty much anything but "Space Grey". I picture Jony Ive pretending to fly his iPhone 5S around the room making zooooom noises.

And last time i looked up upon the sky on a dark starry night, space looked pretty black to me. Not gray.
 

saha-med

macrumors regular
Dec 2, 2012
193
5
Please keep the front black... i can never work with any ios device with a white front
 

Pompiliu

macrumors 6502a
Apr 22, 2012
544
0
If I were Apple (like they care about my opinion) here's how I'd arrange the new line, to rationalize (ie not scare off buyers with too many choices) and to clean up the cruft of the past.

Each of the iPad and iPad mini lines splits into two:

We have an iPad S which comes with A7X, TouchID and (greater than 70% chance) 2GB of RAM, 802.11ac, and the A7X has three CPU cores.
We ALSO have an iPad C which is basically the guts of the iPad4 wrapped in plastic, and takes the place of the iPad2.

Likewise we have an iPad Mini S which is basically a scaled up iPhone S (apart from the camera) and costs $50 more than the existing iPad.
And we have an iPad Mini C which is basically an iPhone C (stripped down to as cheap as possible) to get to a retina iPad mini at the existing price point.

The moral is that going forward (at least for the immediate future) iOS devices come in "leading edge/expensive/metal" and "fun/less expensive/plastic". We've seen similar eventual unifications of a single design style across Macs after a few years where the different product lines wandered in different directions.

These, I think, are all the "obvious" changes. The great unknown as the "one more thing" is the mythical 13" iPad.
I can see reasons why this makes sense for Apple, even if it's not expected to be a great seller.
(a) It's a halo item. Whatever magical A7X CPUs can be binned at 2GHz (or whatever) rather than the 1.6(?) GHz of the standard iPad get displayed here as a "we're the king and always will be" statement to other vendors.
It likewise allows Apple to test-drive expensive, high performance (and perhaps even hot) chips before they get sent into the mainstream. Eg it could be the first iOS device to ship with 4GB of RAM (take that all you "64-bit is so dumb in 2013ers!") And it definitely gets 802.11ac, even if the iPad S does not.

(b) It comes with new OS features (most obviously two windows visible at once) to shut up the claims of what a wonderful device Surface is for work.

(c) It makes for great ads (eg radiologists examining X-rays, pilots looking at documents, architects looking at drawings --- basically iOS for the rich professional and his deep-pocketed company).

On the negative side, it introduces yet another screen size. Less than ideal. But the old iPhone size is going away soon, as are the non-retina iPad and iPad mini. Essentially dev's will have four all-retina sizes to target (maybe three depending on how retina iPad mini is handled). That's probably not an unbearable burden, especially since for most purposes you can get away with only two real "layouts", phone and tablet, and rely on auto-layout to just let you see more stuff on differently sized tablets.

I'd rate the 13" iPad as 50% likely.

Good thing apple doesn't give a damn about your opinion.
5 ipads a year is just insane! Jesus!:eek:
 
S

syd430

Guest
If I were Apple (like they care about my opinion) here's how I'd arrange the new line, to rationalize (ie not scare off buyers with too many choices) and to clean up the cruft of the past.

Each of the iPad and iPad mini lines splits into two:

We have an iPad S which comes with A7X, TouchID and (greater than 70% chance) 2GB of RAM, 802.11ac, and the A7X has three CPU cores.
We ALSO have an iPad C which is basically the guts of the iPad4 wrapped in plastic, and takes the place of the iPad2.

Likewise we have an iPad Mini S which is basically a scaled up iPhone S (apart from the camera) and costs $50 more than the existing iPad.
And we have an iPad Mini C which is basically an iPhone C (stripped down to as cheap as possible) to get to a retina iPad mini at the existing price point.

The moral is that going forward (at least for the immediate future) iOS devices come in "leading edge/expensive/metal" and "fun/less expensive/plastic". We've seen similar eventual unifications of a single design style across Macs after a few years where the different product lines wandered in different directions.

These, I think, are all the "obvious" changes. The great unknown as the "one more thing" is the mythical 13" iPad.
I can see reasons why this makes sense for Apple, even if it's not expected to be a great seller.
(a) It's a halo item. Whatever magical A7X CPUs can be binned at 2GHz (or whatever) rather than the 1.6(?) GHz of the standard iPad get displayed here as a "we're the king and always will be" statement to other vendors.
It likewise allows Apple to test-drive expensive, high performance (and perhaps even hot) chips before they get sent into the mainstream. Eg it could be the first iOS device to ship with 4GB of RAM (take that all you "64-bit is so dumb in 2013ers!") And it definitely gets 802.11ac, even if the iPad S does not.

(b) It comes with new OS features (most obviously two windows visible at once) to shut up the claims of what a wonderful device Surface is for work.

(c) It makes for great ads (eg radiologists examining X-rays, pilots looking at documents, architects looking at drawings --- basically iOS for the rich professional and his deep-pocketed company).

On the negative side, it introduces yet another screen size. Less than ideal. But the old iPhone size is going away soon, as are the non-retina iPad and iPad mini. Essentially dev's will have four all-retina sizes to target (maybe three depending on how retina iPad mini is handled). That's probably not an unbearable burden, especially since for most purposes you can get away with only two real "layouts", phone and tablet, and rely on auto-layout to just let you see more stuff on differently sized tablets.

I'd rate the 13" iPad as 50% likely.


How many redbulls did you have to drink before you were able to write that up in 1 minute?

(Or did you have that sitting in a word file waiting for the Next iPad article to be able to post it?... I can't find this posted anywhere else by doing a Google search for the text)
 

smoking monkey

macrumors 68020
Mar 5, 2008
2,335
1,468
I HUNGER
And last time i looked up upon the sky on a dark starry night, space looked pretty black to me. Not gray.

I don't know the exact origin of Space grey/gray but here are some examples of grey in space...

1. You standard aliens are called "Grays". They are the aliens we often see depicted in popular culture.
2. Metals used in spacecraft etc
3. Color of the moon.
4. Fictional space uniforms often grey

Basically grey has a long history with the portrayal of "space" in popular culture.

So there you go. And if it was a joke, it's been told a hundred times already on these boards.
 
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