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

[jrtc27]

This seems very un-Apple-like to me - I thought iOS was all about preventing fragmentation? Although they do still sell the 3GS
Not to mention that the jump from MacBook to MacBook Pro is quite significant, but the jump from non-HD to HD is quite minimal.... Oh well we shall see in due course

 

[troop231]

I wonder what the price tag will be on a iPad HD?

Quote: "Just $1099"

 

[cube]

This is what the next iPad should have:

- Retina
- 1 GiB RAM
- 128 GiB storage
- Better cameras if they really are bad (good does not mean going overboard with megapixels)

 

[Patriot24]

Apple needs to do something to shrink the number of iPad models. There are currently 6 and if this rumor comes true that will add to the mix. I'm hoping the next iPads support multiple carrier technologies in one device, that will help a lot.

More than just 6...

2 colors
3 capacities
2 networking options (wifi, wifi + 3G)
2 carriers
6 original iPad models (refurb/resale)

I'm sure someone can do the math, but that is a lot of choice, especially when you are dealing with average consumers.

 

[darbus69]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

change is good, and necessary in a world of insatiable consumerism-for the record-I cannot imagine a more durable, functional, beautiful device than my iPhone 4. it truly changed the way I live my life. I said goodby to my laptop and my Mac mini is mostly a storage device...still, excited to see what is coming this fall!

 

[*LTD*]

This seems very un-Apple-like to me - I thought iOS was all about preventing fragmentation? Although they do still sell the 3GS
Not to mention that the jump from MacBook to MacBook Pro is quite significant, but the jump from non-HD to HD is quite minimal.... Oh well we shall see in due course

Apple "fragmentation" is almost negligible compared to the rest. You've got a couple of iPhones (iPhone 4 and 3GS) and a couple of iPads (iPad and iPad 2) and I think a few iPods. That's it. You can even ignore the iPods and still do well.

 

[Takeo]

Makes sense. They did something similar with the iMacs. For a few years the cheaper / smaller versions used a horrible TFT panel. These days they use a far superior IPS panel across the board. They didn't advertise this, but it's somewhat similar. And there are other examples where you pay more for more features. The 13" Air for instance has a card reader while the 11" does not. Small things... but same idea.

Anyway, I don't think it would be very Apple to have a low-resolution and high-resolution version of the iPad. Even if they did do it, it would only be because they can't get the retina screen price low enough, so you'd only have two models for like a year, after which only the retina version would remain.

 

[geenosr]

It's only going to get worse as the months drag along. Every day there will be crazy, conflicting rumors. I haven't figured out yet if I'm amused or annoyed at this point.

I know right now. I'm annoyed. Does anyone believe that these iPad rumors are really a smoke-screen to divert our FULL attention from the iPhone 5? According to the rumors on this website it seems to be working.

Let's wish for something outlandish......iPhone 5 with a 10 hour battery!

 

[whooleytoo]

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

Might as well say iPad now in COLOR

You may mock, but I'm waiting for the iPad Stereo. 100% extra speakerage over the iPad2. Two whole speakers of stereophonic goodness. Oh yeah...

 

[Wolfpup]

I think it makes a lot of sense to do this whilst the prices of those high-res screens are still so high. I just hope they can up the processing power commensurately, so it is not underpowered.

Yeah...I suspect they won't, but it seems like at least doubling the GPUs would be a good idea. Actually going to 4 GPUs *STILL* wouldn't make up for the 4x higher resolution, but it would be something.

Double the RAM and the GPUs + the screen, and that's a compelling product, depending on price.

The idea that these replace PCs is goofy though.

Next time-PLEASE--put function over form, just this once. Why? Because it's a PHONE. Make it RUGGED! Make it SLIP-PROOF. Just make one like that for the rest of us who aren't so flashy, okay?

Ain't going to happen. Form over function is Steve Jobs thing, and it's always disappointed me

Apple needs to do something to shrink the number of iPad models. There are currently 6 and if this rumor comes true that will add to the mix. I'm hoping the next iPads support multiple carrier technologies in one device, that will help a lot.

I don't think it's a big deal what they have now. If you want to get technical, there are 9 SKUs, but really it's one model. I mean there's the iPad 2. Then you can get it with three sizes of flash, and with wifi, or two cell phone providers.

I think that's pretty easy to get. This really would just add a second model, which doesn't seem outrageous.

Maybe it would just slot in as a replacement for the 64GB model even...THAT would sure make that model more compelling if it had 4x the flash, 4x the resolution, and also 2x the GPUs and 2x the RAM, or something like that. They could even bump up the price another $50 or something maybe.

Unless they are making this to scrap the MacBook. Think about it...

The problem is an iPad can't replace a PC, and the MacBook remains a better value than the Air. The Air's advantage IMO is just that the 11" model can fit in some SUPER size constrained spots (like on my microwave ) that even a 13" PC can't.

Other than that? The Macbook's the same price as the base Air, but gives you higher end hardware, an optical drive, user accessible components, etc. I'd never recommend an Air over it.

 

[nunes013]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8J2)

Let's hope the pro apps also work on iPad 2 and it's a gimmick to get the iPad HD

 

[Wickedgardengtp]

Insert cynical, Anti-Apple, PC fanboy comment here>>>>>

 

[Popeye206]

The Rumors are running wild! We must be getting close to something for sure. Looks like it may be a fun holiday season.

 

[derek1984]

After holding out, I FINALLY will be getting an iPad if this is true.

 

[a.gomez]

ahhhh! So that explains why the launch of fcpx was a mess. They ported it to the wrong platform...

lol!

 

[gnasher729]

Why the iPad HD only at the high-end?

Low-yield of the HD screens? Too pricey? Performance at that resolution too poor for games, but good enough for photo display?

Yes, yes, and yes.

For example, if the best offer for high resolution displays that Apple got was "we can build 300,000 displays a month for $300 each", then an iPad 2 HD would be a reasonable product.

Quote: "Just $1099"

Sounds about right.

I would like to see Xcode ported to iOS.

It's a pain on a MBP 13" because of the small screen.

why would they call it HD? 2048 x 1536 resolution is both higher than what is considered HD (1920X1080) and is a different aspect ratio. This just tells me these analysts don't no what they're taking about.

HD = "Higher Density".

 

[HelveticaRoman]

Seems strange as they appear to be hell-bent on moving away from all things pro, except that is, for the moniker.

 

[firewood]

Why the iPad HD only at the high-end?

It's a great way to segment the market and extract a lot more money (profit) from people who want a higher-end product than what everybody else is buying, without significantly impacting the high demand their mid-range tablet that's at a price that's simply killing the competition.

Sure, the Retina panel might cost more, but that only a tiny part of the reason why segmenting the market by pricing can make tons more money for Apple.

 

[Cynicalone]

What would be the cost of such an iPad? It would need to be competitive, but not to damn low or it cuts into other iPad sales.

This fall they give people the option for HD, but make it standard in 2012? Seems kinda pointless.

On the Apple store would they list it as an option like on the laptops? Upgrade to an HD display for an extra $300 dollars?

I can't imagine it being cheap.

 

[CFreymarc]

It's funny to see "iPad" and "Pro" apps in the same title.

I really like the "Pro Apps" idea that has been kicking around since the first year of the Apple app store. What we have now is Vaudeville with anyone that can write an app is on stage.

Time for a premium app store with a placement fee of around a $1000 (yes a thousand) a year. If you can't afford that, you don't belong there and are probably coding out of your cellar or bedroom.

That will shake down the field good, app prices can be at a professional level to where you can afford staffing. promotion and such. If an app is really good, it will go from the lower tier store to the upper tier store with the right investment.

 

[winston1236]

I'm not sure how much I believe Joshua Topolsky rumors. He has been pretty inaccurate in the past.

Also, the believability that Apple is making a professional-aimed iPad is somewhat questionable right now, as it really seems like everything Apple is doing is moving towards Consumer and Prosumer and away from Professionals.

Yea that and professionals for the most part are already buying the ipad, adding pro to the title would just be for those who need an ego boost

 

[MacBOS]

You may mock, but I'm waiting for the iPad Stereo. 100% extra speakerage over the iPad2. Two whole speakers of stereophonic goodness. Oh yeah...

Stereo, Dolby compression, and a cassette player included

iPad Retro

 

[scott911]

You may mock, but I'm waiting for the iPad Stereo. 100% extra speakerage over the iPad2. Two whole speakers of stereophonic goodness. Oh yeah...

I'm not laughing at all - about time a media consumtion device have decient sound. If not stereo, at least a forward-facing speaker costing a couple pennies more.

 

[clibinarius]

That seems so unApple-like. (to release a slightly better product with an add on to the name). I'm not saying it's bad, but just unusual.

It's like the jump from
Palm Pre -> Palm Pre Plus
Droid X -> Droid x2

Macbook -> Macbook Pro
iMac -> Mac Pro
iPod -> iPod Touch
iPad -> iPad 2
iPhone -> iPhone 3G -> iPhone 3GS -> iPhone 4 -> Product Not Found

 

[paradox00]

Not surprised at an iOS version of FCP at all, but I do find it odd if Apple plans to supplant the iPad 2 so quickly.

Though it does make you wonder how much longer OS X has to live.

The article specifically says that this wouldn't supplant (supersede and replace) the iPad2. This one would likely cost more, and have slightly different feature set.

The writing on the wall for OSX has been there for a long time, but that doesn't mean Macs are on their way out. It just means a new OS is on its way in. Mac OSX replaced Mac OS 9 and a unified OS will likely replace iOS and Mac OSX. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. OSX has numerous, redundant and legacy features that simply aren't needed (especially once Lion comes). To get rid of them, a clean break is needed. iOS can't replace OSX, but Apple could certainly take what they've learned from both iOS and OSX and create an OS suitable for both. I look forward to Mac OSXi ("OS Eleven" with the lower case "i" referencing its iOS roots and "OSX" obviously referencing the OSX roots).