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What's Next for Apple in 2014: iWatch, Larger iPhone 6, 12.9-inch iPad Pro
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How many highschoolers or young college going students will ditch the laptop and just use the Ipad Air? Thats the market that i think apple will target..Those looking for an entry level laptop for school/college but also want the entertainment of the tablet when not doing serious stuff..I think a Touchscreen IOS type interface could be something remarkable such a device specially if you could bring more features at play (i tried to guess a few based on apple's recent acquisitions but they do have plenty of stuff in the works that we dont know 0ff)..
This would of course me one of the targetted markets along with productivity users a demographic that is growing handsomly and will continue to grow as tab sales outstrip PC sales..You could add POWER users to the mix as well and always count on apple and the dev community to come up with unique uses for such a device...
This is what the original IPAD was meant to target (the widest possible customer base based on one product )
You could easily come up with a device which merges the tab and the entry level mac book airs into one device..And touch will be widely accepted now that tabs and smartphones have matured nicely..
I don't see what is your point?
All three do the same thing. An iPad Air is fine for education.
My point is that the Ipad Air is not going to replace completely the requirement for a laptop for all users..Be it college going kids, productivity heavy folks (those that do a lot of word processing, picture editing, video editing and what not)..The Mac Book air is apple's entry level laptop and it sells in decent numbers..yet it is 1000+ dollars a pop and runs OSX and offers a different UX to the IOS devices that are selling in the droves. I see a lot of kids early in college use both an Ipad and a Windows laptop (or a Mac book air, or pro etc)..Many of these can be potential users for such a device..
For you perhaps..Many kids around the world going into college pick up Mac book air's..Apple targets college students with its macs all the time and considers them a valuable demographic..In fact a lot of mac book airs are bought by college going kids..
http://www.apple.com/students/mac/
While PCs outnumber Macs in the general public and on campus, Macs have experienced a significant increase in numbers in recent times, especially on college campuses. Roughly 50% of college students last year on our campus had Mac computers.
https://kb.wisc.edu/showroom/page.php?id=3045
As the mac book air concept advances, i see apple experimenting (and in fact running away with) a tablet that takes over most of the essential features that users use the mac book air for and in addition blurs OSX and IOS boundaries yet still retains the rich IOS app expereince...I dont see back and forth between OS like others are predicting but something else..
I can see Ipad Pro having a usb, dual speakers and a hybrid IOS that bridges to OSX. It will likely also have dual length battery or something like it.
It has to be different enough for fan boys to buy them.
To echo vomhorizon, I copy/paste and try to export here the discussion I had on the same line yesterday in this other thread. The other forum member is here in bold:
What about a retina MBA? I don't care about iOS devices. I use my MBA for work and not for play.
There will never be a retina MB Air. Not more will there be any larger iPad (Pro). The MB Pro line will be the devices designed for actual work, and running OS X.
The MB Air line will be replaced with a new category of products, starting with a single 11.9" retina foldable device at 2732x1536 (264 ppi, 2:1 1366x768), including only a touchscreen and a keyboard, no trackpad nor cursor on screen, running only iOS on a 16:9 elongated version of the 4:3 9.7" iPad screen, as thin as two iPad mini.
That would be useless for people who must run OSX or Windows via BootCamp on the most portable device (a MBA). ARM processors (iOS) can't replace x86 yet and who know when they will.
I think it's a good thing you aren't running Apple.
The MBP line will continue to get thinner and lighter, and will be the laptops line of choice for people needing to run OSes like OS X and softwares going with.
Apple will need to offer simpler laptop to use for home, running iOS with apps updated for the wider screen and use cases.
Compare your use of your Mac laptop and your iPad, the level of knowledge required for maintenance is not the same order of magnitude.
An iPad will never be able to comfortably replace a laptop, but current OS X laptops are too hard to use/configure/maintain/update/etc. for basic users. And I don't want OS X to be dumbed down.
I don't want the 11" MBA to be 'dumbed down' to the iOS level. Until there is an 11" MBP, there will be customers (like me) who will leave Apple if the ultra book sized 11" MBA goes with iOS / ARM.
I can easily see professionals who already own a 15" MBP still wanting an x86 compatible 11" MBA for ultra portability. There is no excuse for the 11" MBA to not have a retina class display and an x86 processor.
By the end of 2014 or in 2015, the next generation of intel mobile proc (Broadwell) will probably allow to make a MBP13 at least as powerful as today but even more power efficient. We're probably not far from the time the rMBP13 could fit in a MBA13 enclosure with no loss of capacity. At this time, it will probably as well be possible to make a 11.6" rMBP if there is a market for it.
What do you do when your MBA and MBP lines are the same? Ultrabook will probably simply be the name for laptops soon.
And I doubt you can make a retina MBA11 with Haswell today as thin and power-efficient as today's non-retina MBA11. The current rMBP13's IRIS part can barely drive its screen.
There is probably more customers and margins to gain with a sub-1k$ iOS laptop sold for home than with the current MBA11 sales (and considering part of the MBA line customers can switch to a lighter MBP13 if the MBA line disappear).
Chromebook and Windows 8(RT) laptops aren't yet a threat, but they are only first iterations of simple to use products that will probably be the future for home computing. Apple needs to address this market, and needs to take the train in time.
What do you do in the remaining time? Introducing the new line of iOS laptops I'm talking about (at the expense of a temporary disappearance of the MBA line, if it comes early) would allow for a better transition, to better see in what direction let evolve and enhance iOS, and let 3rd party software adapt to the new form factor and usages.
Who the hell is going to pay anything close to $1000 for an iOS based (larger) iPad with a keyboard?!
Who would switch from the current MBA when: a) All of their current software wouldn't work and b) There won't be any comparable software available if they suddenly release an ARM based MBA.
That is so 'Windows RT' like (which was a miserable failure).
How old are the people that think a iOS type laptop will be a big success next year? It just seems so incredibly naive at this time.
I guess I could be wrong. I will vote with my wallet. Apple could gain $3K (or more) !from me if they make 11" MBA/MBP with a retina display. Otherwise I'll buy a Windows machine that can run the software I must use for my job. Maybe I should start looking now. I love my 11" MBA but the screen is out of date relative to nearly ALL notebooks out there.
I'd hate to leave Apple but if they do the incredibly stupid thing of forcing the 11" MBA to be an iOS toy then I will have no choice but to spend my money elsewhere.
The screen size and resolution i gave in example were hinting to the answer: on the 11.9" 16:9 screen (slightly larger than the MBA11's screen) running the evolved version of iOS, you'd run any iOS iPad app in letterbox mode the day of launch, just as you did when the iPhone 5 launched with 3:2 iPhone apps. Any app capable to run in landscape on the [2x] 1024x768 screen of the iPad would be run on the [2x] 1366x768 screen of this iOS touchscreen+keyboard foldable combo, and only waiting for devs' update to go fullscreen.
What was Windows RT app eco-system at launch?
Why do you want segmentation on age?
People surfing the web, using e-mail, calendar, iWork, iLife etc. and Twitter, Facebook, etc. (check the iPad app store for the complete list, and try to imagine what new usages developers could invent once the machine would be in the wild).
Many people don't work nor need a full MS Office at home, or XCode, or full Adobe PS, or Fusion/Parallel, or what you want.
I can imagine grand-parents as interested in a simple to use device like that, as well as kids, or adults of any age. A question is what usage can you have, and who?
Many people rely on others (us generally, on such forums) for using their computer, installing software, upgrading the system, etc. And these people often also don't need pro apps. Can a generalist OS like OS X be more simplified to be completely usable and understandable by such people, or is it even necessary?
You can't have currently a retina MBA11 or you'd already have it in stores. With a retina screen (in 2x HiDPI) draining more power, you'd need to cram in a better chip than the one in the current MBA11, and with better graphics. Draining more power too. Dissipating more heat. You'd need more room, for larger batteries, for bigger fans. What you want is not possible today, you can't retain the same thin and light form factor.
The ARM chips like Apple's A7 or the intel Atom Bay Trail are starting to look like desktop-class chips. Next generation proc, before the end of 2014, should be perfectly capable to offer all the power needed to drive devices such as i describe and to run apps dedicated to the new usages such devices would offer.
That doesn't prevent intel from making even better mobile desktop-class x86 chips, and when available, Apple to use them in always thinner and lighter laptops. A question is what architecture will be first? I don't think impossible before the end of the year to release a foldable combo touchscreen+keyboard at least as thin and light as the current MBA11 but with a retina display, based on the A8 and running an evolved iOS with all the currently available app catalog and more/better to come. That's all still young a platform.
The MBA11 can disappear, the MBA13 and the rMBP13 can merge, and maybe the smaller form factor of OS X laptop like the MBA11 could re-appear in a close future with retina screens when possible and if it's not niche / not dwarfed by their iOS counter-part.
What about a retina MBA? I don't care about iOS devices. I use my MBA for work and not for play.
There will never be a retina MB Air. Not more will there be any larger iPad (Pro). The MB Pro line will be the devices designed for actual work, and running OS X.
The MB Air line will be replaced with a new category of products, starting with a single 11.9" retina foldable device at 2732x1536 (264 ppi, 2:1 1366x768), including only a touchscreen and a keyboard, no trackpad nor cursor on screen, running only iOS on a 16:9 elongated version of the 4:3 9.7" iPad screen, as thin as two iPad mini.
That would be useless for people who must run OSX or Windows via BootCamp on the most portable device (a MBA). ARM processors (iOS) can't replace x86 yet and who know when they will.
I think it's a good thing you aren't running Apple.
The MBP line will continue to get thinner and lighter, and will be the laptops line of choice for people needing to run OSes like OS X and softwares going with.
Apple will need to offer simpler laptop to use for home, running iOS with apps updated for the wider screen and use cases.
Compare your use of your Mac laptop and your iPad, the level of knowledge required for maintenance is not the same order of magnitude.
An iPad will never be able to comfortably replace a laptop, but current OS X laptops are too hard to use/configure/maintain/update/etc. for basic users. And I don't want OS X to be dumbed down.
I don't want the 11" MBA to be 'dumbed down' to the iOS level. Until there is an 11" MBP, there will be customers (like me) who will leave Apple if the ultra book sized 11" MBA goes with iOS / ARM.
I can easily see professionals who already own a 15" MBP still wanting an x86 compatible 11" MBA for ultra portability. There is no excuse for the 11" MBA to not have a retina class display and an x86 processor.
By the end of 2014 or in 2015, the next generation of intel mobile proc (Broadwell) will probably allow to make a MBP13 at least as powerful as today but even more power efficient. We're probably not far from the time the rMBP13 could fit in a MBA13 enclosure with no loss of capacity. At this time, it will probably as well be possible to make a 11.6" rMBP if there is a market for it.
What do you do when your MBA and MBP lines are the same? Ultrabook will probably simply be the name for laptops soon.
And I doubt you can make a retina MBA11 with Haswell today as thin and power-efficient as today's non-retina MBA11. The current rMBP13's IRIS part can barely drive its screen.
There is probably more customers and margins to gain with a sub-1k$ iOS laptop sold for home than with the current MBA11 sales (and considering part of the MBA line customers can switch to a lighter MBP13 if the MBA line disappear).
Chromebook and Windows 8(RT) laptops aren't yet a threat, but they are only first iterations of simple to use products that will probably be the future for home computing. Apple needs to address this market, and needs to take the train in time.
What do you do in the remaining time? Introducing the new line of iOS laptops I'm talking about (at the expense of a temporary disappearance of the MBA line, if it comes early) would allow for a better transition, to better see in what direction let evolve and enhance iOS, and let 3rd party software adapt to the new form factor and usages.
Who the hell is going to pay anything close to $1000 for an iOS based (larger) iPad with a keyboard?!
Who would switch from the current MBA when: a) All of their current software wouldn't work and b) There won't be any comparable software available if they suddenly release an ARM based MBA.
That is so 'Windows RT' like (which was a miserable failure).
How old are the people that think a iOS type laptop will be a big success next year? It just seems so incredibly naive at this time.
I guess I could be wrong. I will vote with my wallet. Apple could gain $3K (or more) !from me if they make 11" MBA/MBP with a retina display. Otherwise I'll buy a Windows machine that can run the software I must use for my job. Maybe I should start looking now. I love my 11" MBA but the screen is out of date relative to nearly ALL notebooks out there.
I'd hate to leave Apple but if they do the incredibly stupid thing of forcing the 11" MBA to be an iOS toy then I will have no choice but to spend my money elsewhere.
The screen size and resolution i gave in example were hinting to the answer: on the 11.9" 16:9 screen (slightly larger than the MBA11's screen) running the evolved version of iOS, you'd run any iOS iPad app in letterbox mode the day of launch, just as you did when the iPhone 5 launched with 3:2 iPhone apps. Any app capable to run in landscape on the [2x] 1024x768 screen of the iPad would be run on the [2x] 1366x768 screen of this iOS touchscreen+keyboard foldable combo, and only waiting for devs' update to go fullscreen.
What was Windows RT app eco-system at launch?
Why do you want segmentation on age?
People surfing the web, using e-mail, calendar, iWork, iLife etc. and Twitter, Facebook, etc. (check the iPad app store for the complete list, and try to imagine what new usages developers could invent once the machine would be in the wild).
Many people don't work nor need a full MS Office at home, or XCode, or full Adobe PS, or Fusion/Parallel, or what you want.
I can imagine grand-parents as interested in a simple to use device like that, as well as kids, or adults of any age. A question is what usage can you have, and who?
Many people rely on others (us generally, on such forums) for using their computer, installing software, upgrading the system, etc. And these people often also don't need pro apps. Can a generalist OS like OS X be more simplified to be completely usable and understandable by such people, or is it even necessary?
You can't have currently a retina MBA11 or you'd already have it in stores. With a retina screen (in 2x HiDPI) draining more power, you'd need to cram in a better chip than the one in the current MBA11, and with better graphics. Draining more power too. Dissipating more heat. You'd need more room, for larger batteries, for bigger fans. What you want is not possible today, you can't retain the same thin and light form factor.
The ARM chips like Apple's A7 or the intel Atom Bay Trail are starting to look like desktop-class chips. Next generation proc, before the end of 2014, should be perfectly capable to offer all the power needed to drive devices such as i describe and to run apps dedicated to the new usages such devices would offer.
That doesn't prevent intel from making even better mobile desktop-class x86 chips, and when available, Apple to use them in always thinner and lighter laptops. A question is what architecture will be first? I don't think impossible before the end of the year to release a foldable combo touchscreen+keyboard at least as thin and light as the current MBA11 but with a retina display, based on the A8 and running an evolved iOS with all the currently available app catalog and more/better to come. That's all still young a platform.
The MBA11 can disappear, the MBA13 and the rMBP13 can merge, and maybe the smaller form factor of OS X laptop like the MBA11 could re-appear in a close future with retina screens when possible and if it's not niche / not dwarfed by their iOS counter-part.
Very well written Article
I was particularly interested by the talk of a "revamped set top box".
In my usual trawl of the internet for Apple related news I found this article which speculates on the future of Apple and their content distribution. It's worth a read:
http://beta.slashdot.org/submission...-media-and-the-future-of-content-distribution
I was particularly interested by the talk of a "revamped set top box".
In my usual trawl of the internet for Apple related news I found this article which speculates on the future of Apple and their content distribution. It's worth a read:
http://beta.slashdot.org/submission...-media-and-the-future-of-content-distribution
Interesting that there hasn't been a single comment here in over 11 months. Anyways, Yosemite happened between when you posted this and now, what do you think of it? What do the 36 people who upvoted your comment think of it? I personally like it a lot.
OS X Yosemite
Personally, I'm getting use to Yosemite. First impression was that it seemed elementary - almost kid centric. But I'm getting used to it and find it leaps and bounds better than Windows 8
Personally, I'm getting use to Yosemite. First impression was that it seemed elementary - almost kid centric. But I'm getting used to it and find it leaps and bounds better than Windows 8