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12.2-Inch 'iPad Air Plus' May Launch Between April and June 2015 With A9 Processor

I wonder if it will be a huge iPhone like the current iPads are, or if Apple will add some functionality beyond consumption. I know many will argue, but a 12" device just begs to have the option to connect a mouse/keyboard and use it like a desktop sometimes.
 
Michael Scrip said:
My point was... I just don't think the demand is there.

In your earlier comment... you seem to be pinning your hopes on Apple for widespread stylus adoption. What if Apple never adds a stylus to the iPad? Does that mean the stylus is dead? Again?

Apple has sold 250 million iPads without a stylus. That's gotta mean something, right?
Click to expand...

And those 250 million iPad owners have created a huge market for aftermarket pens--which in turn has created huge amounts of consumer frustration with the limitations of capacititative stylus's.

The whole pen tech thing--outside of dedicated wacom devices--is in its infancy. The samsung implementations with tiny pens sucked. Really--the surface pro 1 was the first successful pen tablet--and that only really worked after wacom provided new "feel" drivers in late 2013.
Now the surface pro 3 sports a new pen tech that--while good--will see considerable improvement.
 
StoneJack said:
Instead of mouse, big touchpad would be nice. I know that we'll have touchscreen, but for editing, precise movements are more needed than trying to put cursor between small letters on small screen. I still don't understand though is it iOS based, or it is OS X based. Maybe a hybrid OS?
Click to expand...
The standard keyboard on the iPhone 6+ has dedicated left and right cursor keys when in landscape mode. I expect this handy feature will be added to the iPad models when Apple gets around to it, and it would solve the problem you describe. I doubt Apple would add a separate touchpad, though it might be a feature of an optional external keyboard.
 
sinsin07 said:
Don't mean to be rude, but what you think is irrelevant. It's Windows, therefore IT departments worth their salt are going to have virus protection.

Secondly, tablets in the corporate environment with corporate data on them and possiblly connecting to corporate infrastructure get their updates internally, not by clicking on Microsoft's update button.

Maybe the experience you describe is for small mom and pop shops, which is fine, but it won't wash in the corporate environment, especially if it is regulated.
Click to expand...

I dont have an IT department supporting me--i have not have any malware issues on any of my 4 windows 8.1 devices.
 
rowspaxe said:
I dont have an IT department supporting me--i have not have any malware issues on any of my 4 windows 8.1 devices.
Click to expand...

If you're running a company with a few hundred Windows machines involved, it's better to have a good group policy than it is antivirus, cuz someone somewhere is gonna download something stupid. That's the way most Windows malware proliferates these days.
 
amirite said:
Touchscreen OS X is neither "post-PC" nor game-changing.
Click to expand...

For this iPad Pro to be game changing that's probably what it might need, as a first step.

What is game changing to you? It isn't like you're gonna be able to lay this thing flat on the floor and it automatically turns into a hover board.
 
rowspaxe said:
And those 250 million iPad owners have created a huge market for aftermarket pens--which in turn has created huge amounts of consumer frustration with the limitations of capacititative stylus's.

The whole pen tech thing--outside of dedicated wacom devices--is in its infancy. The samsung implementations with tiny pens sucked. Really--the surface pro 1 was the first successful pen tablet--and that only really worked after wacom provided new "feel" drivers in late 2013. Now the surface pro 3 sports a new pen tech that--while good--will see considerable improvement.
Click to expand...

Huge market for aftermarket pens? Source?

What do you think the breakdown of iPad purchases versus stylus purchases is?

Do 4 out of 5 iPad owners buy a stylus? 1 out of 5 ? 1 out of 20 ?

I know dozens and dozens of people who own iPads. Regular average consumers. Small business owners too.

None of them have a stylus for their iPads.


Look... I get it. A Wacom stylus can give a tablet amazing capabilities... especially if you're an artist or you want to take handwritten notes. Even a crappy active digitizer can work well.

But guess what... the vast majority of iPad owners are not artists and don't take handwritten notes.

Would they do it if they could? Maybe. Who knows. But I'm sure Apple has thought about it and had reasons to not include a stylus with the iPad.

Actually... most tablets do not have a stylus. Google has never put a stylus in any of the Nexus tablets. Samsung includes a stylus in only a few selected Galaxy tablets.

Of course Microsoft went full-force with the stylus in the Surface Pro... but they've been trying to get "pen computing" to become commonplace for the last 15 years.

Maybe that's the bigger story here...
 
I likely want products that may be more of a niche market and I doubt I'm going to get much of that from Apple. If there were a million people and 200K said they wanted a type of product I doubt it would be good enough.

Not that long ago I wanted Macs with blu-ray however they likely did not care because they wanted to sell overpriced compressed itunes films. (Other companies are just as guilty of that)
 
Besides better technical specs, I'd like to see what user functionality it has. Firstly, I don't want to carry a bigger ipad. It defeats the purpose. Now I can take my iPad to the mall, work, canteen, etc. because it's small and convenient. To think I will have to carry around a bigger device? :rolleyes:

Secondly, it's already proven and out there (article on MacRumors) that bigger iPhone 6 and Plus are eating into iPad sales. People want convenience and something that can go anywhere. Moving into a much bigger sphere is not the way to go unless it's something that stays at home. We want to carry the stuff wherever we go, not pack it away and loot it with us.

I can also see this device eating into Mac sales. One of the ways this could work is it being a BIG tablet but also having a keyboard dock, etc. I guess we'll wait and see.

Lastly, pricing. What would this go for? The top of the range 9.7" iPad is already expensive. With this, I would then rather consider a MacBook Air or something. The market is saturated when it comes to tablets. Most people have one. They would then definitely go for the MacBook option as opposed to another bigger tablet.

I need a job at :apple:

:cool::D
 
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isn't iPhone (starting from 6+) on the verge of a phablet ??

we don't want to carry an iPad round as it blocks us taking phots in concerts, but we will carry a iPhone 6 Plus round ?

What happens when we go to 7' iPhones ? Will that change anything ? most, if not all, is too big for a 12' iPad alone.
 
Michael Scrip said:
Huge market for aftermarket pens? Source?

What do you think the breakdown of iPad purchases versus stylus purchases is?

Do 4 out of 5 iPad owners buy a stylus? 1 out of 5 ? 1 out of 20 ?

I know dozens and dozens of people who own iPads. Regular average consumers. Small business owners too.

None of them have a stylus for their iPads.


Look... I get it. A Wacom stylus can give a tablet amazing capabilities... especially if you're an artist or you want to take handwritten notes. Even a crappy active digitizer can work well.

But guess what... the vast majority of iPad owners are not artists and don't take handwritten notes.

Would they do it if they could? Maybe. Who knows. But I'm sure Apple has thought about it and had reasons to not include a stylus with the iPad.

Actually... most tablets do not have a stylus. Google has never put a stylus in any of the Nexus tablets. Samsung includes a stylus in only a few selected Galaxy tablets.

Of course Microsoft went full-force with the stylus in the Surface Pro... but they've been trying to get "pen computing" to become commonplace for the last 15 years.

Maybe that's the bigger story here...
Click to expand...

In the 5yrs I have had iPads, I have never felt the need for a stylus :cool:
I even have drawing apps (Paper53 etc)
 
s2mikey said:
Multi tasking yes. keyboard dock? Not sure about that. I'm sure it will pair well with a mouse and other wireless style keyboard. No docking station though, that's not very appleish. :)
Click to expand...

Wireless keyboards are not very good for work; but I'll accept that as a secondary option.

I wonder if they're going to include pointer support - as in mouse pointer. Right now it's a bit of an annoyance to have to press the screen when a bluetooth keyboard is paired instead of being able to use a mouse.
 
Isn't it about time iPad had its own OS. Something that can take advantage of the screen size better than the current iOS offering. A mix of the already available iPad apps and some new more professional apps such as Final Cut Pro for iPad could be interesting as well.

The iPad is heading in the direction where it could become a direct competitor to Apple's own MacBook Air, just look at its Geekbench scores. It's not quite there in terms of functionality or power yet, but it could be very soon.

For this iPad Pro to be interesting enough for me to consider purchasing it would need a Apple branded keyboard dock developed to work in harmony with the new screen size. It would also need multi-tasking, MacBook Air like specs, and a 256GB option. A pen could be nice for some apps, but not essential.

I am in the market for a new computer next year, but I'm not desperate as my 2008 MacBook refuses to die. It just keeps going. The only issue with it is it can't manage apps like Photoshop for even basic image editing anymore. I'm waiting to see what Apple comes up with. An iPad Pro, an iPad Air Plus, a MacBook Air with Retina Display, or a hybrid product along similar lines to the Microsoft Surface Pro 3. I will obviously choose whats best for me from whatever products they release.
 
I'm not sure why people would ask for full OSX instead of specific functionality brought to iOS. Faster and better multi-tasking? That sounds great. More control over springboard? I'm in. Let's not pretend the ideal solution is bringing an existing mouse/keyboard OS to a touchscreen. Use your imagination. These functionality problems need to be solved natively.
 
preyan said:
Besides better technical specs, I'd like to see what user functionality it has. Firstly, I don't want to carry a bigger ipad. It defeats the purpose. Now I can take my iPad to the mall, work, canteen, etc. because it's small and convenient. To think I will have to carry around a bigger device? :rolleyes:

Secondly, it's already proven and out there (article on MacRumors) that bigger iPhone 6 and Plus are eating into iPad sales. People want convenience and something that can go anywhere. Moving into a much bigger sphere is not the way to go unless it's something that stays at home. We want to carry the stuff wherever we go, not pack it away and loot it with us.

I can also see this device eating into Mac sales. One of the ways this could work is it being a BIG tablet but also having a keyboard dock, etc. I guess we'll wait and see.

Lastly, pricing. What would this go for? The top of the range 9.7" iPad is already expensive. With this, I would then rather consider a MacBook Air or something. The market is saturated when it comes to tablets. Most people have one. They would then definitely go for the MacBook option as opposed to another bigger tablet.

I need a job at :apple:

:cool::D
Click to expand...

Yes, yeah, and more yes. You got it. A larger, "pro" level ipad had better be more than just a three inch larger version of the current ipad or it will fail miserably.

Pricing has to be attractive to of else you'd be better off just getting a MacBook Air.
 
rowspaxe said:
I dont have an IT department supporting me--i have not have any malware issues on any of my 4 windows 8.1 devices.
Click to expand...

Then you shouldn't be in this conversation.

The comment was in response to Menneisyys2 comment.

Your 4 tablets is a really good sampling. :rolleyes:

When you get to 250,000 plus desktops/laptops, over 30,000 iOS devices in your environment, life is a little different.

There is a reason why Microsoft has a patch Tuesday.

Your 4 tablets is not even worth a mention.
 
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mrwag said:
People don't want a tablet AND a laptop. They want one device that does both, especially if their computing needs are on the lighter end of the spectrum which is probably where 75% of people are.
Click to expand...

Speak for yourself. My MacBook is the kingpin of my Apple ecosystem, and rules the roost of iPods, iPads, iPhones, Apple TVs, Time Capsules, AirPorts and iCloud. It's called having your own personal network.
 
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