Well... I think that Apple Watch has shown us that Apple is interested in giving us more robust "right-click" support by contextual pressure, rather than just long pressing. That's exciting to me! Recent patents suggest that they are interested in creating an iPad with over a thousand points of haptic feedback... That's exciting to me as well!
I'd much rather "feel" the visceral sensation of flipping a switch, adjusting a slider, pushing a button, or twisting a knob on my future iPad screen than slide my finger inertly across a piece of glass depicting these things...
That type of innovation is hopefully coming & I look forward to it a lot more than the drab, ho-hum, kind of derpy idea of "wow, look... I can shade in sketches".
The idea (stylus) just has to have more uses than the very, very, very narrow scope you've described to be a compelling addition to ALL iPads.
As for the Apple Watch, I'm not quite compelled to buy one because it doesn't have what I'm looking for, despite the haptic feedback.
However, as far as haptic feedback goes, that's old news. In fact, it's been around for years and other companies have used that in the past. Haptic Force feedback was one example I've experienced back in the early 2000s when Microsoft or Logitech had a flight controller with force feedback built-in at the time for gamers playing DOOM or any other software that uses it. You can actually feel the resistance and shock vibration.
Then, there was Sony Playstation that had haptic shock vibrations as well. I remember this as well and this tech is still in use these days. So that's nothing new or inventive. Not even Apple can make that claim as being the first to come up with haptic feedback on the tablet. And to make the point, one of the Android phones I've tried out months ago has haptic feedback on the keyboard which was a nice touch.
There is one problem with implementing haptic feedback in a tablet and I think it does drain battery life significantly.
As for as the stylus goes, you're being narrow minded here. Styluses these days are more advanced than just the simple rubber tip you see around. The Wacom stylus I own has a toggle switch button like a 'right click' function that's entirely programmable to whatever I want it to do and I can remove the tip and replace it with a new one.
Styluses for tablets these days from companies like Adonit and Wacom are improving big time. They managed to figure out how to go from the fat rubber tip to a fine tip for better accuracy.
And if you think it's just for shading, you're mistaken. It has nothing to do with that technique. The pressure sensitivity built into, say the Adonit Jot Touch, has about 2,000 levels of pressure sensitivity and you can see it here:
http://www.adonit.net/jot/touch/
Most importantly, these pens allow line control. Animators or comic book illustrators draw lines to create images and then add color, if need be. Or if one needs to use gray tones, create a layer, add a gray paint, and activate the eraser or paint in the gray tones for the manga feel in black and white comic illustrations.
If you pick up a pencil and press it hard, it goes dark and thick. If you write very lightly, it shows some lightness. That's called used pressure. And this is exactly what the iPad lacked. Here's another example of a very high-end digitizing tablet called Wacom Companion:
http://www.wacom.com/en-us/products/pen-displays/cintiq-companion
or if you want to go all out insane, try 24HD which is close to $3,000:
http://www.wacom.com/en-us/products/pen-displays/cintiq-24-hd-touch
Take a look at it. It's expensive for a reason. I know a lot of professionals in my field rave about it. Heck, even other Android tablets have pressure sensitive styluses included. I know this for a fact.
My point is that those high-end digitizing tablets are good for professional use, even the Companion has an Android/Windows option. They're not perfect but they do get the job done. At least, they're cheaper than the most powerful Cintiqs they have to offer. I even know some artists who use Samsung Galaxy Tabs so they can use Sketchbook Pro for their work and that it gets the job done, especially when their device can be upgraded to 32 or 64 GB of RAM. That's a very good thing.
That's why Apple needs to get with the program and let professionals have more flexibility with the 'pro' version of their iPad. Apple's products are getting to the point of homogeneity.
So, the styluses are NOT designed for just 'shading in sketches' which is a narrow point of view. Here's more of what they can do. They can offer accuracy if you're taking notes or diagrams. You can't do that with a finger. It's too clumsy and gets in the way. . .and not very elegant.
When the iPad first came out, one of the first apps that was released and previewed was called Brushes. And I remember seeing the keynote which the guy was 'finger painting' it without a stylus and I said to myself " There's no way in hell any professional artist would use their finger for this. Brushes will sell very well but they're going to need a stylus for THIS ". That's when I realized Apple shot themselves in the foot.
And right now, the best selling illustration/design app is Sketchbook Pro, next to Procreate. Those two are amazing apps.
Steve contradicted himself. He's the one that blew it. Why didn't Jony Ive have the balls to actually design a stylus? If he's so into industrial design for the sheer beauty and functionality, why not a stylus? He did the watch which is one thing.
The point of this topic with the iPad Air Plus is for professional use and the larger screen is beneficial for this reason when it concerns a stylus.
This is not a high school popularity contest and since Apple behaves like its in high school trying too hard to be popular, thinking it knows best for everyone when it really doesn't.
EDIT: I forgot to mention one of Wacom's styluses for the iPad which a new edition for this year:
Here's another of Wacom's stylus for the iPad which is really nice:
http://www.wacom.com/en-us/products/stylus/intuos-creative-stylus-2
I've been looking into this but would need to upgrade to a new iPad or switch over to one of Samsung's tablets with the stylus included.
