Apple Announces iPad 4 Relaunch, Confirms 8 GB iPhone 5c Limited to Select Countries

[Dirtfarmer]

Sorry. Forget my previous post.

Let's try that again:

"Can't innovate anymore, my a$$!" -Phil Schiller

"LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL" -Us

"But we are 'releasing' our 18-month-old clunker that we, ourselves declared to be obsolete. It's our 'new', supposedly credible competitor to the wickedly forward-thinking platform whose sales and usage figures are rapid eclipsing our own. How is that not innovation?" -Phil Schiller

"Because we can look this sht up on the internet now." -Us

 

[Smartass]

Stop saying apple isn't innovating! They are! they're innovating in the segment called "Let's sell old and uncompetitive products for unreasonable high prices compared to the new ones"

 

[giantfan1224]

The only difference between the iPad Air and 4th generation is the weight, thickness, and 64 bit (which isn't really useful yet). At $399, it's a good deal. There should be a 32gb option though.

Those are actually pretty big differences. Definitely worth the extra $100 IMHO.

 

[teknikal90]

I find this iPad 4 at $399 to be a better buy than the iPad air at $499..
having both at our household, i honestly don't think the Air has that much of an advantage over the 4. it feels flimsier and cheaper and i have never noticed the speed difference.

 

[xmichaelp]

This isn't a terrible thing. The iPad 2 is ancient and selling it today for 399 is criminal. These will be much better for the people who refuse to buy the Air just because they can get a cheaper one.

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“The iPad line sets the gold-standard in mobile computing......."

Shouldn't that be the rMBP?
I thought the iPad Air sets the gold-standard in tablet computing/usage.

I'm pretty sure laptops aren't classified as mobile devices. Portable yes, but not mobile. They're still run "desktop" OSes.

 

[giantfan1224]

Sorry. Forget my previous post.

Let's try that again:

"Can't innovate anymore, my a$$!" -Phil Schiller

"LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL" -Us

"But we are 'releasing' our 18-month-old clunker that we, ourselves declared to be obsolete. It's our 'new', supposedly credible competitor to the wickedly forward-thinking platform whose sales and usage figures are rapid eclipsing our own. How is that not innovation?" -Phil Schiller

"Because we can look this sht up on the internet now." -Us

They replaced the iPad 2 with the iPad 4 in the Apple Store. Nothing more. No one's claiming innovation here. Chill out.

 

[FloatingBones]

Dish FAIL

Dish is still giving away an iPad 2 with their Hopper package: http://www.dish.com/dishdeals/hopper-deals/ . I hope they realize they may earn limited goodwill from their customers -- especially when they hear that Apple has dropped the iPad 2.

 

[smokestack]

If you are a true Apple fan, you'd have bought the Ipad 4 when it was launched, and you will buy it again now because it's re-launched.

Just going to jump in here to reinforce, what I presume is a, facetious comment.

There's no need to go all fanboy over Apple rejigging the bottom of their iPad line.

There's no need for you to buy this product. There's no need for you to demonstrate your commitment to Apple by buying any new product when it comes out. There's no need for you to be a 'fan' of a company that makes nice things to sell to you.

Don't panic.

 

[Dirtfarmer]

They replaced the iPad 2 with the iPad 4 in the Apple Store. Nothing more. No one's claiming innovation here. Chill out.

Sure you are.

The Apple community claims and implies that Apple is the only true innovator and everyone else just creates inferior derivative products. Did you not read the Jony Ive interview?

And yet Apple's "product releases" now are actually just re-releases of months- or even years-old apple products at lower price points. Products that were also-rans when they were new.

They should be called on it.

The last big thing they did was when Steve was alive. Since then they put everything Steve invented on a low-carb diet and elected a bookkeeper as their new god.

Steve would not have wanted to see his company in this condition.

 

[chrfr]

And yet Apple's "product releases" now are actually just re-releases of months- or even years-old apple products at lower price points. Products that were also-rans when they were new.

For a long time, Apple has sold rehashed versions of old products to target the education market. That's all this is, and I'm not sure that it's worth reading more into it... then again this is Macrumors forums, so reading too much into things seems to be the nature of this place.

 

[sigma7]

"today we are REintroducing a RETROrevolucionary device. We already called it: iPad 4!"

 

[giantfan1224]

Sure you are.

Sure I am what?

The Apple community claims and implies that Apple is the only true innovator and everyone else just creates inferior derivative products. Did you not read the Jony Ive interview?

And yet Apple's "product releases" now are actually just re-releases of months- or even years-old apple products at lower price points. Products that were also-rans when they were new.

This is not a new product release. Apple is not claiming it is nor is the "Apple Community" (whatever that means). Your's is a strawman argument because you're getting all hissy about something that isn't even happening.

They should be called on it.

Called on what?

The last big thing they did was when Steve was alive. Since then they put everything Steve invented on a low-carb diet and elected a bookkeeper as their new god.

Steve would not have wanted to see his company in this condition.

You're way too bitter about who-the-heck knows what.

 

[NorEaster]

They replaced the iPad 2 with the iPad 4 in the Apple Store. Nothing more. No one's claiming innovation here. Chill out.

I completely agree with this. When the iPad Air was announced and folks found out that the iPad2 was still being sold, many folks griped and based Apple for still selling such old technology. Now that Apple is offering the iPad4 in place of iPad2, folks are bashing them with sarcastic "innovation" comments. Give it a break folks... the ability to buy an iPad4 for $399 is a good thing for folks that want to save $100 yet still get the Apple/iOS experience on a tablet.

One final note: For all of you who love to bash analysts (especially Ming-Chi Kuo), it'd be nice if you went on the record to say your cynical smart-a** comments were wrong. I hate reading posts from forum readers who say "I could be an analyst, all I need to do is make some guesses like these jokers do". KGI / Kuo knew what they were talking about when they predicted this.

 

[cdmoore74]

How are people complaining about this move? Clearly the ipad 4 is more suitable at $399 than the ipad 2 was.

Yes but Apple should have done this when the iPad Air was released. Keeping the iPad 2 at a ridiculous price of $399 was a huge mistake hence why we have this correction. Only a moron would have bought a $400 iPad 2 over the $400 retina iPad mini. If you need the larger size just by used or spend the extra $100 to jump 3 generations. Clearly this was bad judgment.

 

[Smartass]

This is not a new product release. Apple is not claiming it is nor is the "Apple Community" (whatever that means). Your's is a strawman argument because you're getting all hissy about something that isn't even happening.

I totally agree. Its not a new product release, it's actually an old product re-release which is 10 times worse for a tech company like apple. And then people wonder why their stocks are falling.

 

[Buddygor]

[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]

Image​

After the fourth-generation iPad reappeared on Apple's online storefront earlier today, the company has issued a press release confirming the return of the device to the company's product lineup. The iPad with Retina Display will replace the iPad 2 as the company's entry-level full-sized tablet option. The 16 GB WiFi-only iPad 4 is available for $399, while the WiFi + Cellular model starts at $529 in the U.S., with both black and white color options available. The iPad with Retina Display will be sold through the Apple Online Store, Apple's retail stores and select Authorized Apple Resellers. Customers looking for additional storage capacity beyond 16 GB must purchase the iPad Air, which is available in 16, 32, 64 and 128 GB options.

In line with earlier rumors, Apple today also started selling a new 8 GB iPhone 5c in select countries. The new 8 GB model with five color options is available in Apple's UK online store for £429 unlocked, making it £40 cheaper than the comparable 16 GB model.

Distribution of the new lower-capacity model is, however, rather limited, with Apple confirming to Fortune's Philip Elmer-DeWitt that the 8 GB model will only be available in the UK, France, Germany, Australia, and China.

Article Link: Apple Announces iPad 4 Relaunch, Confirms 8 GB iPhone 5c Limited to Select Countries

Ugh this means no iOS 8 for my iPad. Apple did this with the iPod touch 4G- they released a chaper 5G like a month before iOS 7 came out, so they would have an excuse to not support it

I guess I understand though, it's 2011 tablet. But they still have the 4S, so maybe the A5 chip isn't dead yet!

 

[Smartass]

Yes but Apple should have done this when the iPad Air was released. Keeping the iPad 2 at a ridiculous price of $399 was a huge mistake hence why we have this correction. Only a moron would have bought a $400 iPad 2 over the $400 retina iPad mini. If you need the larger size just by used or spend the extra $100 to jump 3 generations. Clearly this was bad judgment.

Woow hold your horses! Do you know what this move (pulling out ipad 2 and keeping ipad 4 as a "secondary" ipad) would cause them? If they did that, then they would have nothing to introduce in the first quarter of 2014 except for that pathetic 8gb iphone 5C.

 

[Dirtfarmer]

Sure I am what?



This is not a new product release. Apple is not claiming it is nor is the "Apple Community" (whatever that means). Your's is a strawman argument because you're getting all hissy about something that isn't even happening.



Called on what?



You're way too bitter about who-the-heck knows what.

Yes I'm bitter.

I loved Apple from the late 90's until the end of the 2000's.

Then something sad happened. The genius behind the whole thing was lost and some accountants took over.

Now we have this crap.

"We made a phone no one's buying so we're going to drop the specs on it and see if that helps."

"Our tablet costs double what a normal tablet costs for no particular reason. And since there are many unwashed people who won't or can't buy those, we'll also sell you our dusty obsolete stock from a couple of years ago. We can make a killing off that too. What innovators we are."

They've turned into Hammacher Schlemmer.

 

[TechZeke]

Mhz stopped being the best indicator of performance a long time ago. Go read some reviews on the A7, the performance gains are not small.

Actually it still is, when you are talking about the same exact chip in the exact same generation.

iPad mini : 1.3Ghz iPad Air: 1.4Ghz. All benchmarks and reviews I could find show a roughly 6-10% difference in performance. .1/1.4=7% which fits perfectly.

Show me where it says the iPad Air has a significant or let alone noticeable difference in performance over the iPhone 5S and retina mini. I'd love to be proven wrong, and I'm not being sarcastic.

 

[giantfan1224]

Yes but Apple should have done this when the iPad Air was released. Keeping the iPad 2 at a ridiculous price of $399 was a huge mistake hence why we have this correction. Only a moron would have bought a $400 iPad 2 over the $400 retina iPad mini. If you need the larger size just by used or spend the extra $100 to jump 3 generations. Clearly this was bad judgment.

You forgot to add "IMHO". Clearly you don't understand how to run a company. Apple kept the iPad 2 because it was still selling so well. Six month later (which is a significant amount time in tech years), as sales start to wane, they replace it with the iPad 4. They could make a higher profit margin by keeping the 2 around, as long as it sold well. So it makes perfect sense for Apple. I don't see how this was "bad judgment".

 

[iBug2]

That is why I didn't buy "Gravity" yet. I don't want to purchase it now, just to re-purchase it again in 4K later.

Damn, I bought the blu ray already

 

[giantfan1224]

I totally agree. Its not a new product release, it's actually an old product re-release which is 10 times worse for a tech company like apple. And then people wonder why their stocks are falling.

Apple replaced the iPad 2 with the previously available iPad 4. How is that "10 times worse"?

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Yes I'm bitter.

I loved Apple from the late 90's until the end of the 2000's.

Then something sad happened. The genius behind the whole thing was lost and some accountants took over.

Now we have this crap.

"We made a phone no one's buying so we're going to drop the specs on it and see if that helps."

"Our tablet costs double what a normal tablet costs for no particular reason. And since there are many unwashed people who won't or can't buy those, we'll also sell you our dusty obsolete stock from a couple of years ago. We can make a killing off that too. What innovators we are."

They've turned into Hammacher Schlemmer.

Yes. Something sad happened. Jobs died. Not easily replaceable. But you're getting worked up over something that's not even a new product release. Cook has promised new products--most likely this year. If they flop then I think you are justified in saying what you're saying. Until then, chill out.

 

[paradox00]

Actually it still is, when you are talking about the same chip in the same generation.

iPad mini : 1.3Ghz iPad Air: 1.4Ghz. All benchmarks and reviews I could find show a roughly 6-10% difference in performance. 1.3/1.4=9.3%, which fits perfectly.

Sorry misread. Didn't go far enough back in the conversation to see that the comparison was between the Mini w/ Retina Display and Air. Thought it was a comparison between the 4 and the Air.

 

[Dirtfarmer]

Apple replaced the iPad 2 with the previously available iPad 4. How is that "10 times worse"?

Because of their "holier than thou" / "we are the new Jesus of technology" attitude.

If they're going to market themselves with so much smugness, they don't also get to be Acer. Make some products, watch them fail, tweak them, watch them fail again, so drop the prices and switch to selling last year's stock.

No way. If you spend billions branding yourselves as a company whose sht doesn't stink, as visionaries who are twice as advanced as the competition (and that's why your prices are double) you need to walk that walk.

No discount also-ran low-rent products competing into wal mart are supposed to be in their portfolio.

They certainly weren't when Steve was around.

 

[giantfan1224]

Because of their "holier than thou" / "we are the new Jesus of technology" attitude.

If they're going to market themselves with so much smugness, they don't also get to be Acer. Make some products, watch them fail, tweak them, watch them fail again, so drop the prices and switch to selling last year's stock.

No way. If you spend billions branding yourselves as a company whose sht doesn't stink, as visionaries who are twice as advanced as the competition (and that's why your prices are double) you need to walk that walk.

No discount also-ran low-rent products competing into wal mart are supposed to be in their portfolio.

They certainly weren't when Steve was around.

Right. Because while Steve was around they never sold older tech (i.e. iPhone 3G/3GS, iPod Classic)