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Apple Lining Up iPad 3 Suppliers in Face of Increasing Number of Competitors

Enough with the stupid iPad 3 in fall rumor. It was stupid the moment it started (In February!). That moment was John Gruber guessing out loud (while drunk?):

http://daringfireball.net/2011/02/the_next_six_months
So, here’s my guess at Apple’s iPad plans for 2011:

An iPad 2, fairly soon. Say, a March announcement, shipping in the first week of April. Faster, more RAM, maybe more storage, thinner and lighter, a front-facing camera.1 Running iOS 4.3.

iPad 3, shipping in September, announced at the annual iPod event. Running iOS 5.1, same as the next-generation iPod Touch.
Click to expand...


If Apple is lining up suppliers for iPad 3 now, that is pretty much too late for this year. Ipad 3 this year was always nonsense. They just finally cleared the backlog and now they will be facing the school and holiday seasons, they need a mature product that they can pump volumes on. iPad2 will continue into 2012.

Apple actually has a great release cycle IMO. New release in late winter/early spring, a traditionally slow time. This gives them time to ramp and work out all production niggles for School/Holiday season sales without trying to ramp production at the same time.

Note that it was only recently that they have finally caught up production with demand.

Is it really going to take until Jan 2012 before this stupid rumor dies?
 
the8thark said:
Image

Rumours say iPad 3 this year. Jobs says 2011 year of iPad 2. I believe Jobs on this one.
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I agree...Apple has never released 2 versions of the same product in a given 12 month period...especially a "calendar year".

Apple is going to just keep chugging along with the iPad 2.0 through end of 2011 and get the market more saturated with iPads. Releasing a 3.0 before Christmas is just going to annoy the people that bought the 2.0 in September. Moreover, if there is even any kind of hint to the mass public that a 3.0 is coming in a few months, people will hold off and wait.

My bet is that the 3.0 comes Q1 2012. My hopes for it are:

-much larger storage for the cheapest model
-higher screen rez
-more wireless printing support
-100% wireless syncing and/or 0 reliance on a computer
-much better browser and browser features/performance
-ability to store files other than music and video (such as PDF, MS office stuff, etc)
-better OS altogether (faster, snappier, better integration between all the apps (such as saving an email attachment photo to a particular folder in your Photo Album)
-cheaper would be nice...even $449 vs. $499 would entice me to buy
 
Neodym said:
One could argue your point of view. The $2500 from 1996 have a relatively higher value than its 2011 counterpart, as inflation has reduced the spending power of that amount of money.

Based on the annual Statistical Abstracts of the United States i got the belowmentioned result for the US from this website:

"What cost $2500 in 1996 would cost $3437.97 in 2010.

Also, if you were to buy exactly the same products in 2010 and 1996,
they would cost you $2500 and $1793.22 respectively."

So relatively spoken Apple has indeed become more affordable!
Click to expand...

Not really, because everything else has "risen/fallen" by the same amount. ;)
 
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chadley_chad said:
With Apple taking DVD drives out of mini macs and investigated keyless keyboards, it wouldn't surprise me if the latest iPad gave less functionality than its predecessor .... but it'll be ok because the almighty Steve Jobs says so ... and everyone know's that when Steve wants someones opinion ... he'll give it them!

I'm personally getting fed up with Apple ... a.k.a Steve Jobs ... its about time they sought a new head who'll put them back on track and supply what the people want, not what Heir Jobs wants (Jonny Ives in my book!!!)

NB iPad 3 - as a user who knows what he wants best (thank you Mr Jobs), I don't care about a slimmer than the iPad 2 tablet (that would be too slim) ... I just want to see an SD Slot which I can also use for more storage, a better screen for sure and ideally ... a lock button as its constantly frustrating when scrolling through web pages only to press a link by mistake and then spend wasted seconds having to go back!
Click to expand...

No milk for your cereal this morning?

The solution to your problem is simple, don't buy Apple product. However I doubt that would solve your attitude problem either, you seem to be hell bent on striking out at success.

All one has to do is look at Apples booming sales to realize that more people agree with Steve Jobs than disagree. If Apple had the feature sets so wring on things like the AIR or iPad do you really think they would be selling as well as they do?
 
Still love the people who bring up the keynote slogan as proof-positive that there will be no mid-year iPad refresh. :roll eyes:

For those of you who have to tow this line, why do you think they came up with that ridiculous slogan? It's mostly lame, and not all that driving of a statement.

You have to go back in time to pre-iPad 2 announcement, and the rumor mill at that time. Rumors had it since about summer 2010 that the iPad 2 would sport a Retina display, with over 2000 x 1500 pixels....
...as March got closer, the rumors started to change to say, unfortunately, iPad 2 would not have this Retina display, but instead would have the same display as iPad 1..........those SAME rumors that reported that factual information, claimed that Apple was likely lining up for a Fall refresh of the iPad to include the much higher resolution display.

Things weren't looking so good for Apple at this point. The iPad 2 was done and almost ready to be unveiled, and the word on the street was that it was going to come up short of customer's expectations. Namely, the display was not going to be improved. I firmly believe this hampered a lot of the anticipation for iPad 2, virtually cut it in half. Many iPad 1 early adopters were chomping at the idea of a Retina iPad, but it didn't materialize, and they kept their iPad 1, thinking "iPad 3 will be the time to upgrade."

The fact that Apple can't make enough iPad 2s to meet actual demand is likewise irrelevant. How many could they sell? A lot more than they sell now, if they could make them.

But what about the other products coming to market? As it turns out, those other products are not just vaporware, and are not easy to ignore. Without a Retina display, the iPad 2 has little in terms of hardware to convince users that the Samsung or Motorolla or (other) units are not worthwhile.

While I wouldn't buy one of those competitors over the iPad 1, some people will, especially this holiday season.

Apple wants to wrap up this holiday season, so-to-speak, and not leave any room for market share loss. I don't believe anyone who wants an iPad 3/HD/2S is going to buy another brand of tablet instead....but I do believe their tablet money will get spent elsewhere if the product we want doesn't materialize.

I hope a Retina iPad is about to land, soon. As in within the 2 months. Otherwise, i feel Apple has made a big mistake in letting the iPad 2 carry them to next spring.
 
Apple is smart

The high definition screen is still too expensive. Instead of raising prices, Apple will begin using cheaper Taiwanese parts for the iPad 3 but include the high resolution screen and better cameras. By keeping the price points near where they are today, Apple buys itself more time for a real game changer. Then we have only 12 more months until the Liquidmetal Apple killers come out!
 
BlindMellon said:
First rule of business is don't release a product so soon on the heals of a previous product that it cannibalizes sales and r&d effort of the first.
Click to expand...
Looking at the sales numbers one could easily assume that the iPad 2 has already earned its R&D costs.

And "soon" is a very unprecise term which heavily relates to the individual judgement of the person evaluating. Development cycles have seen a massive contraction over the last years and especially in emerging markets (like the tablet market) they are shorter than usual. So when is it (too) soon and when is it (too) late?

Finally - if Apple would choose to diversify its product line of tablets and complement the iPad 2 with a high-spec'ed variant, it would not necessarily cannibalize sales when looking at total numbers (i.e. iPad 2 and iPad 2 HD combined).

I'm expecting Apple to also diversify it's iPhone line of products even more in the future (read: not selling last year's model as entry-level, but instead offering two variants at the same time that differ more than just in available storage and housing colour) - competition has become harder since the introduction of the original iPhone and Apple will have noticed that for sure!
 
NebulaClash said:
Poor Apple:

1. Steve puts up a slide pushing the iPad 2, and ever after people misinterpret it to mean Apple cannot possibly introduce another iPad during this calendar year. Steve must shake his head every time he sees that slide being misused this way.

2. Apple looks to the future (getting rid of 20th-century tech like drives), and has to put up with petty "I'm sick of Apple, I'm taking my toys and going home!" rhetoric. Fine, go home. The line for Apple's products will be that much shorter for the rest of us.

In the early days of any technology (radio, clocks, computers), hobbiests (aka geeks) are the only ones who use it. They take their devices apart, figure out what makes them tick, really understand what's underneath. Then the masses come along and never take apart their radio, clock or computer, they just use them as tools. The geeks get red in the face about how these clueless users don't understand that they need access to the bare metal in order to fully utilize these devices.

Apple has an approach that you make a device That Just Works, and if you need to expand the functionality you either add software (App Store that is the biggest in the world) or you plug something into the device (as Square does with its credit card readers that turn iPhones into cash registers). The masses realize this is just fine, their devices do everything they can possibly want, and they are quite happy with their radio, clocks and computing devices.

And the geeks stomp their feet and swear that this time they are walking away from Apple forever! Uh, OK, go ahead. We're tired of your whining that the whole world doesn't think the way you do.
Click to expand...

Nice post, and I agree. Its particularly funny listening to the rants of the hobbiest and "pro" type users complain at the direction apple has been taking.

As I read more and more into the history of Jobs and Apple, it's very apparent that this is the direction they always, always intended to go in, Jobs' vision in particular was just very much ahead of its time....and he never intended for people to tinker with the product/experience he was trying to provide, going all the way back to the beginning.

Point being is that people have been misinterpretiing the messages Apple's been giving for much longer than I'd realized.
 
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the8thark said:
Neodym said:
It's ridiculous how people take a presentation slide to interpret whatever they want to believe!
Click to expand...
And it's just as ridiculous how people take Apple rumours from unverified sources and interpret whatever they want to believe. But hey you have numerous websites (just like this one) doing exactly this.

My best guess is this is upping production for a new iPad early in 2012. Making sure there's enough product for the launch date available to all the customers.
Click to expand...

There is a massive difference between speculating about a future product versus twisting a CEOs words said about a current product.

Jobs said something to the effect that this is the year of the iPad 2. He said nothing about other iOS devices. More importantly, considering the sales success of the iPad 2 it looks like he was right. For Apple it has been the year of the iPad.
 
Jcoz said:
Nice post, and I agree. Its particularly funny listening to the rants of the hobbiest and "pro" type users complain at the direction apple has been taking.

As I read more and more into the history of Jobs and Apple, it's very apparent that this is the direction they always, always intended to go in, Jobs' vision in particular was just very much ahead of its time....and he never intended for people to tinker with the product/experience he was trying to provide, going all the way back to the beginning.

Point being is that people have been misinterpretiing the messages Apple's been giving for much longer than I'd realized.
Click to expand...

Yes, the original Macintosh caused these very discussions. Apple engineers wanted to make it more open (a la the Apple ][) and Steve Jobs wanted to limit the hardware and let software be the differentiating factor. It has always been this way with Steve Jobs.

I have mixed feelings about this. I understand the geek desire to get down to the metal and have hardware flexibility. I've taken apart my share of PCs, and there is something nice about knowing your device from the inside out. But I've seen in life that the vast majority of folks really do not want to know how things work, they just want to use them. The geek perspective is not shared by the masses. That's we we call ourselves "geeks" to make us distinct from normality.

So why do I like Apple hardware even though I'm limited in what I can do on the hardware level? Because I cannot think of anything I want my device to do that I cannot do with it. Maybe if I did I would be upset, but I don't. So I'm not.
 
Hmm Apple scared of iPad competition? 90% tablets out there are rubbish, Chinese knock off and desperately trying to copy iPad features ... adding flash support just to make it looks better, have this and that .. can do this and that but just can't copy iPad's charm

Yeah any iDevice out there are made in China too, but not with knock off standard :D
 
ericinboston said:
My bet is that the 3.0 comes Q1 2012. My hopes for it are:

-much larger storage for the cheapest model
-higher screen rez
-more wireless printing support
-100% wireless syncing and/or 0 reliance on a computer
-much better browser and browser features/performance
-ability to store files other than music and video (such as PDF, MS office stuff, etc)
-better OS altogether (faster, snappier, better integration between all the apps (such as saving an email attachment photo to a particular folder in your Photo Album)
-cheaper would be nice...even $449 vs. $499 would entice me to buy
Click to expand...
Other then larger storage and high rez screen all your other points are software related and most of them will be addressed in two months when ios5 comes out.

Who isn't to sat that a high rez model will come out in a few months that is a "pro" version with 64gb and 128gb storage options with a price tag of $799 and $999 (just guessing) for the wi-fi only versions. I'm sure they would have 3g versions too.
 
chadley_chad said:
as a user who knows what he wants best (thank you Mr Jobs),
Click to expand...

This line of argument always reminds me of petulant children. No one is making you buy an iPad, if you don't like what Apple has to offer than consider one of the rushed-to-the-market competitor offerings.

SJ's not the boss of you, you're the boss of you.
 
To everyone who is complaining about those who "misinterpreted" a slide: I feel that they have a legitimate argument. Apple almost always releases new hardware on a yearly cycle, so a new iPad coming in a timeframe much less than that would seem surprising.

Now I will say this, I bought an iPad 2, but I am still excited to see what Apple does for iPad 3 (regardless of when it is released)! :)
 
*LTD* said:
"as it is adjusting the cost structure for iPad tablets in order to compete with an array of tablet PCs to be launched by rivals in the second half of 2011."

What's going to change next month? We're already in the second half of 2011.

We've already seen "an array" of tablet PCs. They are about as far from competitive as you can get.
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I believe they are being preemptive about the lines of Windows 8 tablets that will launch when Windows 8 does.

Unlike the mediocre Win 7 tablets with gimped hardware, Win8 was designed with tablets in mind from the start, and Microsoft is giving strict hardware requirements for their Win8 tablets so the experience isn't let down by slow processors or not enough RAM.

Apple would be silly to ignore the potential threat, so they're dialing up the iPads in response.
 
chadley_chad said:
With Apple taking DVD drives out of mini macs and investigated keyless keyboards, it wouldn't surprise me if the latest iPad gave less functionality than its predecessor .... but it'll be ok because the almighty Steve Jobs says so ... and everyone know's that when Steve wants someones opinion ... he'll give it them!

I'm personally getting fed up with Apple ... a.k.a Steve Jobs ... its about time they sought a new head who'll put them back on track and supply what the people want, not what Heir Jobs wants (Jonny Ives in my book!!!)

NB iPad 3 - as a user who knows what he wants best (thank you Mr Jobs), I don't care about a slimmer than the iPad 2 tablet (that would be too slim) ... I just want to see an SD Slot which I can also use for more storage, a better screen for sure and ideally ... a lock button as its constantly frustrating when scrolling through web pages only to press a link by mistake and then spend wasted seconds having to go back!
Click to expand...

I have ZERO doubt in my mind that when Steve moves on that SADLY apple will once again stumble.. Steve is the ONLY CEO that has stood the test of time in my oppinion..

Product quality has ALWAYS been job one with Steve... A lot of CEO's say that quality is job one but STEVE stuck by that and proved it... Yes mistakes have been made, but Steve and Apple have ALWAYS worked to correct the issues at hand.. I can't say that for any other products I have used or tested produced by other groups..
 
bradkrischel said:
To everyone who is complaining about those who "misinterpreted" a slide: I feel that they have a legitimate argument. Apple almost always releases new hardware on a yearly cycle, so a new iPad coming in a timeframe much less than that would seem surprising.
Click to expand...

I'm one of those complaining, so please let me explain why I think the "Apple always does it this way" argument doesn't fully hold up:

MacBook Air: 01/08 and 10/08
Mac Mini: 03/09 and 10/09
iMac: 03/09 and 10/09
MacBook Pro: 02/08 and 10/08
iPod touch: 02/08 and 09/08
etc.

Apple always does it this way . . . until they don't.
 
ChrisTX said:
This post makes my head hurt! Did you not hear about Apples most recent quarter being their best quarter EVER?! Apparently Apple delivered exactly what the people, and the majority wants. If you don't like or want what Apple has to offer, then GTFO, and go buy some crappy Asus pc, or third rate bargain tablet with a hacked together tablet os made by a search engine company.
Click to expand...

Your reasoning is flawed. Cant be bothered to go into detail, but i can say two things. First and foremost your post is one big non sequitur. Second, even if applying your flawed reasoning Apple does not have a majority of the market, and thus hardly gives the "majority what they want".

Are Apple doing well?
- Yes.

Could they be doing better?
- Of course.
 
Benjy91 said:
I believe they are being preemptive about the lines of Windows 8 tablets that will launch when Windows 8 does.

Unlike the mediocre Win 7 tablets with gimped hardware, Win8 was designed with tablets in mind from the start,
Click to expand...

You'll understand if I'm setting my expectations real low in this regard.
 
By the way, the first-generation PowerPC Macs (6100,7100, and 8100) were introduced in 1994, not 1996. The PowerMac 8600 and 9600 were in 1996. The first G3 series came out in 1997 (beige G3).
 
NebulaClash said:
I'm one of those complaining, so please let me explain why I think the "Apple always does it this way" argument doesn't fully hold up:

MacBook Air: 01/08 and 10/08
Mac Mini: 03/09 and 10/09
iMac: 03/09 and 10/09
MacBook Pro: 02/08 and 10/08
iPod touch: 02/08 and 09/08
etc.

Apple always does it this way . . . until they don't.
Click to expand...

Precedent noted. Hard to argue against this.
 
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