Apple Predicted to Launch Optional Stylus Accessory Alongside 12.9-Inch 'iPad Pro'

[Erastopic]

Okay. Here's the conundrum. Fingers are obviously the end all be all of tablet interaction per the Word of Steve, the fact the iPad doesn't have a built in digitizer yet, and always factual subjective opinion. But some people need a fine point to write notes, draw, and do all that other stuff.

So what do you do? What could Apple give us that's an elegant combination of both? The on-hand ever-readiness of your fingers, with the precision of a stylus?

...I believe I have the answer.

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In a designers & artist view, a stylus has much more precision than a finger tip ever can. Unless you have the skinniest fingers in the world.

You can't look at the whole Apple market when you talk of a stylus. Even the article says "Optional". It's clearly meant for piece of the market which includes artists, designers and more.

Go buy a digital draw board, open photoshop and don't use the stylus to create something that is perfect with every pixel, is it possible? No.

A stylus opens a ocean of possibilities for designers and artist all over the world. It could mean finally a full version of Photoshop, Illustrator on the iPad. As well as other pro apps. And Apple love their designers & artist customers.

EDIT: AND considering the iPhone 6s is rumoured to feature the pressure sensitive touch screen, the iPad Pro will surely be shipped with it too, which would make sense considering it could mean the difference of light drawing and hard drawing. Just like digital draw boards.

 

[Rogifan]

Well 7 and 8 are.

What's different about 7 & 8 than 6 and prior? I'm basically using my iPhone and iPad the same way I always was, with the exception of features 6 and prior didn't have.

Yes, he hated stylus and made a tablet and phone OS entirely around the idea of never using a stylus....

He hated the idea of needing to use a stylus as the primary method of navigation. Anyway he's dead. What he thought doesn't matter anymore.

 

[Michael Goff]

Really? How so? It works fine for me for most things, but then again I'm not trying to use my iPad as a PC. I use a PC every day at work. It's the last thing I want to use when I'm not working.

Because it was made with a 3.5" screen in mind. It simply wasn't designed for anything much bigger than that. You can see that from the single app at a time, the lack of preemptive multitasking, the fact that a bigger screen simply means more icons. The design hasn't evolved much since 2007.

Well 7 and 8 are.



Yes, he hated stylus and made a tablet and phone OS entirely around the idea of never using a stylus....

What makes you think the recent versions are worse?

 

[darngooddesign]

I'd say not cool at all, since the tech needs to be in the screen, not i

n the stylus itself.

Charger in the iPad, receiver in the stylus.

 

[thepixelpusher]

I get a kick out of the people here quoting Steve Jobs saying a stylus is wrong. That was years ago for a small iphone. And, Steve had a history of misdirection all the while developing things he was saying wasn't worthwhile. He was shrewd like that. There is no way anyone here knows what Steve thought about a large ipad and stylus support before his death, including me. There are many people here that want pressure sensitive support and a nice stylus for iPad.

If you like Surface Pro, That's fine. However, I'm not going to drop my OS X software and hardware to use a Surface Pro. My Cintiq still offers better pressure support than the Surface Pro 3 and performs better. Drawing slowly on the Surface Pro alone yields raggedy lines, among other cons.

If the IPad Pro offers the same professional support I'll consider it. Likely the Cintiq will still be better for professional artists on WinPC and Mac for a while yet. But, adding pressure sensitive stylus support may make other professionals happy too. I welcome it.

 

[ThunderSkunk]

Better do it. If you build an iPad big enough for proper creative work, and encourage Devs to write more capable creativity apps, and then provide no way to do accurate work on it like the rest of the iPad line, there's no way to call it a "Pro" device.

There's a big difference between Steve Jobs talking about using your fingers to operate a phone OS, and being able to draw, illustrate, and annotate with the accuracy of a proper pen instead of a box of fingerprints on a large iPad intended for such activities.

I just hope it's a wacom.

 

[Renzatic]

A stylus opens a ocean of possibilities for designers and artist all over the world. It could mean finally a full version of Photoshop, Illustrator on the iPad. As well as other pro apps. And Apple love their designers & artist customers.

I'm agreeing with you on this. Like I said to Apolla, I like the fact that the iPad UI is set up to be driven primarily by touch, but that doesn't negate the need for a stylus altogether.

Some people need that pixel point precision only a stylus can provide.

 

[rowspaxe]

Samsung led the way? Didn't the Surface come out before Samsung's large screen tablet? And do you have any reviews or sales figures for said device? I haven't heard a lot about it since it came out and if I'm remembering correctly reviews at the time weren't that great. In many ways it seemed like a rushed product, like Samsung just wanted to get something out the door before Apple did.

Sp 1 and Sp 1 were 10.6 inch --not much bigger than the ipad. Samsung Galaxy Note 12 was 12.1--so really the first 12" tablet. As to your second point--if I rush a product to market--I am still the product innovator. Many product inovators fail for this reason. The problem with the Galaxy Note--imho--terrible samsung android overlay, no typecover, no kickstand.

I many ways the Surface Pro 3 feels rushed to me--you'll remember there was significant confusion about its release event--which seemed geared to an 8" surface pro or rt tablet.

 

[dec.]

Not getting drawing into this one, you just believe whatever you want and ignore everything that's gone before...

So who exactly are they copying if they introduce a stylus to the iPad, care to give one company name?

 

[apolloa]

What's different about 7 & 8 than 6 and prior? I'm basically using my iPhone and iPad the same way I always was, with the exception of features 6 and prior didn't have.

What makes you think the recent versions are worse?

Not getting drawn into this one either, lets just say I HATE it and NOTHING you can say will ever change that. That is all

 

[thepixelpusher]

If the iPad Pro ran a dual boot of iOS and OS X, that would rock!

 

[Rogifan]

Because it was made with a 3.5" screen in mind. It simply wasn't designed for anything much bigger than that. You can see that from the single app at a time, the lack of preemptive multitasking, the fact that a bigger screen simply means more icons. The design hasn't evolved much since 2007.



What makes you think the recent versions are worse?

And I think the current leadership at Apple is trying to change that. We got things in iOS 7 and 8 that we probably wouldn't have seen under Steve or Scott Forstall.

 

[Michael Goff]

Not getting drawn into this one either, lets just say I HATE it and NOTHING you can say will ever change that. That is all

You do realize we're talking about it from an engineering perspective and not an aesthetics perspective right?

 

[Rogifan]

Not getting drawn into this one either, lets just say I HATE it and NOTHING you can say will ever change that. That is all

I didn't say anything to try and get you to like it. I don't care if you like it. But for the most part iOS 7 & 8 work exactly the same way iOS 6 and prior did.

 

[thekeyring]

I dont follow phones closely, but i am under the impression Samsung introduced the first larger phones. I do follow tablets, and here clearly Samsung lead the way with a larger form factor and an active digitizer.

Do you remember the retina display on iPhone 4? Since then, phone makers seem to have been aiming to beat it, with higher and higher densities.

Cast your mind back further: the first iPhone. 'We got rid of all the buttons and just made a giant screen'. 3.5 was massive.

To beat it, the Samsung Galaxy S had a 4 inch screen.

Then, to ensure the phone looked better even to the casual observer, the next one was 4.3 inches.

Then the S3 which was 4.8 inches. Then, the S4 with a 5 inch display. And so on...

Screen size isn't always 'progress' sometimes it is a design choice. Samsung never made that choice, it evolved by accident.

Samsung's jump into a phone with a massive screen was the Galaxy Tab. Which at the time was the only Android competitor to... the iPad

Source: http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/tablets/samsung-galaxy-tab-903545/review

 

[rowspaxe]

I know every time I used a highlighter on a book, I always thought "you know, I'd really rather much use a wedged shape thing that controls a disembodied pointer and roughly mimics exactly what I'm doing right now".

Cuz comeon, who needs stylusesses? They've been using those since 50,000 BC or so. I want The Future.

whats a book?

 

[Erastopic]

I'm agreeing with you on this. Like I said to Apolla, I like the fact that the iPad UI is set up to be driven primarily by touch, but that doesn't negate the need for a stylus altogether.

Some people need that pixel point precision only a stylus can provide.

I see your point, in the matter of UI navigation, a stylus is not ideal unless the UI is coded for it and iOS is perfected for the finger tips. It's not like Apple will push these styluses up in your face when they are optional. And thats the view Steve had for them.

If they are optional and is not a "must have" for probably 60% of the iPad market, then don't hate on this. Because it's existence won't affect others who don't need it.

 

[Renzatic]

Charger in the iPad, receiver in the stylus.

No. Wacom and N-Trig tech don't rely on powered pens at all. It's the screen itself that's doing all the work.

You don't necessarily need specialized tech to drive it. A pressure sensitive screen with a much, much finer resolution capacitance grid threaded through it would probably net about the same results without adding any weight or thickness to the device.

 

[apolloa]

He hated the idea of needing to use a stylus as the primary method of navigation. Anyway he's dead. What he thought doesn't matter anymore.

Go and find me a quote where Steve Jobs stated he hated the stylus only as 'the primary method of navigation' because I bet he never said that, and it is something dreamt up on this forum.

And as for it doesn't matter what he thought as he's dead, erm, the Apple that exists today was built ENTIRELY on Jobs ethos and opinions and thoughts. Of course it matters what he thought.

But as this story is a rumour, it's pointless talking about Apple's history of hatred for the Stylus with iOS, and how it has never ever designed the interface secondary or primary for use with a stylus.

 

[Rogifan]

Sp 1 and Sp 1 were 10.6 inch --not much bigger than the ipad. Samsung Galaxy Note 12 was 12.1--so really the first 12" tablet. As to your second point--if I rush a product to market--I am still the product innovator. Many product inovators fail for this reason. The problem with the Galaxy Note--imho--terrible samsung android overlay, no typecover, no kickstand.

I many ways the Surface Pro 3 feels rushed to me--you'll remember there was significant confusion about its release event--which seemed geared to an 8" surface pro or rt tablet.

Just because you throw something on the market doesn't make you a product innovator. I don't see anyone out there rushing to copy Samsung's 12" tablet. In fact I hardly ever hear them or anyone else talk about it.

 

[Michael Goff]

And I think the current leadership at Apple is trying to change that. We got things in iOS 7 and 8 that we probably wouldn't have seen under Steve or Scott Forstall.

You're 100% right about that. iOS is changing, and that's a good thing. Once it is over, I'll likely change my tune. I'll even be able to watch it as it changes, since I haven't stopped using iOS devices in the meantime. I like iOS, don't get me wrong, but that won't stop me from pointing out when I think they're wrong.

 

[rowspaxe]

Several companies already have good stylus units that are almost Wacom tablet quality.

This is simply not true.

 

[Rogifan]

Go and find me a quote where Steve Jobs stated he hated the stylus only as 'the primary method of navigation' because I bet he never said that, and it is something dreamt up on this forum.

And as for it doesn't matter what he thought as he's dead, erm, the Apple that exists today was built ENTIRELY on Jobs ethos and opinions and thoughts. Of course it matters what he thought.

But as this story is a rumour, it's pointless talking about Apple's history of hatred for the Stylus with iOS, and how it has never ever designed the interface secondary or primary for use with a stylus.

He may not have used those exact words but everyone knew what he meant. Which was PDAs and other devices like that which required a stylus to do anything.

 

[Renzatic]

I see your point, in the matter of UI navigation, a stylus is not ideal unless the UI is coded for it and iOS is perfected for the finger tips. It's not like Apple will push these styluses up in your face when they are optional. And thats the view Steve had for them.

If they are optional and is not a "must have" for probably 60% of the iPad market, then don't hate on this. Because it's existence won't affect others who don't need it.

Exactly. Introducing a proper stylus to the iPad line won't do much to change the basic way its function. It's there for those who need it (who will likely be the core market for the rumored iPad Pro), entirely optional and unnecessary for those who don't.

 

[FieldingMellish]

Everything old is new again. Stylus use dates back to the early 1990’s, so anyone saying that Apple is copying Samsung on stylus use in 2015 is only true it you don’t observe historical precedent.

Here’s an old editorial article from the editor of Pen Computing magazine. http://pencomputing.com/editor/editor_23.html

A pro version of iPad expressly targeting the professional graphics persons is clearly a vertical market. Early computing using styli circa early ’90’s was all about vertical markets.