iPad 3 Expected to Launch in Around March-April

[Bodypainter]

Apple has rarely increased the price of a product when it was upgraded. Actually, I don't think they ever have during Jobs leadership.

unfortunately you are very wrong. remember the mac mini? costs a lot more now. or the white mac book? price went up! there are even more examples.

i just hope they keep the iPad line clean and simple. it would be bad if they'd make an iPad with normal specs for 499 us$ and an iPad pro for 599 us$ with retina display.

however, here's an interesting video about apple design (exhibition in germany) http://youtu.be/WMjhBcxnd98 please watch it and forward it to friends if you like apple!

 

[Certinfy]

Had an iPad 2 but found no use for it. Actually considering getting the new one when it comes out though, will just wait and see as what I really want at the moment is a Windows 8 tablet.

 

[jouster]

I'll be holding out for the next Kindle Fire.

With one click purchasing -- whether you like it or not!

 

[Constable Odo]

Now the rumor has it that it will be pushed back to April or mid-spring from late January or February. These rumors are relatively useless to judge anything that Apple is doing or when they are going to do it. If anything, these rumors are working against Apple if consumers are actually delaying tablet purchases based upon groundless rumors. I'm rather suspicious that these rumors are put forth in order to manipulate the volatility of Apple's share price more than anything else. Eventually, if Apple had originally decided to release the iPad later, then the rumors will claim that the iPad announcement has been delayed due to some unforeseen component supply bottleneck.

 

[sinsin07]

1. A high resolution display will be more expensive than the iPad 2 display. Now who do you think will pay for the difference in price, the customers or Apple? Have a guess.

2. I don't think Apple will be able to buy as many high resolution displays as they are selling iPads now. Given the choice of either only being able to produce about half as many iPads as they could sell, or continuing to sell the iPad 2, what do you think Apple will do? Have a guess.

3. Even if Apple could get all the displays they want, the iPad 3 will be more expensive and therefore would lose some customers to competitors if there is no iPad 2. Do you think Apple will want to lose customers? Have a guess.

Summary: Your iPad 2 isn't going to get discontinued any time soon.

You are making the assumption that Samsung can magically build a tablet cheaper than Apple can. History has proven that they can't.

The iPhone 4 screen is a quarter of the size and therefore a quarter of the price of the iPad screen. So the increase in cost will be something like $25 to $50 for the iPhone screen, but $100 to $200 for the iPad screen. And again, you expect Samsung to be able to do something they haven't been able to do in the past.

It's quite simple: Samsung cannot build a tablet today that competes with the iPad 2 on price, that's why they aren't selling. A Samsung hires tablet will be considerably more expensive than an iPad 2. So it may have a hires screen, but it's more expensive, and it's not an iPad. These are two people that keep customers from buying. Samsung is not in a position to force Apple to do anything.

That's funny, most of your post is an assumption

The iPhone 4 screen is a quarter of the size and therefore a quarter of the price of the iPad screen.

That's one fuzzy comparison. How much is an unsubsidized iPhone 16GB, 32GB and 64GB compared to the iPad equivalents?

 

[MacDarcy]

My guess is that Apple will do as they have always done with the iPad....the iPad 3 will replace the iPad 2 at the same price points....and they will sell the iPad 2 at discounted prices while supplies last thru their refurbished program.

There have been reports that Apple is ramping down iPad 2 production over the next couple of months in anticipation of the iPad 3.

I strongly feel that Apple won't "upsell" the iPad 3 just because it has the Retina display. They didn't do that with the iphone. When the retina display came out in the iphone 4, it just replaced the iphone 3Gs. They still sold the 3GS, but at discounted prices. Just as they did with the 4 when the 4S came out.

I dont think Apple will change this tradition with the iPad 3.

 

[pika2000]

If it indeed has retina display, then the A6 better has a more souped up GPU than the A5.

 

[blackcrayon]

If they do, they will piss a lot of people off.

Theres a huge (might not sound huge to some of you, but I assure you it is) problem with too many resolutions. It WILL cause fragmentation with apps. Its not a case of might, it WILL. Some devs simply wont update their apps, some will make them retina only, etc. Until Apple pull their fingers out and start again with the app UI it'll not work properly. They need to take a leaf out of webOS's book here as that can scale to any size. iOS can not.

Why would it "piss off developers"? It wouldn't be any worse than the iPhone 3GS -> 4 transition. Having two "iPad" resolutions but still only one physical size to develop for would be fine. After all, even if they only produce the new model, there are still millions of iPad 1s and 2s that will be needing apps for quite some time.

Now if they made the iPad 3 a different aspect ratio or something you might have more of an issue.

 

[samcraig]

While a Retina iPad screen will look nice - I, personally, don't find that enough of a reason to upgrade. I'm on an iPad 1 (since launch day) and although it would be nice to have the cameras - that sucker is still a great and speedy device which handles more than I use it for anyway.

So I guess there's really no need or want to upgrade until either it breaks, is no longer supported or there are a bunch of new features which are sexy.

More memory, faster processor and better screen - for me - right now isn't enticing/worth the $.

 

[Bernard SG]

It might be a good idea for Apple to sell the iPad 2 along with the iPad 3 at a discounted price of say $399. It should help hold any competition the Kindle Fire has.

Kindle fire costs $199 so 399 is still twice the price, not sure that would be enough to woo people going for the KF uniquely for price concerns.
However, if Apple makes a 8 GB iPad and sells it $299, that might make sense. I'm very skeptical that it would happen though.

 

[steadysignal]

Is this news?

No.

It's a rumor.

/snark.

 

[jonnysods]

Pumped about the retina. I love my iPad 2, but the display is still hard to look at after using my iPhone 4!

 

[RickRoss]

With the amount of cash Apple is currently sitting on, one could argue they could afford to have the iPad 3 be a loss leader. They already dominate the tablet market, and they could further increase their market share by pricing the new device at a very slim margin. I would imagine it will be priced in line with the current range.

 

[Kaibelf]

woo hoo!! This means the iPad 4 is just over a year away.

I CANT WAIT!!!!!

I'm skipping that one. I heard from a trusted Asian blog that heard from their cousin who heard from their mother-in-law (who once rode a train past a Foxconn plant) and who read tea leaves after dinner one night that the iPad5 would be out in time for Christmas that year, and would have a 14 inch screen! And would be exclusive to Verizon! And that it would have Thunderbolt and a holographic display!

 

[gnasher729]

With the amount of cash Apple is currently sitting on, one could argue they could afford to have the iPad 3 be a loss leader. They already dominate the tablet market, and they could further increase their market share by pricing the new device at a very slim margin. I would imagine it will be priced in line with the current range.

That would be called "dumping" and is anti-competitive behavior that will get them into huge trouble. And there is no reason to do this; Apple loses very little through sales to competitors.

 

[Kaibelf]

If they do, they will piss a lot of people off.

Theres a huge (might not sound huge to some of you, but I assure you it is) problem with too many resolutions. It WILL cause fragmentation with apps. Its not a case of might, it WILL. Some devs simply wont update their apps, some will make them retina only, etc. Until Apple pull their fingers out and start again with the app UI it'll not work properly. They need to take a leaf out of webOS's book here as that can scale to any size. iOS can not.

Too many resolutions? Two. That's not a lot, and I recall getting updates even this week for apps on my phone to now have higher-res graphics for people using the iPhone4/4S. What happened in the meantime? Did those devs turn into pillars of salt?

 

[HalfBlazed]

Great News

It will be mine. Oh yes, it will be mine.

(Mid) 2011 iMac i7 16gb DDR3 256 SSD 1TB ::: (Mid) 2011 MacBook Pro i7 8gb DDR3 ::: (Original) iPad ::: iPhone 4

 

[wolfshades]

If they do, they will piss a lot of people off.

Theres a huge (might not sound huge to some of you, but I assure you it is) problem with too many resolutions. It WILL cause fragmentation with apps. Its not a case of might, it WILL. Some devs simply wont update their apps, some will make them retina only, etc. Until Apple pull their fingers out and start again with the app UI it'll not work properly. They need to take a leaf out of webOS's book here as that can scale to any size. iOS can not.

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Sorry....why would you need to spend a few hundred on cases? How many do you need and why?!

My iPad is in a case from TK Maxx (called TJ Maxx in the US). I paid £25 for it and its been the best case I've seen yet. Certainly better than the crummy ones Apple has produced.

I don't. I need just the one. But I ended up ordering a few - one at a time - because they weren't engineered properly.

 

[Zunjine]

That would be called "dumping" and is anti-competitive behavior that will get them into huge trouble. And there is no reason to do this; Apple loses very little through sales to competitors.

See, I'm a bit confused about this whole area because surely Amazon selling the Kindle Fire at almost zero profit and Google giving away Android are two examples of anti-competitive practice?

Then again, lots of industries seem to include loss leaders. Printer companies sell printers dirt cheap and make money from the ink. Sony makes a loss on each Playstation and makes it up in games sold. Supermarkets sell some items at a loss in order to get people into the store to buy other, more lucrative items. All these practices are essentially anti-competitive, aren't they? Yet they're common place.

If Apple decided to splash a big load of dosh to essentially corner the tablet market by selling the iPad at a loss - killing stone dead any emerging competitor - that would be clearly anti competitive but how would it be any different to Google giving away Android in order to gain market share?

 

[MacDarcy]

While a Retina iPad screen will look nice - I, personally, don't find that enough of a reason to upgrade. I'm on an iPad 1 (since launch day) and although it would be nice to have the cameras - that sucker is still a great and speedy device which handles more than I use it for anyway.

So I guess there's really no need or want to upgrade until either it breaks, is no longer supported or there are a bunch of new features which are sexy.

More memory, faster processor and better screen - for me - right now isn't enticing/worth the $.

I'm still "clinging" to AND enjoying my iPad 1. Waiting for the iPad 3 until i update. I think the Retina Display won't be the only thing they update. It will probably get the A6 faster chip and who knows what else. I'd love to see it get 1 gig of ram too to handle more intensive video editing and such.

I love my iPad 1, but iMovie still doesn't run on it, and more and more apps aren't available for it. I use my ipad as a laptop replacement for when i travel, and i like to edit video...so the ipad 1 is still lacking in that dept. So an upgrade for me is in the cards. Just waiting on the iPad 3...since the update is so close. I will get it no matter what.

 

[zombierunner]

Why can't we have an ipad which can truly replace a laptop ..

 

[soco]

Why can't we have an ipad which can truly replace a laptop ..

Because it would be a laptop?

 

[Zunjine]

Why can't we have an ipad which can truly replace a laptop ..

Well, that all depends on what you use your laptop for. If you use it for watching DVDs, for example, then you're out of luck. But for many people an iPad already can replace a laptop.

Consider a day in the life of a regular, casual technology user. An average person who doesn't code or run heavy graphics/sound applictions. What does he do?

He gets up and the first thing he does is check Facebook and Twitter. While eating breakfast he wants to catch up on the news so he opens up the Sky News app and flicks through some of the top stories while he sips his coffee. Quick check of the weather and travel news and he's off out.

During the day he checks his email, updates his blog and checks a few websites. On the commute home he plays a game of chess, does some banking and reads an article in the electronic version of a weekly magazine/newspaper.

Home again. Quickly looks up the recepie for that dish he wants to try out - props the iPad up in the kitchen so he can read the instructions as he cooks. And over dinner he and his significant other watch a movie streamed from Lovefilm or some other internet based movie service. A quick check on Facebook and he updates his calednar with a couple of appointements. Then he's off to bed where he reads a couple of chapters of his book before sleep.

Did he need a laptop for any of that? I don't think so.

And, if you want an example of a more demanding user, this guy, albiet with the aid of a keyboard-sporting case, has moved most of his working time to his iPad.

http://technologizer.com/2011/12/05/how-the-ipad-2-became-my-favorite-computer/

 

[iScott428]

I am very excited to see what the new iPad holds. I loved my original iPad and the iPad 2 is really all by its self, in terms of competition. I have always felt though that if I had never gotten an iPad 2, my original would have done just fine still to this date. I think it would be a smart move for Apple to continue to sell the iPad2 as it does iPhone 4 or 3Gs, as the market has still not caught up nor is there a competitor at the 350-400$ price range. By selling the iPad 2 at a discounted price I bet the market segment looking at buying the Kindle fire will think twice, especially with all of the bad press coming in right now about parental controls and security.

2012 will be the year of Apple, although really the last 2 years have also been "The Year of Apple"

 

[MacDarcy]

Why can't we have an ipad which can truly replace a laptop ..

Give it time. The iPad is still in it's infancy. With each update, it will be able to do more and more. Heck, the next update to the macbook pro line is rumored to be getting rid of the optical drive, and the macbook airs already have. The line between the laptop and tablet are beginning to blur.

Personally i love surfing the web on the iPad much more than on a laptop. And the touch/finger swipe is becoming so ingrained in our collective tech psychology that Apple is incorporating it into Lion and shipping imacs with touch pads. So many programs lend themselves to the intuitive nature of the touch pad/screen.

In time, iPads will become powerful enough to do many more things that the laptops currently do. The line will continue to blur. But it will take time.

For power users, the laptop is still going to get the nod.

But some are already making the transition. I travel alot, and always bring my ipad instead of my laptop on the road. For one thing, i prefer it for surfing the web and writing emails and updating my blog. I also like it for loading and looking at my pictures i take with my dslr. I don't have an ipad 2, so editing videos in imovie is not possible on my ipad 1(dont want to jailbreak it)...so i do without some features.

When i update to the iPad 3, i will be able to edit video, and won't miss my laptop at all when on the road.

When i get home from a trip, i do most of my heavy editing on an imac....but more and more, i see the iPad becoming my only tool for when i travel. Even at home, i prefer to watch movies and surf the web on an ipad over a laptop.