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iPad Pro Superconsumers: If Apple Charged Double for the iPad Pro, What Features Would it Need?

R

rhyzome

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 2, 2012
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If Apple charged double the current price for the iPad Pro, what features would it have to have for you to buy it?

And why are those features important to you?




I'll start:

I find the following features so useful, essential and transformative that if Apple put them in an iPad I'd pay double the price for it:

•Handwriting recognition input with Pencil support system-wide
•OCR allowing searchability of text, pencil writing and even objects across all images and pdfs, systemwide (building on Photos app's smart features)
•Better file storage system that reduces redundancy/duplicates for files worked on by multiple programs and allows organization based on projects, with seamless iCloud integration across devices including for editing (an improvement built on the current Desktop/Documents syncing)

•Waterproof body
•Wireless charging, including for the pencil (perhaps with a dock)
•Edge to edge/bezel-free display in roughly same body as 9.7" pro

Why? I think these features would make the iPad an indispensable research device for academics and as an all-around mobile computing/reader device that fits with the rough and tumble and chaos of daily life.
 
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A personal beer assistant.

Seriously though, it was on my comfortable limit. If it was x2 or x3 it's cost i'd only be happy purchasing if i was a lottery winner.
 
It would have to feature an $829 rebate check for the 9.7in IPP with cellular.
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rhyzome said:
If Apple charged double the current price for the iPad Pro, what features would it have to have for you to buy it?


•Handwriting recognition input with Pencil support system-wide
Click to expand...
The Newton did a pretty good job, even with my cursive.
•OCR allowing searchability of text, pencil writing and even objects across all images and pdfs, systemwide (building on Photos app's smart features)
Click to expand...
This is an incremental increase, that other producers are already having or working towards as part of the cost of the O/S: $0
•Better file storage system that reduces redundancy/duplicates for files worked on by multiple programs and allows organization based on projects, with seamless iCloud integration across devices including for editing (an improvement built on the current Desktop/Documents syncing)
Click to expand...
I thought that was already in the works (the synching), but doubling of the memory with each few major releases (64GB - > 128GB -> 256GB) makes this a bit of a non-starter.
•Waterproof body
•Wireless charging, including for the pencil (perhaps with a dock)
•Bezel to bezel display in roughly same body as 9.7" pro
Click to expand...
Waterproof would be nice, and wireless charging hasn't caught me yet, but I'm sure when it does, I'll be all "why didn't the do that before?" I assume that 'bezel to bezel' means 'edge to edge' display, and yes, that will be good.
Why? I think these features would make the iPad an indispensable research device for academics and as an all-around mobile computing/reader device that fits with the rough and tumble and chaos of daily life.
Click to expand...

I think you have some great ideas, but I don't think that they'll cost double the cost of the iPad. What I'd like to see is:

2TB storage
2TB iCloud included for 2 years
Removable storage (yeah, I know)
8GB RAM
A11X Processor (go past the A10X chip)
MacOS Boot Option
Voice Cellular Chip on it, so I can use it as an iPhone
An accessory pack, including a Logitech Create Keyboard, ruggedized case, and the Apple Pencil
 
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Any feature list that would justify that kind of a price tag would move it out of "iPad" territory. The current iPad Pro, I feel, is at the very TOP of the price limit for a device in that category. Adding features to justify the price increase would push the device into a new product category (i.e. macPad).

The new product category would need:
  • New OS (not iOS, maybe macOS - but it would need an extreme UI makeover for a touch tablet OS - and don't even TRY to tell me that duel-booting iOS and macOS would be sufficient)
  • New hardware (at LEAST on par with the current Macbook in terms of specs/power - and it has to be re-engineered for a tablet)
  • A whole new purpose (there has to be a REASON for it to exist - and "some people on a message board wanted it" won't cut it)
 
Synergie said:
NO tablet is worth double an IPP. I think even the IPP is likely worth much less than they charge for it.
Click to expand...

I don't know if I would say "NO tablet" is worth that - for example, a nicely spec'ed out Surface Pro 5 with a gaming-worthy processor/graphics card/screen might be worth double and iPad Pro...
 
Nothing. Literally nothing. At that point it should have all the things a laptop has...in which case its no longer an iPad anyways.
 
I should clarify, the situation proposed is a hypothetical.

It is a thinking tool or experiment to bring to the foreground the features currently absent in the iPad Pro that some users view as essential to the device. It is a way to bring to light hidden purposes and "jobs" the iPad Pro does or could do for some groups.

It is telling though that many say the price could not be higher than it is...Apple's team did their jobs right, as far as setting the price as high as possible goes, I suppose.
 
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It has to do everything one can do on a MacBook Pro. That means significant changes in both hardware, OS and app ecosystem. How this would be achieved is the real question though.

I'd be quite impressed if it could do something like run something with the same capabilities as Capture One 10 and develop RAW photos on an attached SD card, or run multiple arbitrary "hot" web servers on NodeJS / Go / etc.
 
-Mouse/trackpad support (I'd probably pay an extra 200-300 for the current pro if it meant native mouse support).
-Better file management.
-24 hour battery life.
-Ability to configure ram and storage at time of purchase(8 or 16gb ram and up to 1TB SSD)
-2 USB type C ports.
-AirPods in the box.
-29w charger in the box.
-Apple Smart Keyboard with backlight included.
-Apple Pencil included.
-Ability to run Mac software (either dual boot with Mac OS or figure out another way).
-Smaller bezels.

I would easily pay $2000-2,500 for that dream machine.
 
rhyzome said:
If Apple charged double the current price for the iPad Pro, what features would it have to have for you to buy it?

And why are those features important to you?




I'll start:

I find the following features so useful, essential and transformative that if Apple put them in an iPad I'd pay double the price for it:

•Handwriting recognition input with Pencil support system-wide
•OCR allowing searchability of text, pencil writing and even objects across all images and pdfs, systemwide (building on Photos app's smart features)
•Better file storage system that reduces redundancy/duplicates for files worked on by multiple programs and allows organization based on projects, with seamless iCloud integration across devices including for editing (an improvement built on the current Desktop/Documents syncing)

•Waterproof body
•Wireless charging, including for the pencil (perhaps with a dock)
•Edge to edge/bezel-free display in roughly same body as 9.7" pro

Why? I think these features would make the iPad an indispensable research device for academics and as an all-around mobile computing/reader device that fits with the rough and tumble and chaos of daily life.
Click to expand...


Let's look at this the other way. Technology is getting cheaper and cheaper. Let's try and make the iPad Pro HALF THE PRiCe. While keeping ALL features

#1. Switch to an OLED display not only are they thinner lighter and have way better colors they use less Energy and eventually they will be cheaper than LCD which is an ancient tenchology which is going away.
#2. Use a sturdy plastic body will be a lot cheaper than Aluminum
#3. Less packaging just ship in a plain recycled box.
#4. No charger How many of us have multiple chargers by now. I really don't need anymore.
#5. TV ads, I wouldn't mind watching a few 30 second ads and answering 3 questions every week all with the goal of my iPad Pro 9.7 costing half.
#6. Use Cheaper 3rd party CPUs. Eventually the A9X will be out classed by the Cheapest CPU powering Free Smartphones. But those cheap CPUs will cost a Fraction 3-4 years from now and be faster.
#7. Bring back 2 year contract subsidies. I have no plans to change my iPad in 1 year lock me in for 2 years.
Remeber when new iPhones cost $199 and that was it. Not $30 for 24 months making it cost $720 I wish the 2 year contract subsidies came back.

At the end of the day we lost no features and even 4 years from now the best iPad will be just like the one we have now.
 
Isn't the iPad Pro already faster than some Core i5 CPU systems I Remeber the Keynote it's faster than 500 million Windows PCs still in use today.

And Compared to my 2009 Core i7 old Dell Laptop

My iPad Pro 9.7, is faster in every way, weighs a lot less than that 17" Monster is way more portable gets 10 hours of battery life vs. Can play better games, I can do Work Thanks Microsoft Office read emails Draw you name it 1,000% better than an old Laptop.
 
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rhyzome said:
If Apple charged double the current price for the iPad Pro, what features would it have to have for you to buy it?

And why are those features important to you?




I'll start:

I find the following features so useful, essential and transformative that if Apple put them in an iPad I'd pay double the price for it:

•Handwriting recognition input with Pencil support system-wide
•OCR allowing searchability of text, pencil writing and even objects across all images and pdfs, systemwide (building on Photos app's smart features)
•Better file storage system that reduces redundancy/duplicates for files worked on by multiple programs and allows organization based on projects, with seamless iCloud integration across devices including for editing (an improvement built on the current Desktop/Documents syncing)

•Waterproof body
•Wireless charging, including for the pencil (perhaps with a dock)
•Edge to edge/bezel-free display in roughly same body as 9.7" pro

Why? I think these features would make the iPad an indispensable research device for academics and as an all-around mobile computing/reader device that fits with the rough and tumble and chaos of daily life.
Click to expand...

As an artist I'm able to use the current 12.9 iPad Pro for some of my lighter work, so I was able to justify its somewhat high price tag, because it's helping me earn money. At double the price though, I would need the iPad to handle at least most of my work. That means it needs most the items on your list, which I found spot on except that I'm ambivalent about wireless charging and going bezel-less, plus a few more items:
- my macOS work applications brought over to iOS. That's the biggest issue. It's the responsibility of third parties of course, but I've heard Apple's App Store pricing rules demotivates pro third party developers from making full blown iOS versions of their software. So there's that situation.
- I would also like third party developers to start making iPP companion apps that work in conjunction with the macOS application when appropriate. For example, when you're running photoshop on your MBP, connect your iPP to the MBP and start up the photoshop companion app on the iPP which acts as the canvas part of the program, for use with the Apple Pencil. All the real processing is done in the mac photoshop, the iPP companion photoshop is just an added tool. It's almost like extended desktop but less flexible and more focused.
- cintiq functionality. Until pro development comes to the iPP, the MBP will be needed. But since you can't draw on any macs, Apple could help immensely by making the iPP NATIVELY function as a cintiq when connected to a MBP (this would require a higher bandwidth port than the current lightning). Not to mention iPP will always be limited in its hardware compared to a MBP simply because portability is such a high priority for it, so for certain heavy duty tasks macs will always be needed.
- I also want to add about a project based file system that it could be a tagging system as well, and it needs to all be local because access to my files should not be dependent on the cloud and a subscription.
- I'm probably forgetting something.
 
RudySnow said:
Point being, you can do that already for $2000--it's called a laptop.

I could flip this argument just as easily—if Apple doubles the price of a MacBook Pro, I want it to run iOS. Just silly.
Click to expand...

No you couldn't flip the argument. iOS is a limited operating system. Adding Mac OS would be an upgrade for iPad. Adding iOS to a MacBook would be a downgrade.
 
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nia820 said:
No couldn't flip the argued. iOS is a limited operating system. Adding Mac OS would be an upgrade for iPad. Adding iOS to a MacBook would be a downgrade.
Click to expand...

Limited for you maybe? But in the end, many operating systems have limitations, pretty much everything has limits of what it can and cannot do. How many files and folders does your Mac hide from you (setting limitations) by default?
Can you get work done within these limitations, or do you need a different tool, that should be the main consideration.
Adding or running macOS, a system absolutely not designed for touch input, to a touch-only device strikes me as very silly.
Anybody who wants to get a rough feeling of how great such an experience would be can use Screens or similar remote apps on their iPad to view and control their Macs. That works but I don't want to work with something this clumsy for more than a minute. Pay extra for this? I don't think so.

Also consider this is an Apple product. To Apple, simplicity is the highest form of sophistication. Making something less simple to use (which adding a different OS than what people are used to) is probably not going to happen.

If you are really keen on a touchscreen Mac, the Modbook has been out for a while I think, and comes closer to your idea than an iPad ever will.
 
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