I'm surprised so many people are disagreeing with this. This is most definitely the reason they needed to push out the iPad 4. The fact that they're still selling the iPad 2 doesn't matter. They're still selling 30-pin iPhones also because they're the old, budget options.
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iPad mini iPad Retina (3) -> iPad 4, Mini Retina...Potential Repeat of History?
- Thread starter darabo
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I'm surprised so many people are disagreeing with this. This is most definitely the reason they needed to push out the iPad 4. The fact that they're still selling the iPad 2 doesn't matter. They're still selling 30-pin iPhones also because they're the old, budget options.
You guys do realize that your looking at this from a completely different wrong point of view right? It doesn't matter if they are still selling the iPad 2 today...
Lets go back to early 2012.
Apple releases the iPad 3 in March 2012. Everyone seemed to love it. During that time, all Apple products were still 30-pin connectors. The iPhone 4S, 4th gen iPod Touch 4th, iPad 2.
Now lets go back to late 2012.
Apple releases the iPhone 5 in September as well as the 5th gen iPod touch. Both of them have the new Lightning connector. Apple releases the new iPad mini in October it also has a Lightning connector.
Would it make sense or not make sense for Apple to update the iPad to have a Lightning connector as well?
Would it make sense or not make sense for Apple to update the iPad with more than just a Lightning connector.
Apple has been selling the iPad 2 since the iPad 2 came out. That includes the iPad 3 and iPad 4 and now the iPad Air.
Apple wasn't going to wait for the holiday season to end and have everyone buy the outdated iPad 3 with its 30-pin connector if it was going to release an iPad 4 with Lightning connector in March.
Apple also wasn't going to wait 18 months for it to be able to release a new iPad with a Lightning connector if it was going to release it in November.
They obviously have at least 1gb of RAM. But with 64bit applications, apps will start wanting even more ram, as if they weren't already using more & more. If the iPad Air is to last for 2-3 years as a productive/capable device it will need more then 1gb IMO.
What do you think? Just curious i suppose. It's nice to share from different angles.
Except Apple doesn't really want you to keep the iPad for 3 years. Ideally, they'd like folks to replace their iPad every year, 2 years at most. There was no RAM increase from iPhone 5 to 5S and I reckon Apple thinks 1GB is good enough for Retina so I don't think we'll be seeing a bump in RAM. It would certainly be a pleasant surprise if they do but I'm not counting on it. Apple has made planned obsolescence into an art form.
I agree one hundred percent. As people sell off their older devices for newer ones, people who couldn't buy newer ones get older ones at their price ranges. I am sure Apple sees that as an everybody wins scenario.
No, you are.
Apple may have marketed the iPad4 as being an upgrade for the lightning connector but the real reason was the iPad3 was underpowered, end of.
Of course they'd never admit that but it was true.
Had the improved processor of the iPad4 been available in time, the iPad3 would have had it. Furthermore, if that had been the case, they would never have released an iPad4 as it wouldn't have been worthwhile just for the lightning connector and nothing else.
I bought my iPad 3 after the iPhone event last year, then comes out the iPad mini and a better iPad, and it was too late to get it replaced.
I was quite pissed about it, I'd have been happy if they only added the new connector, but a better processor as well?
I don't think history will repeat itself though, it looks like they're trying to bring all releases to take place at the end of the year now, which is a bad decision, but that's what they're doing.
I'm not seeing it...
1) there were several reasons for the 3/4 timing, but the biggest was anxiety. If apple doesn't feel anxious over the mini 2, they won't feel a need to change it.
2) they knew the short cycle would make people anxious and only did it because they had to (see 1). Doing it again would hurt future sales (see this thread).
3) the mini 2 is powerhouse, upgrades won't even be possible for a year.
4) the mini 3 was not around the same size and weight. You can avoid this concern by waiting a week to order and watching the reactions.
5) as has been said, it will take 6 months just to get them in stock at target.
Consider that to be a rare occurrence, not the start of a new pattern.
I have no clue why you guys claim iPad 3 is slow and outdated over the iPad 2.
Tests have showed it to be slightly (just a smidge) faster than iPad 2. Yeah they use the similar A5 processor but iPad 3 is quad core graphics to power retina display.
The main issue is playing high power retina games. But day to day activities is perfectly fine. Plus it's retina and much nicer to look at than iPad 2.
iPad 3 also has 1gb of ram over 512mb of iPad 2. A lot of people dismiss the ram. But it does make a difference.
In the end apple sells iPad 2 over iPad 3 and iPad 4 shows one reason: greed and profit margin. Retina screen is more expensive. Plain and simple.
Why sell iPad 3/4 for $399 when people will still buy iPad 2 at probably similar rate at same $399. They make more money. Plus chain of distribution makes sense with a5 also being used in iPad mini still being sold.
Tests have showed it to be slightly (just a smidge) faster than iPad 2. Yeah they use the similar A5 processor but iPad 3 is quad core graphics to power retina display.
The main issue is playing high power retina games. But day to day activities is perfectly fine. Plus it's retina and much nicer to look at than iPad 2.
iPad 3 also has 1gb of ram over 512mb of iPad 2. A lot of people dismiss the ram. But it does make a difference.
In the end apple sells iPad 2 over iPad 3 and iPad 4 shows one reason: greed and profit margin. Retina screen is more expensive. Plain and simple.
Why sell iPad 3/4 for $399 when people will still buy iPad 2 at probably similar rate at same $399. They make more money. Plus chain of distribution makes sense with a5 also being used in iPad mini still being sold.
True. The iPad 3 with A5X was a stop gap solution so they can release retina before their competitors.
I just find it funny that people don't remember a time where everyone liked the iPad 3. No one said it was underpowered or incapable. Only problem was it would heat up sometimes.
iPad 3 can't run the latest iOS that smoothly compared to iOS 5.1? That's pretty much like the iPad 1 running iOS 5.1 or iPhone 4 running iOS 7.
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No it wasn't.
iPad 1 - released in April 2010
iPad 2 - announced/released in March 2011
iPad 3 - announced/released in March 2012
Spring was the time of the iPad before Apple switched the time to fall.
I know spring is their original release schedule for the iPad. However, I think they kinda rushed and forced things somewhat just so they can release a retina iPad in spring. The iPad 3 didn't really get a new processor. Instead, it just received a necessary GPU, RAM and battery bump in order to support the retina display resolution. I remember comparing the iPad 3 and iPad 2 side by side when I first received it and the iPad 3 wasn't quite as responsive as the iPad 2. Ideally, the iPad 4 should have been the one released after the iPad 2. Alas, it probably wouldn't have been ready in time.
I bought one on launch day and knew full well that it wasn't as fast as the iPad2, since it was pushing four times the pixels but without four times the processing power. Sure enough, some graphical operations would stutter slightly now and then where they never would on the iPad2. I also knew at the time of purchase that it was slightly heavier and thicker than the iPad2 and also discovered that the battery didn't last quite as long, despite Apple's claims.
Do I regret buying it? Not at all. I wanted the retina screen and the sacrifices I made over the iPad2 in order to get it were worth it to me, even those of which I was unaware at time of purchase.
The fact remains however that it was underpowered and was released "early" because that's what the market needed at the time, even though the hardware wasn't quite up to it. That's why Apple replaced it a scant seven months later, with what it should have been to start with.
Apple have done this several times. The original iPhone was a bit of a mess - no 3G, no MMS, no copy/paste. These were features that people took for granted on other phones of the time. The key thing is that Apple (& Jobs) realised that the phone needed to be launched there and then, regardless of whether certain features weren't quite ready. To have waited would have been to miss the boat and allow someone else to potentially steal their thunder.
The original iPad, when we look back at it now, was a massively heavy, clunky design, with the non-flat rear and poor performance. Sure, it was revolutionary, just as the original iPhone was but, looked at objectively and with the benefit of hindsight, it was a premature and compromised device.
I think this is one of the key aspects of Jobs' reign that people maybe don't appreciate. He understood markets and what people wanted and that sometimes you have to release something at a certain time, even if it's not quite ready, then improve and refine it with subsequent releases.