Let’s face the facts, this years iPad update is meaningless

[bensisko]

I don’t think iOS is the limitation that most people see it as - it’s the developers (including Apple). Developers need to step up their game and develop more featured apps. It’s been proven time and time again that iOS is capable, but the developers are content to make iOS an afterthought (with some exceptions).

As an example, I think Affinity pushed Adobe to create a more feature rich version of Photoshop for the iPad. It’s the developers (again, including Apple) whose attitudes need to change. Apple should push more featured apps for iPad (Final Cut, Logiq) to lead the way.

 

[ericwn]

iOS 11 brought major changes to iPad, new dock, drag and drop, better split screen, files app, etc.

Major changes yes. Major improvements to productivity- not so much. I live and work iPad most of the time these days and it’s been a while since those changes made anything better in my workflow.
And the files app... yuck. Documents copy, at best.

 

[TrueBlou]

Yeah I'm mainly throwing some caution to casual observers who see "iOS 13 will probably bring big changes that will help a lot!" (paraphrasing) and thinking that will be the savior on things that may be big shortcomings for them right now.

With tech - one should almost never buy something that doesn't fulfill all their desires and needs at the time of purchase.

By the time iOS might finally come around for a lot of people, we could be 1 or 2 more iPad hardware revisions down the line - and that's when the new hardware should be bought, unless you have a reason to want new hardware sooner of course.

That's where I'm at on my 9.7" iPP. There's literally nothing of substance a new iPad buyer can do (because of iOS) that's worth anywhere close to the money I'd have to fork over to upgrade.

They are selling shinier and much more expensive shovels...
..but even the brand new shovels can still only dig the same type of mostly shallow holes.

Yes, it's always worth hi-lighting the buyer beware information. It's very easy to get caught up in the excitement of a new toy.

I'm fortunate, I suppose like many of us, in that I own the first generation. So I know exactly what to expect now - same capabilities, just, smaller, lighter and a damn sight more powerful really - well, and a few more bells and whistles.

I know it will meet my needs now and in the future. So any improvements they make in the future is just gravy.

 

[Azathoth123]

I’m picking up my useless gen 3, 12.9” 256GB in about an hour WooHoo!

 

[Dammit Cubs]

Lets face the facts: you don't want the spend the money.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I’m picking up my useless gen 3, 12.9” 256GB in about an hour WooHoo!

lol
Pretty sure nobody said "useless"..

Lets face the facts: you don't want the spend the money.

Same reason I don't have a Tesla, yes..
A Tesla, however, would be a massive upgrade from my Diesel car though at least..

 

[TrueBlou]

I don’t think iOS is the limitation that most people see it as - it’s the developers (including Apple). Developers need to step up their game and develop more featured apps. It’s been proven time and time again that iOS is capable, but the developers are content to make iOS an afterthought (with some exceptions).

As an example, I think Affinity pushed Adobe to create a more feature rich version of Photoshop for the iPad. It’s the developers (again, including Apple) whose attitudes need to change. Apple should push more featured apps for iPad (Final Cut, Logiq) to lead the way.

It's a good point, of course software is always a limiting factor. File system aside, there's absolutely no reason why developers cannot make full blown, feature parity versions of their desktop apps for the iPad. iOS is actually an incredible operating system under the hood. Adobe are proving this with their upcoming Photoshop app, which will be exactly the same as the desktop app, aside from the UI.

I've also found apps like Graphic, for instance, to be excellent alternatives to desktop apps. Graphic is rather feature filled, gets the job done well and the gravy on top, it's compatible with Illustrator.

So yes, aside from Apple making some interface and file system changes, it's down to the software developers.

 

[Azathoth123]

You’re right @turbineseaplane ! Meaningless lol.

 

[turbineseaplane]

there's absolutely no reason why developers cannot make full blown, feature parity versions of their desktop apps for the iPad.

There's one main reason..
Install base and addressable market size.

The one huge thing Apple doesn't talk about when touting all the iPads out there is how few of them are used for much besides basic content consumption.

It's a chicken and the egg thing with software, but I don't blame developers for not sinking thousands of hours and dollars into something that might not be even remotely worth the time/money payoff.

 

[Dammit Cubs]

lol
Pretty sure nobody said "useless"..




Same reason I don't have a Tesla, yes..
A Tesla, however, would be a massive upgrade from my Diesel car though at least..

I want a tesla......

 

[DNichter]

Major changes yes. Major improvements to productivity- not so much. I live and work iPad most of the time these days and it’s been a while since those changes made anything better in my workflow.
And the files app... yuck. Documents copy, at best.

Well I guess that depends on the person/tasks needed to accomplish. For me, they were nice changes to productivity. I use my iPad exclusively for work and I am very happy with iOS as is.

 

[bensisko]

There's one main reason..
Install base and addressable market size.

The one huge thing Apple doesn't talk about when touting all the iPads out there is how few of them are used for much besides basic content consumption.

It's a chicken and the egg thing with software, but I don't blame developers for not sinking thousands of hours and dollars into something that might not be even remotely worth the time/money payoff.

That’s the same excuse people used with Mac OS and Windows decades ago and I just don’t buy it, especially as a broad paintbrush. For some audiences, I might agree, but for other areas it certainly is on the developers - users are there and developers are just not taking advantage of it.

Again, still not a fault of the OS itself, but with the developer market.

 

[TrueBlou]

There's one main reason..
Install base and addressable market size.

The one huge thing Apple doesn't talk about when touting all the iPads out there is how few of them are used for much besides basic content consumption.

It's a chicken and the egg thing with software, but I don't blame developers for not sinking thousands of hours and dollars into something that might not be even remotely worth the time/money payoff.

Of course, but that's always the case with new operating systems - to begin with.

What we need are some developers to take the chance and show there's a market out there. I think Adobe bringing Photoshop (proper) to the iPad is a good thing. If it goes well it could be the catalyst we need for others to jump on board.

 

[turbineseaplane]

users are there and developers are just not taking advantage of it.

You think there's a large untapped market of ready to pay users that developers are just ignoring?
Why would they do that?

It's pretty easy to say "build it and they will come!" (hopefully) when you're talking about someone else taking the time and financial risk to "find out".

The iPad line is not new and very little has been added hardware wise in the last few years that would change the developer proposition story. I guess the great hope is around new ideas with the pencils, but even that interaction is not new and mostly unchanged since launch also.

What's recently changed that makes you think (or hope) Developers will come rushing in now?
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What we need are some developers to take the chance and show there's a market out there.

Easy to ask someone else to do that with their time and money with very little evidence there's a gold mine waiting for them, wouldn't you say?

Let's see how it goes with Adobe's PS effort - still unclear how great or not that will be with all new interaction methods. It demo's well, but that's very different that professional workflows and systems with ingrained habits and methods.

 

[Dammit Cubs]

I have been looking for a optimized full screen ipad for 3 years and while my ipad pro 12.9 has served me so well, i'm planning on giving that away and getting the new one. I don't think the upgrade is useless but for people who have last years model, i don't see a reason to upgrade.

 

[turbineseaplane]

What we need

What we really need is the handcuffs to come off iOS and the iPad to get a much more specific software vision for it in particular (vs iPhone). It's way past time to go beyond where iOS is on the iPad.

 

[TrueBlou]

Easy to ask someone else to do that with their time and money with very little evidence there's a gold mine waiting for them, wouldn't you say?

Let's see how it goes with Adobe's PS effort - still unclear how great or not that will be with all new interaction methods. It demo's well, but that's very different that professional workflows and systems with ingrained habits and methods.

Well, yes and no. I am a developer, if I had an idea for an app specifically geared towards pro users on iPad. I'd quite happily spend the time and money making it. Because I'm reasonably certain there's a small but growing market out there.

That of course depends on the market you are aiming at. There are already some excellent, feature rich, powerful art packages out there on iPad, used by pro users - some of their work is incredible. Just for instance.

Aside from being a software developer, I'm also a journalist. now I may not consider that as something which requires "pro" level software. But it does involve a few different processes which require different software. I can achieve all of those on my iPad Pro - well, I could had I remembered to order a keyboard

 

[turbineseaplane]

@TrueBlou

All that's great!
I guess the question remains then....

So what's holding things back in your view?

(something beyond "developers need to take a chance" - that's been a narrative for years - why aren't they is the interesting question...)

 

[TrueBlou]

What we really need is the handcuffs to come off iOS and the iPad to get a much more specific software vision for it in particular (vs iPhone). It's way past time to go beyond where iOS is on the iPad.

Of course we do, that's what some of us have already been saying. One can only hope Apple sees that now, the markets they want iPad Pro to appeal to - beyond normal users, require more. Hopefully thats exactly what we'll get from future iOS versions.
We already know there's a major interface overhaul in the works for next year. Who knows what else will come with that.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Of course we do, that's what some of us have already been saying. One can only hope Apple sees that now, the markets they want iPad Pro to appeal to - beyond normal users, require more. Hopefully thats exactly what we'll get from future iOS versions.
We already know there's a major interface overhaul in the works for next year. Who knows what else will come with that.

Remember we are in the thread talking about how this years iPad hardware update is mostly meaningless.

On the spectrum of "I can now finally do X whereas with an older iPad I couldn't do X and/or not as well as now"..
The OP narrative is correct. This is a very minor update hardware wise in terms of capabilities.

It appears to be a great hardware update, but with nothing new that can be done software wise right now and the increasing prices -- it's a very very hard sell if you already have a reasonably recent iPad.

Sorry - just circling back to the topic we are in as I got off track myself in here..

 

[Raist3001]

What we need are some developers to take the chance and show there's a market out there

Totally agree. However, in my opinion, apple is the developer who should have been leading here. They are positioning the iPad Pro as a laptop replacement but are not offering any desktop class software for the iPad Pro.

 

[Johnny Steps]

It is quite an interesting direction Apple seems to be taking with their recent choices. No extra tip included, the same 5W adapter with iPhones, no lightning-to-aux adapter, and price increases on their products. Why couldn’t they have made a 128GB iPad Pro the base line for these new iPads? They’ve had the configuration before and yet they continue to offer 64GB.

The new iPads are beautiful. I love their new designs and the new Pencil 2 is a nice step up. However, I do not think they are worth the price considering the limitations still present. If you can afford it or be in debt for a while through financing, more power to you! I feel they will be an enjoyable product to use, but I do hope Apple can consider the consumer’s needs more than just focusing on meeting the shareholder’s demands.

 

[Dammit Cubs]

also i love the fact that I will be carrying around a 10000mah powerbank all the time!...a 1200 dollar 10000mah powerbank

 

[turbineseaplane]

but I do hope Apple can consider the consumer’s needs more than just focusing on meeting the shareholder’s demands.

Me too, but I'm not holding my breath under the Bean Counter Tim regime..
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No extra tip included

No extra pencil tip included anymore?
My god that is offensively stingy..

 

[TrueBlou]

@TrueBlou

All that's great!
I guess the question remains then....

So what's holding things back in your view?

(please say something beyond "developers need to take a chance" - that's been a narrative for years - why aren't they is the key question...)

@turbineseaplane

In my view we need Apple to lead by example. They need to make changes - drastic ones for iOS on iPad Pro.

We need at least a unified file storage location to replace the current sandbox type. We need the ability to connect more devices to that nice new USB-C port - USB file access would be a good start.

We need Apple to put software aimed at professionals onto iPad Pro, to prove it can "replace a laptop". Apps such as Xcode and Final Cut Pro would be a good start. They could even overhaul their office suite.

Apple needs to prove first and foremost that there is a "pro" market out there, willing to use the iPad Pro as their secondary, or in some cases perhaps only computing platform.

If Apple can prove the market is there, developers will follow. We're not a bunch who like to miss out on an opportunity to make money.

And that's just the start, I could probably write a dossier on what I believe would be good for iOS. But it would bore everyone to death and it wouldn't have much of a point here on a forum.