Major sites now picking up on IPads confusing line up

[upritbass]

But your sales person only gave you one choice. How is that messy?

 

[stevemiller]

regardless of confusion to consumers, its frustrating for more savvy consumers who feel like they're going to have to live with an expensive, compromised choice.

all i want is an air 2 type iPad with pencil support... thats 9.7 pro. $300 higher price. (even worse where i am in canada).

oh ok, well its a 'pro' so at least i get all the pro features, right? unless you consider ram a pro feature, then you're still paying a device with constraints similar to the air 2.

don't think ram would constrain functionality? well the air 2 introduced 2gb in iOS and within a year split screen functionality came out and REQUIRED it. iOS 10 is 6 months away. maybe they won't introduce any 4gb-only features, but to be worried they might certainly isn't without precedent.

so i'm left considering a device that carriers a significant price premium but might still lead to functionality restrictions in the near future. truthfully i'm still trying to weight it out in my mind, but to suggest its easy and no big deal... well you must have a lot of disposable income and place little weight on informed decision making.

 

[dk001]

I have a Mini4 LTE and can see no reason to upgrade, get another, etc...
Sadly, this looks like a dull offering.

 

[Night Spring]

To suggest it's confusing would be like saying it's too difficult to buy a Windows laptop, or an Android tablet. Lots of manufacturers, screen sizes, different capabilities and price points.

Yes, buying Windows laptop and Android tablets IS confusing, and many people find it very difficult to pick the one that is right for them.

 

[0928001]

Two of them have same $399 pricetag (Air and Mini)

I didn't even notice this. Other than the obvious portability, why on earth would anyone want to buy a Mini 4 over an Air 2 at the exact same price?

 

[TrueBlou]

I didn't even notice this. Other than the obvious portability, why on earth would anyone want to buy a Mini 4 over an Air 2 at the exact same price?

Well I think as you say it's the portability factor and ease of handling. My wife, being the dainty wee person she is, refuses point blank to own an iPad bigger than the Mini. Regardless of price or performance.

 

[Robisan]

Things would've been simpler and less confusing if they had introduced a refreshed the Air3 (starting at $499/16gb) along with a 9.7"Pro that had comparable specs to the larger one (in particular 4gb ram). Ironically, had they done this they might've been able to start the 9.7"Pro at $649/32gb.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Yes, buying Windows laptop and Android tablets IS confusing, and many people find it very difficult to pick the one that is right for them.

We Americans love a binary decision - "two party system," winner/loser, white hat/black hat, etc. But we don't really live in a binary world.

There are far more Windows laptops and Android tablets to choose from because there is more than one company selling Windows laptops and Android tablets. Each is competing against the other, each product line head-to-head-to-head with similar product lines from the competition (including Apple). Apple positions itself as a single alternative to all those other companies, but that, too, is a form of competition. Apple, as all the rest, must consider consumer interest in particular product configurations, regardless of which manufacturer introduced them, or which OS they happen to run.

Even among OSes, it's not really the binary world painted here. Is there not Linux, Unix, Windows 10 Mobile, Blackberry, Tizen...

Ultimately, what is confusing is our capitalist system, wherein anyone who wishes can open a company and go into competition with the existing companies. They can design their mousetraps and see if the world beats a path to their door. Simplification arises when particular products or companies fail to be profitable (or sufficiently profitable). When there's a lot of money to be made, a lot of people/companies will scramble for their share of it.

While there's room for rule-breakers (echoes of a great old Apple ad campaign), rule-breaking often lends only temporary advantage - yesterday's exception is today's rule. "Somewhat different" is distinctive; "completely different" is often confusing and/or ignored/shunned. One can argue that Mac's current success in PCs is due, in part, to making Macs less different - embracing Intel, PCI, ATA/SATA, USB, etc., while retaining that which makes Mac most distinctive - OS X.

 

[s2mikey]

In my opinion, what makes things so confusing is the fact that Apple continues selling year-old or two year-old products in addition to their new products, which have new names but are similar to the older products. One great example being the iPad mini 2 and the iPad mini 4. Where is the iPad mini 3? I think Apple should drop the numeric naming altogether and just leave it at iPad Pro, iPad, and iPad mini.

I agree. Why didn't they just kill the Air 2? Make one 9.7" tablet and jam it full of all the goodies. Should have just been called the Air 3. Now with pencil support.

They should have bumped up the ram for the standard iPad pro model. 4gb would have really been the bomb.

 

[Mainiac]

...just imagine how much simpler it would've been if they simply called the new Pro the Air3.

Agreed, but then they'd have a hard time justifying the $599 starting price when all the previous base models started at $499.

 

[ZBoater]

Really? This confuses you.

 

[jb1280]

More generally, I honestly think the tech media has become totally disconnected from reality.

Concerning the iPad lineup, it's no more convoluted than the MacBook lineup at its most concise.

MacBooks 2011ish
Did you want the 11" 13" 15" or 17" displays
If you wanted 13", did you want the 13" Pro with the SuperDrive and Ports or the 13" Air, with the slightly higher res display and standard SSD.
On top of that there were separate configs available.

Before that time there were questions of backlit keyboard or not, white or black (with surcharge), etc.

IPads 2016
Do you want 7.9", 9.7", or 12.9"
If you want 9.7", do you want pencil support, smart connector, better camera, and higher quality display, or do you want cheaper option.
On top of that you have different configs available for each size.

There was never a golden age in Apple product matrices, and current iPad lineup makes rational sense.

 

[dumastudetto]

I personally think the line up is a mess. But certainly nobody posting on MR will be very confused by the choices on offer.

 

[gadget123]

Really? This confuses you.

iPad mini 3 missing most stores still selling Air 1.

 

[s15119]

Some people just like something to complain about. Not enough choices - oh my - too many choices - oh my.

I think the choices are good and whatever confusion there is can be easily explained.

it doesn't confuse me or anyone I know.

 

[Ghost31]

I understand the confusion about the specs between the two pro's. That really made me scratch my head. BUT I think where most people get confused is by looking at the ENTIRE line up of iPads including the discounted older ones. They see iPad mini iPad Air 2 iPad Pro iPad Pro and get confused.

It's easier to separate into two catgeories: older discounted and current flagship. Current flagship is just iPad mini and iPad Pro in two sizes. Unless I'm missing something?

 

[Count Blah]

The majority of the public will base their purchasing on two things. The size of screen they want and the price.

The more informed will add the capability of the chipset into the equation.

So it's not really difficult. Pick one of three screen sizes, maybe consider how powerful it is and see what fits into your budget. Decision made.

To suggest it's confusing would be like saying it's too difficult to buy a Windows laptop, or an Android tablet. Lots of manufacturers, screen sizes, different capabilities and price points. Somehow I think people will cope with a few different iPads.

I guess you miss all the "what RAM do I buy, to upgrade my rMBP" threads over on that forum.

Those will soon be matched with "my Apple Pencil doesn't work on the iPad(air 2, mini 4), I just bought" threads.

 

[Ghost31]

Really? This confuses you.

I mean...it's confusing if you can only count to 4 I guess

 

[urkel]

Really? This confuses you.

You can be as condescending as you want. But I'm pretty sure everyone knows that the point is that

This looks like Apple

.... This does not.

 

[sracer]

Odd, but when I evaluate a product I am considering I usually don't worry about whether others are going to be confused or not

you might like to think of yourself as just one of the nameless and faceless of the unwashed masses but you're not. It is the person who asks a blue shirt at Best Buy for purchasing advice who is. And the "confusion" (it is a relative scale, not binary on/off) created by the introduction of the 9.7 Pro assists retailers in being able to up-sell to those people.

 

[Ethosik]

You can be as condescending as you want. But I'm pretty sure everyone knows that the point is that

This looks like Apple

.... This does not.

Um, why is having the same design a bad thing? You fail to mention that above. Your above screen shot is missing a lot. so I can get 4GB of RAM in the iPad Mini then? The iPad Mini supports Pencil? The iPad Mini is the same size screen as the iPad Pro? The iPad Pro and iPad Mini are the same USB? The iPad Pro and iPad Mini have the same processor and performance?

 

[Beerstalker]

This is nothing new at all. Personally I think it is actually less confusing unless you look at the real small details like USB speed and RAM, which 90%+ don't pay attention to.

Last year they had the iPad Mini 2 and iPad Mini 4, just like they do now. Nobody really complained about it then.

Last year they had the iPad Air 1 and the iPad Air 2, which look pretty much identical and to me would be more confusing. Nobody really complained about that either.

Now they have the iPad Pro 9.7" and the iPad Air 2, which actually look somewhat different (more speakers, smart connector on the Pro), but somehow this is more confusing than the iPad Air 1 and iPad Air 2?

As far as having the two different sized iPad Pro's, this isn't exactly something new either. Don't they sell different sized iMacs, Macbooks, etc. Haven't TV manufacturers etc sold different sizes of the same model TV forever (and yes, sometimes different sizes of the same model TV may have different features)?

I'm thinking next spring we may see it simplified a bit. The New iPad Pro in 7.9", 9.7" and 12.9" sizes. The same screen features, pencil support, camera, and USB-3 speeds in all 3. RAM and clocking speed may be different with the larger sizes having more RAM/being clocked faster. They will drop iPad Mini 2 and iPad Air 2, and keep around the iPad Mini 4, and the current iPad Pro 9.7 and 12.9" versions as cheaper alternatives.

Then next fall iPhone 7s in 4", 4.7" and 5.5", all with force touch 2, touch ID 3, etc. Same thing with RAM/clocking increases with screen size. The iPhone SE, 7, 7+ will have a price drop and all older iPhone models will be dropped.

 

[MacDawg]

you might like to think of yourself as just one of the nameless and faceless of the unwashed masses but you're not. It is the person who asks a blue shirt at Best Buy for purchasing advice who is. And the "confusion" (it is a relative scale, not binary on/off) created by the introduction of the 9.7 Pro assists retailers in being able to up-sell to those people.

I don't care if others are confused or not, makes no difference to me whatsoever
I don't know the guy who is at Best Buy asking questions, nor do I care what he buys or doesn't buy
Better still, I don't care if he is confused and buys the wrong thing, is upsold or unsold
Hell, while he is there he can buy an S6 phone thinking it is a 6s for all I care, I won't lose any sleep over it at all

 

[FelicityW]

Apple sales staff are taught not to ask, "What model do you want?" but rather, "What do you want to do?"

They do. They avoid the confusion by asking the person what they will use the device for and go from there.