Storage - they used to swap out the bottom storage option, bump it up at the same price. Why is 128gb extra? Surely 32/64/128 should have been brought in at the same price points.
This could happen at some point, but I doubt it will this year. Maybe next year.
Speakers - the speakers are decent, but even the Amazon Fire has vastly superior sound. It would be tough, but innovate. Simple things like watching the iPad in landscape (i.e. all the time) mean the speakers are facing one direction.
This could be improved. Just adding stereo would help a lot, but this is not high on my list.
Battery life - there needs to be a genuine innovation with battery life, that's a criticism levelled at pretty much everyone, not just Apple. However it comes - solar, kinetic, a flippin fuel cell! - it needs to happen. This would be revolutionary.
True, but as far as mobile devices go the iPad is the one I worry about least. My phone has to be charged every day along with my laptop...iPad lasts me every few days.
Split screen/Multitasking - yes, this is venturing into iOS turf. But it is a bit ridiculous that we can't respond to a tweet/iMessage whilst watching a film. But yep, I recognise that is an iOS issue.
Yes this is software..but I don't understand your example...for me I would rather pause and switch apps because the response interface would take up 2/3 of the screen in landscape (On screen keyboard + chat interface) I don't think it is really practical on a 9.7" screen. I guess you could shrink the video window...but that would be highly app dependent and require a ton of changes to the OS - But at some point large changes will be necessary.
Storage (Part 2) - why no external storage options?
Not really Apple's style. Other competitors (Google, Amazon) are going the same route. Not that it is the best for consumers though.
Bulletproofing - Make it dust & waterproof (a la Sony Experia Z). This is actually really huge, as so many people use it in the kitchen daily (I come home to mine having flour all over it). Imagine reading in the bath without fear!
This would be great...improved durability would mean people could use iPad's in more situations that would otherwise be risky (for the tablet.) Even just waterproofing would be great to protect it in the kitchen like you said.
Processor/RAM - I actually don't think this is much of an issue. It's pretty great.
Agreed, but more RAM/Processor speed means larger software possibilities.
Screen - Looks like it will be a revolution in terms of thinness, for sure. How about density/durability?
I think screen density is fine on the Retina iPad...as a developer, I really don't want to create ultra-high-res art assets again.
Price - The iPad is going to face increasing competition, not just technologically, but price wise. They won't drop the price, but if they did, the iPad would rule like the iPod does (i.e for the next decade). Apple has the market share right now, but needs to learn from the iPhone debacle it is currently facing.
I could see a $50 drop at some point, but I think increasing storage at the current price point is more likely.
Google and Amazon are now providing rival tablets for far less (and then imagine 2 years from now). If they can do what the iPad does and more - the Mini was a purely reactive move by Apple - then Apple needs to justify the high price.
Thoughts?
To be honest the Kindle Fire is not much of a threat at this point in any area other than price (I just bought one for development a few days ago.) The OS is more restrictive than iOS and the app store is weaker, especially for a tablet. Many can use the iPad as a PC replacement, the Fire is no where near ready for that - it is primarily designed as a content consumption device.
The Nexus 10 is a bigger threat...but still suffers in tablet optimized apps. It also is just to close to the iPad in price point. Windows 8 could be a threat as well, but WinRT tablets just don't cut it in terms of software and full Win 8 tablets are too heavy and too expensive.
So overall I'd say Apple has around a year to rest on their laurels before a competitor makes a big play. But they should make improvements now to stay on top.
