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What's Next for Apple in 2014: iWatch, Larger iPhone 6, 12.9-inch iPad Pro
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Great, so now OSX will look like android too.
If Apple ruins OS X by further emulating iOS7, it will be the end of the line for Apple products in our office.
Really sad to see them having set the standard for & continually worked toward sensible & efficient GUI design all those years, only to just chuck it all out and do the opposite as soon as Jobs is gone.
If Apple ruins OS X by further emulating iOS7, it will be the end of the line for Apple products in our office.
Really sad to see them having set the standard for & continually worked toward sensible & efficient GUI design all those years, only to just chuck it all out and do the opposite as soon as Jobs is gone.
I Might Ditch My Current Phone.. but probably not.
If Apple makes a bigger screen that's less rectangular-sized, less reflective, and increases their color gamut up from the paltry 63% that it current has I may consider ditching my current phone and going back to iOS. Having a curved screen would probably be the icing for me as I can do without seeing all the available colors in the spectrum on my phone (I had an iPhone for 6 years after all) if the screen was cool and curved... Looking forward to the iPhone6.. but I suspect other phones that are currently more advanced than the iPhone will continue to develop and outpace Apple in the smartphone category. We'll see.
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If you're going to pay $500 for a watch, your date would rather it be a Movado.
If Apple makes a bigger screen that's less rectangular-sized, less reflective, and increases their color gamut up from the paltry 63% that it current has I may consider ditching my current phone and going back to iOS. Having a curved screen would probably be the icing for me as I can do without seeing all the available colors in the spectrum on my phone (I had an iPhone for 6 years after all) if the screen was cool and curved... Looking forward to the iPhone6.. but I suspect other phones that are currently more advanced than the iPhone will continue to develop and outpace Apple in the smartphone category. We'll see.
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If you're going to pay $500 for a watch, your date would rather it be a Movado.
I can kinda agree with you about the reflectiveness, but all the current iDevices save for the retina iPad Mini cover at least 95% of the sRGB spectrum.
Well, actually iOS7 is very smart in that sense. Heavy use of layering and translucency lets the user set the mood with the wallpaper. I think it really shows that the design thought of SW and HW, just like Apple intended with switching Jony Ive to head both functions.
Unfortunately the icons aren't as smart.
I would like to see an iPhone with a larger display if it had an edge-to-edge screen. I love the one-handed usability Apple provides. This is one of the things that kept me away from the competition.
What actually bothers me is the future of OS X. In the last 30 years, its design didn't change dramatically, but I rarely heard anyone saying that it looks stale. So I hope Jony and his crew will stay away from it. On the other hand, I don't think they will let it stay this way. They may want to make their operating systems look alike.
Well, who knows... WWDC is only 5 months away.
What actually bothers me is the future of OS X. In the last 30 years, its design didn't change dramatically, but I rarely heard anyone saying that it looks stale. So I hope Jony and his crew will stay away from it. On the other hand, I don't think they will let it stay this way. They may want to make their operating systems look alike.
Well, who knows... WWDC is only 5 months away.
Put Mac OS in the iPad and I'm in.
Also, do you really think they will go to 10.10?? 10.1 already existed. The logical progression from 10.9 is 11...which is a great excuse to finally implement a full design change again.
Also, do you really think they will go to 10.10?? 10.1 already existed. The logical progression from 10.9 is 11...which is a great excuse to finally implement a full design change again.
Apple touch screen, OS look and feel 2014
the touch screen
Steve Jobs, after extensive research, concluded that working with a vertical touch screen, wouldn't work, as one's hands and arms would get so tired that they would feel like dropping off; thus the iPad made total sense. I understood that as well as the idea about no USB bus on an iPad. Nonetheless, as soon as I bought my iPad2, I also picked up a Kensington leather case that also had a bluetooth alpha numeric keypad attached. I didn't know I wanted that keyboard, but there it was; and I loved it!!! Although I use to bring my MacBookPro to work; I have brought my iPad with alphanumeric keyboard in a leather case instead and for many years now. It's been incredible: light, touch screen, keyboard: used it just like my MacBookPro, except, no USB and no folder oriented desktop system.
I basically have had what is now being marketed as a "Slate".
And since Apple is far superior, I would love to see them add a touch screen to the MacBook Air. Then I'd have USB and Touch Screen like I have now.
I believe Steve J. might even agree that using a touch screen in this way, would provide a variable way to access and change information: not as the only way, but an alternate way. It would be used as desired as another way to access one's input. It feels magical; and "a sense of magic" was an important facet of what Steve looked for.
OS look and feel
I have gone along with the new look and feel of the newer OS (what choice did I have?). I believe though that many of us still miss the original Apple icon look and feel. It's like the old TekServe store in Manhattan: you stepped out of the elevator and the familiar boot up tone sounded off. It was great, so too the warmth and charm of that store. They moved some years back. What was cool about it: Even though they modernized their facility, (and although no more elevator for us) they still kept the warmth and charm of that Apple "feel". The new TekServe still had old wooden floors, a stack of original Macs, old timey radios on display, a dime Coca Cola machine: a folk oriented country store: Apple.
I get that designers want to keep traveling the road of establishing trend with new looks, new feels. Johnny Appleseed sowed lots of apples. And I do enjoy the new Honey-Crisp apple hybrids. But I wish Apple would make it so that I have a choice in the look and feel of my Apple products. I loved the way the calendar used to look and feel. I identified with it's folkiness, with Apple's revolutionary feel, it's way of being the computer of the people, the "not-a-business-computer"; it was me. And I love that MacIntosh apples still make the best apple pies.
I get that the new look is simpler and so on, but this company's success was founded on a look and feel that is being left behind. At least keep the "home-grown" feel as an option for those of us who have come to know and love all things Apple.
hopeful
I remain hopeful that Apple will keep in touch with what people want. Part of Steve's charm is he gave us what we didn't even know we wanted. But Steve is now on another plain. And everyone out there is trying to re-invent his wheel in one way or another. So I hope Apple "stays hungry" and strives to excel the magic of how Apple products do what they do, and I hope Apple "stays foolish" (not conservative) and embraces what it's faithful want. (well okay speaking for myself and anyone else who agrees) please give us either a touch screen on the MacBook Air (it has USB) or An iPad with USB and help 3rd party developers design better packaging for the bluetooth keyboards.
Thanks for listening. =^)
the touch screen
Steve Jobs, after extensive research, concluded that working with a vertical touch screen, wouldn't work, as one's hands and arms would get so tired that they would feel like dropping off; thus the iPad made total sense. I understood that as well as the idea about no USB bus on an iPad. Nonetheless, as soon as I bought my iPad2, I also picked up a Kensington leather case that also had a bluetooth alpha numeric keypad attached. I didn't know I wanted that keyboard, but there it was; and I loved it!!! Although I use to bring my MacBookPro to work; I have brought my iPad with alphanumeric keyboard in a leather case instead and for many years now. It's been incredible: light, touch screen, keyboard: used it just like my MacBookPro, except, no USB and no folder oriented desktop system.
I basically have had what is now being marketed as a "Slate".
And since Apple is far superior, I would love to see them add a touch screen to the MacBook Air. Then I'd have USB and Touch Screen like I have now.
I believe Steve J. might even agree that using a touch screen in this way, would provide a variable way to access and change information: not as the only way, but an alternate way. It would be used as desired as another way to access one's input. It feels magical; and "a sense of magic" was an important facet of what Steve looked for.
OS look and feel
I have gone along with the new look and feel of the newer OS (what choice did I have?). I believe though that many of us still miss the original Apple icon look and feel. It's like the old TekServe store in Manhattan: you stepped out of the elevator and the familiar boot up tone sounded off. It was great, so too the warmth and charm of that store. They moved some years back. What was cool about it: Even though they modernized their facility, (and although no more elevator for us) they still kept the warmth and charm of that Apple "feel". The new TekServe still had old wooden floors, a stack of original Macs, old timey radios on display, a dime Coca Cola machine: a folk oriented country store: Apple.
I get that designers want to keep traveling the road of establishing trend with new looks, new feels. Johnny Appleseed sowed lots of apples. And I do enjoy the new Honey-Crisp apple hybrids. But I wish Apple would make it so that I have a choice in the look and feel of my Apple products. I loved the way the calendar used to look and feel. I identified with it's folkiness, with Apple's revolutionary feel, it's way of being the computer of the people, the "not-a-business-computer"; it was me. And I love that MacIntosh apples still make the best apple pies.
I get that the new look is simpler and so on, but this company's success was founded on a look and feel that is being left behind. At least keep the "home-grown" feel as an option for those of us who have come to know and love all things Apple.
hopeful
I remain hopeful that Apple will keep in touch with what people want. Part of Steve's charm is he gave us what we didn't even know we wanted. But Steve is now on another plain. And everyone out there is trying to re-invent his wheel in one way or another. So I hope Apple "stays hungry" and strives to excel the magic of how Apple products do what they do, and I hope Apple "stays foolish" (not conservative) and embraces what it's faithful want. (well okay speaking for myself and anyone else who agrees) please give us either a touch screen on the MacBook Air (it has USB) or An iPad with USB and help 3rd party developers design better packaging for the bluetooth keyboards.
Thanks for listening. =^)
I agree. One if the biggest problems I had with my iPad was iOS and how at times I needed to do simple things and couldn't. Better to just make a Mac OSX that is touch friendly and not limited. Or an iPad Pro that can run iOS while up and about and dock to run OSX.
I do prefer Windows 8.1s way of doing this though. Where you can run both Metro app and have a desktop computer at the same time on the same or two different displays.
I wonder if we might see some consolidation of product lines this year actually.
For example, if the iWatch's strap were optional with it including a clip as well, then it could potentially replace the iPod Nano and Shuffle as a small touch-screen for music playing. With support for wired and Bluetooth earphones it should suit a variety of uses either as a standalone iPod device, or as a companion for an iPhone/iPad. Basically needs three models; a really low memory one for accessory use only, and then maybe an 8gb and 16gb model for functioning as a standalone device if you want it to. I'd also expect the iPod Classic to be discontinued in favour of higher capacity iPod Touch options (or even just to prune the lineup).
Likewise, if the Mac Mini is redesigned to be much smaller than it will be competing on size with the Apple TV. At this point the Apple TV will either need to go even smaller, or Apple could discontinue it as-is, but provide Apple TV functionality as a feature of the Mac Mini instead, now that Front Row has disappeared. This could function either as an alternative to OS X when booting, or more simply as a fullscreen app that can be set to run on startup, either way providing simplified access to any iTunes content and music, movie and app stores, maybe other shared local content as well. Of course the pricing would be the tricky bit, but if they offered a really stripped Mac Mini configuration aimed almost purely at Apple TV functionality and light home desktop use then it could be an option. In fact it could still be an option even if Apple do start providing an Apple TV enabled screen. I mean I'd love to see a dumb-terminal type Mac Mini for home/office/school use anyway, as enough space for OS X and some cache should be just fine for network account use.
I'm looking forward to see what the LED screen update is like; personally I'm unimpressed with curved screens for TVs, but for monitors, where the viewing distance is more standard, a gently curved screen could actually be perfect, with the right resolution of course. I'm also interested to see if Apple will produce a new "Pro" keyboard to tie in with the new Mac Pro; it seemed like a missed opportunity not to do it alongside the new Mac Pros, but a dark-coloured full-sized keyboard, both wired and wireless, would go very nicely. Especially so if it came with a bundled magic trackpad, or even integrated somehow, and a new dark coloured magic mouse.
For example, if the iWatch's strap were optional with it including a clip as well, then it could potentially replace the iPod Nano and Shuffle as a small touch-screen for music playing. With support for wired and Bluetooth earphones it should suit a variety of uses either as a standalone iPod device, or as a companion for an iPhone/iPad. Basically needs three models; a really low memory one for accessory use only, and then maybe an 8gb and 16gb model for functioning as a standalone device if you want it to. I'd also expect the iPod Classic to be discontinued in favour of higher capacity iPod Touch options (or even just to prune the lineup).
Likewise, if the Mac Mini is redesigned to be much smaller than it will be competing on size with the Apple TV. At this point the Apple TV will either need to go even smaller, or Apple could discontinue it as-is, but provide Apple TV functionality as a feature of the Mac Mini instead, now that Front Row has disappeared. This could function either as an alternative to OS X when booting, or more simply as a fullscreen app that can be set to run on startup, either way providing simplified access to any iTunes content and music, movie and app stores, maybe other shared local content as well. Of course the pricing would be the tricky bit, but if they offered a really stripped Mac Mini configuration aimed almost purely at Apple TV functionality and light home desktop use then it could be an option. In fact it could still be an option even if Apple do start providing an Apple TV enabled screen. I mean I'd love to see a dumb-terminal type Mac Mini for home/office/school use anyway, as enough space for OS X and some cache should be just fine for network account use.
I'm looking forward to see what the LED screen update is like; personally I'm unimpressed with curved screens for TVs, but for monitors, where the viewing distance is more standard, a gently curved screen could actually be perfect, with the right resolution of course. I'm also interested to see if Apple will produce a new "Pro" keyboard to tie in with the new Mac Pro; it seemed like a missed opportunity not to do it alongside the new Mac Pros, but a dark-coloured full-sized keyboard, both wired and wireless, would go very nicely. Especially so if it came with a bundled magic trackpad, or even integrated somehow, and a new dark coloured magic mouse.
Keep it coming apple
THE YEARS TO COME WITH APPLE IS SURELY AN HONOR TO EXPERIENCE. I HAVE BEEN AMAZED HOW MY IPHONE, PERIOD, HAS MADE MY JOB EASIER. HAVING ACCESS TO INFORMATION WITHOUT POOR BATTERY LIFE OR INFERIOR HARDWARE HAS ENABLED ME TO TRIUMPH IN SEVERAL GOALS AND TASKS. THE PRODUCTS TO COME WILL SURELY EXCITE THE WORLD SINCE APPLE HAS EARNED INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION ALREADY. NOW WITH CHINA JOINING IN ON THE ACTION THIS FRIDAY WILL BRING MORE AND MORE THINGS TO US ALL.
THESE ARE THE THINGS I WANT TO SEE IN THE NEAR FUTURE:
IMPROVED SIRI. I want to be able to say a command without touching the home button. I want to say "hello siri" then vuala!! I can ask it to fire up an App or whatever.
APPLE'S SMART WATCH. I want sexy as hell. I think with notification having a clean notification banner is enough to be sold. If I can choose an array of fonts to show my time in analog or digital form I'm sold. If I can answer a call with a quick text using voice command, so, Hey I can't talk Im driving. Then Siri sends it all with a simple tap on screen. Im sold. Anything so I won't stick my phone out when driving at all for little things.
NEXT-GEN APPLE WIRELESS KEYBOARD AND WIRELESS TRACKPAD. Apple needs to get ideas from Logitech. Apple needs to rollout backlit keys. Apple keyboard suffers from liquid spills accidents. builtin lithium battery missing. a change in form factor smoothing the edges will be nice. The dude at apple in charge of design can surely bring us something more rugged and great especially if we pack this thing alongside our iPad. Then there's the trackpad. It just needs lithium battery pack. Maybe not. Its probably plauteaued as a great product already. lol.
IMAC WITH RETINA DISPLAY. Sure throw in the 4K on it. Thunderbolt 2. Bluetooth 5.0. Builtin PCI-E FLASH-BASED STORAGE. Then make it skinnier. Make it slightly more edge to edge display. Matte screen option. new look would be nice.
APPLE TV. It can be in a svelte aluminum design. It needs more RAM. improved bluetooth 5.0. wireless ac. iOS 8.0. Also the A8 quad-core cpu. Great heat dissipation. If they bring a TV great. But Roku needs to get a lesson with Apples sexy touch to design. So roll this out. I can't wait.
OSX GOLDEN GATE 10.9 (LOL). Maybe it will be this year's California theme. Idk. Maybe the bridge has something to do with performance given that a large bridge acts a medium for high throughput traffic. A big bump in processing efficiency in OSX. That would be nice. Bring it. Mavericks is nice. Notification needs nice boost.
IOS FOR CAR. wow I can't wait to use my iPad or iPhone in FOR CAR mode. there so much room for innovation. I mean how come I cannot see my car's health in realtime. I know the 2014 AUDI and BENZ can now link to smart watch and iPhone and android to show this. Yet Apple isn't no where. There's a few company who already pull diagnostic data onto devices. Having the patents necessary to revolutionize the need to keep tabs on our car's health will surely make us efficient when to spend on car repairs. I can't wait when this innovation make a presence.
BLUETOOTH APPLE EARPODS. with jaw-dropping sound quality from wired EarPods...where are the wireless headphones or earbuds. I know jaybird has made 3 versions already. i don't want anymore rubbery cable EarPods and prior earphone cables. they tangle easily. definitely bluetooth 4.0 for low energy performance or 5.0. idk. But please bring them. a senheiseer sports look would be nice. that way we can truly cut the cord.
IPHONE 6. i am truly excited here. I know Apple fails to have another chess move against us from having what we wanted all along. a large Retina display screen option iPhone. YESS!! I want to see a svelte aluminum design that is of course ergonomically pleasing to hold as well as lightweight. Bring on the OLED IZGO tech. Why not make the entire screen from sapphire glass so we can truly enjoy our jewel iPhone than putting nasty screen protectors so we can put Android users to drool over. I want a 6" screen pretty please!!! Make it wide screen like the current iPhone 5s but as long as it gets the large screen bump in size. The new A8 cpu must have official quad-core cpu with 4gb ram to truly power the 64-bit architecture. And keep the same battery life. I don't care. I take that back. We do need battery improvement. Well get it out of a fatter case design. Make our iPhone 6 fat as long as we get the svelte alum design and hardware needs.
Keep it coming Apple!!!!
THE YEARS TO COME WITH APPLE IS SURELY AN HONOR TO EXPERIENCE. I HAVE BEEN AMAZED HOW MY IPHONE, PERIOD, HAS MADE MY JOB EASIER. HAVING ACCESS TO INFORMATION WITHOUT POOR BATTERY LIFE OR INFERIOR HARDWARE HAS ENABLED ME TO TRIUMPH IN SEVERAL GOALS AND TASKS. THE PRODUCTS TO COME WILL SURELY EXCITE THE WORLD SINCE APPLE HAS EARNED INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION ALREADY. NOW WITH CHINA JOINING IN ON THE ACTION THIS FRIDAY WILL BRING MORE AND MORE THINGS TO US ALL.
THESE ARE THE THINGS I WANT TO SEE IN THE NEAR FUTURE:
IMPROVED SIRI. I want to be able to say a command without touching the home button. I want to say "hello siri" then vuala!! I can ask it to fire up an App or whatever.
APPLE'S SMART WATCH. I want sexy as hell. I think with notification having a clean notification banner is enough to be sold. If I can choose an array of fonts to show my time in analog or digital form I'm sold. If I can answer a call with a quick text using voice command, so, Hey I can't talk Im driving. Then Siri sends it all with a simple tap on screen. Im sold. Anything so I won't stick my phone out when driving at all for little things.
NEXT-GEN APPLE WIRELESS KEYBOARD AND WIRELESS TRACKPAD. Apple needs to get ideas from Logitech. Apple needs to rollout backlit keys. Apple keyboard suffers from liquid spills accidents. builtin lithium battery missing. a change in form factor smoothing the edges will be nice. The dude at apple in charge of design can surely bring us something more rugged and great especially if we pack this thing alongside our iPad. Then there's the trackpad. It just needs lithium battery pack. Maybe not. Its probably plauteaued as a great product already. lol.
IMAC WITH RETINA DISPLAY. Sure throw in the 4K on it. Thunderbolt 2. Bluetooth 5.0. Builtin PCI-E FLASH-BASED STORAGE. Then make it skinnier. Make it slightly more edge to edge display. Matte screen option. new look would be nice.
APPLE TV. It can be in a svelte aluminum design. It needs more RAM. improved bluetooth 5.0. wireless ac. iOS 8.0. Also the A8 quad-core cpu. Great heat dissipation. If they bring a TV great. But Roku needs to get a lesson with Apples sexy touch to design. So roll this out. I can't wait.
OSX GOLDEN GATE 10.9 (LOL). Maybe it will be this year's California theme. Idk. Maybe the bridge has something to do with performance given that a large bridge acts a medium for high throughput traffic. A big bump in processing efficiency in OSX. That would be nice. Bring it. Mavericks is nice. Notification needs nice boost.
IOS FOR CAR. wow I can't wait to use my iPad or iPhone in FOR CAR mode. there so much room for innovation. I mean how come I cannot see my car's health in realtime. I know the 2014 AUDI and BENZ can now link to smart watch and iPhone and android to show this. Yet Apple isn't no where. There's a few company who already pull diagnostic data onto devices. Having the patents necessary to revolutionize the need to keep tabs on our car's health will surely make us efficient when to spend on car repairs. I can't wait when this innovation make a presence.
BLUETOOTH APPLE EARPODS. with jaw-dropping sound quality from wired EarPods...where are the wireless headphones or earbuds. I know jaybird has made 3 versions already. i don't want anymore rubbery cable EarPods and prior earphone cables. they tangle easily. definitely bluetooth 4.0 for low energy performance or 5.0. idk. But please bring them. a senheiseer sports look would be nice. that way we can truly cut the cord.
IPHONE 6. i am truly excited here. I know Apple fails to have another chess move against us from having what we wanted all along. a large Retina display screen option iPhone. YESS!! I want to see a svelte aluminum design that is of course ergonomically pleasing to hold as well as lightweight. Bring on the OLED IZGO tech. Why not make the entire screen from sapphire glass so we can truly enjoy our jewel iPhone than putting nasty screen protectors so we can put Android users to drool over. I want a 6" screen pretty please!!! Make it wide screen like the current iPhone 5s but as long as it gets the large screen bump in size. The new A8 cpu must have official quad-core cpu with 4gb ram to truly power the 64-bit architecture. And keep the same battery life. I don't care. I take that back. We do need battery improvement. Well get it out of a fatter case design. Make our iPhone 6 fat as long as we get the svelte alum design and hardware needs.
Keep it coming Apple!!!!
Productivity is a fairly ripe market to enter, but your type of user base is not really very large in my opinion..Having said that, if Apple could manage to merge the boundaries of such an Ipad Pro with things like a Mac book Air and push innovative new features that cater to other categories then i see such a device being able to rack up large volumes in business. I still think that apple would like to start off with the IOS and add features rather than work backwards from OSX simply due to them investing more in IOS and getting rewards for that through the iphone and ipad lines.. What would such a device bring for EDUCATION? for ENTERTAINEMENT? For MULTIMEDIA? etc etc .. these are the sort of things apple would need to figure out..A productivity only device is all well and good but i do not feel apple can rake up the sort of sales they want with just that distinguishing feature..I don't think apple will think twice about killing its mac book air line with this IPAD PRO device we speak of (I am not sure whether such a device would get the IPAD label)..but i think apple may perhaps look to do something here that distinguishes it from the ipad air expereince in the lower price point and the mac book air in the upper..
A 12 inch IPAD is totally useless (Just bigger screen, bigger battery)..Having the ability to split screen and do 3 or 4 apps at once is still something that to me does not warrant new hardware..(Put that feature onto Ipad Airs with IOS8 and up the RAM to support that crazy stuff in A8 chipsets)..There has to be something that distinguishes the 12 inch device from the Ipad air and its future varients (upgrades)....I think apple will look at a touchscreen mac Book Air but using newer features to tap into niche markets..Perhaps look to introduce Prime sence technology into this device? Newer OS which is IOS8 on steroid? Who knows..
What I meant was that a 12 inch Ipad that is a simple scaled up version of the current Ipad is going to see little success and definitly not the type of success the Ipad Mini saw at its launch. In my opinion the IOS tab family is rather complete with the Mini and the Air and a phablet will serve to further reinforce that family..If apple wants to see product sales more befitting of a new category then in my opinion this product (a 12 inch touch device) should look to replace the mac book air line, or at least to complement it at a lower price point while offering similar capability (but a different expereince). It may well end up killing the mac book air, but then the tablet is killing the Laptop anyhow so that should not come as a big surprise.
Have to agree here. the 128GB versions of the iPad Air and iPad Mini lag behind 16GB and 32GB models. I can't imagine any market for a 12" tablet. sony VAIO had a 20 something inch tablet that was quickly discontinued...
I can, easily. But first Apple needs to sort out the mess that is iOS on tablets, especially tablets that big.
"Look, here's my app folder on this huge, crisp 12" screen. It can fit nine static app icons. Amazing!"
I see what you are saying, but what I think is going to happen is that Apple will make the software of the iPad Pro different enough that the fanboys will need both the Air and a Pro version to go along with their iPhone. IOS 8 Pro perhaps?
Well fanboys and apple geeks will buy the device if they like it even if they really don't need it..I bought a Mac Book pro even though a Mac book air would have been fine for my usage outside of work..I know a freind who purchased apple mobile product including every ipad every made (did he need to replace his ipad every year?)..I only really use an ipad (mini) while traveling but my wife loves her ipad air and has not touched her Windows Laptop since she bought it...If rumours are to be beleive then this device would be marketed towards EDUCATION and this is where i feel it is going to bea mac book air replacement that is a few hundred dollars cheaper and provides a UI that kids are more familiar with (IOS vs OSX)...