Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

What's the future of the iPad?

V

vrDrew

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jan 31, 2010
1,376
13,412
Midlife, Midwest
I was talking to my mom today (a proud senior-citizen iPad owner) and she asked me a question I didn't really have a good answer to:

"What are they going to put on the next iPad?"

I started out by reminding her how the original iPod had progressed, from a simple device to play music, to adding a calendar and notes, to pictures, then videos, and then finally e-mail, the web, and Apps.

But the more I talked, the more I realized I don't have a very good answer as to what they are going to do with the iPad.

I'm sure that, qualitatively, the iPad will continue to improve. It'll get faster processors, more memory. It might (unlikely) get lighter and slimmer. It may very well get a higher-resolution display. But its already got a camera, speakers, all sorts of sensors. Its got the web, and e-mail, and half a million Apps. Those things might get better - but I'm struggling to see a clear way for Apple to add a quantitative new functionality to the iPad.

About the only way I can see to add a quantitative functionality to the iPad, is to expand the universe of digital, electronic, and physical things the iPad can connect with. The iPad as a mega "remote-control" for your TV set and your HVAC. Your car and your sprinkler system.

What is the future path for the iPad? I'll turn my "skeptic" meter off - all suggestions are welcome, no matter how outlandish they may, at first, appear.
 
P

palpatine

macrumors 68040
May 3, 2011
3,130
45
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_5 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8L1 Safari/6533.18.5)

the ipad still balks at using rich text. i still have to plug it into my computer (until ios5). i can't even make decent footnotes. there is a lot of basic functionality that prevents the ipad from standing alone. i hope to see that change.
 
ChristianVirtual

ChristianVirtual

macrumors 601
May 10, 2010
4,122
282
日本
Looks like another stealth-iPad3 rumor thread ... So it be ...

Nothing more of what your already mentioned: retina, CPU, memory. I think that's a given and would surprise me if not happen.

We might see some NFC chip; though for an iPad less important compared to iPhone.

Combination of 3G/CDMA and later LTE in one version (not so exciting for your mother)
Maybe one more smaller screen size to fit the gap.

More impact for you mother will come out iOS5 and iOS6 (PC free, sync across devices, messaging, ...)
 
S

Skika

macrumors 68030
Mar 11, 2009
2,999
1,246
Well, laptops "evolutionezed" and nothing wrong there. They havent goten any revolutionary new thing, just faster and thinner, better design... I think the iPad ( and other tablets) awaits the same future.

No need for something drastic to change really.
 
3N16MA

3N16MA

macrumors 65816
Jul 23, 2009
1,011
177
Space
It will slowly work it's way into everyday life for many people and start to replace notebooks. Dual display iPad?
 
greygray

greygray

macrumors 68000
Oct 22, 2009
1,848
1
I guess all's bright for the iPad. Most people require portability as a priority. Thus, this would be a sidekick for the MB/MBP users on-the-go.
 
P

PaulWog

Suspended
Jun 28, 2011
700
103
vrDrew said:
I was talking to my mom today (a proud senior-citizen iPad owner) and she asked me a question I didn't really have a good answer to:

"What are they going to put on the next iPad?"

I started out by reminding her how the original iPod had progressed, from a simple device to play music, to adding a calendar and notes, to pictures, then videos, and then finally e-mail, the web, and Apps.

But the more I talked, the more I realized I don't have a very good answer as to what they are going to do with the iPad.

I'm sure that, qualitatively, the iPad will continue to improve. It'll get faster processors, more memory. It might (unlikely) get lighter and slimmer. It may very well get a higher-resolution display. But its already got a camera, speakers, all sorts of sensors. Its got the web, and e-mail, and half a million Apps. Those things might get better - but I'm struggling to see a clear way for Apple to add a quantitative new functionality to the iPad.

About the only way I can see to add a quantitative functionality to the iPad, is to expand the universe of digital, electronic, and physical things the iPad can connect with. The iPad as a mega "remote-control" for your TV set and your HVAC. Your car and your sprinkler system.

What is the future path for the iPad? I'll turn my "skeptic" meter off - all suggestions are welcome, no matter how outlandish they may, at first, appear.
Click to expand...

There's a plethora of wonderful possibilities for future versions of the iPad. New technologies are always in development.

Let's list some possibilities off:

- improved hardware performance (processor, RAM, graphics, storage size, storage speed, battery life); this does matter. Look at computers from 20 years ago. Look at computers now. Now think of where we'll be in 20 years: And yes, there's LOTS of room for hardware performance improvements. Lots. Heat does not increase as the tech is improved, either (it's not a linear scale). Currently with silicon tech, there's many more notches that can be dropped on the nanometre production scale (currently we're dropping down to 28nm in desktop & laptop graphics). There's the possibility in the further-off future of switching to a different material than silicon for the production of hardware.

- new tech!!! no-glasses 3D may mature enough eventually to be more than just a commodity. If you look at it in a 3DS, it's pretty neat, and it can be selectively turned on/off. Imagine what might be available in the future. Such an addition would be excellent for any screen (including tablets).
- there's lots of other tech which you just might not think of... for example, imagine if they could do touch-feedback on the iPad (every time you click you get a bit of a vibration... but specifically right underneath where you click, rather than just having one big vibrator in one location like on a phone).

I could create a list and go on. There's lots of fun new tech which can be thought up and implemented, and may be in the process of being implemented. There's obviously refinements which can be made as well: Hardware can become better (resolution, speed, battery, new wireless tech), price-points can become better, etc, etc. From a software standpoint the sky is the limit (of course a bit of a ceiling is put in place, where the hardware does have to advance).
 
Y

Yumunum

macrumors 65816
Apr 24, 2011
1,452
0
U.S.
OS... It needs work. The Mac and iOS device lineups are going to have to merge someday or another. I realize it sounds hard and unlikely, but really, how could they NOT merge somehow? Eventually iPads will be strong enough to be full blown computers. The need for 2 devices will seem questionable. Ect, ect. I think you can use your imagination and figure out the rest.
 
greygray

greygray

macrumors 68000
Oct 22, 2009
1,848
1
ChristianJapan said:
But then I want a laser projector to beam the screen to the wall build-in
Click to expand...

Wait for the iPad 5 then ;) I know of one Samsung camera that has a built-in projector, so I guess this might be a possibility for the iPad in a few years from now.
 
drewsof07

drewsof07

macrumors 68020
Oct 30, 2006
2,016
428
Ohio
Yumunum said:
OS... It needs work. The Mac and iOS device lineups are going to have to merge someday or another. I realize it sounds hard and unlikely, but really, how could they NOT merge somehow? Eventually iPads will be strong enough to be full blown computers. The need for 2 devices will seem questionable.
Click to expand...

This.
 
P

palpatine

macrumors 68040
May 3, 2011
3,130
45
I don't think they will merge. Or, perhaps I should say I don't think they should.

Of course, computers will continue to increase in power and efficiency. Compare the iPad to a computer from 20 years ago and you have got far more power than most individuals had access to. Yet, we still have a separation between operating systems. That's because now we've got people sitting at home making videos that would have blown the socks off of people 20 years ago as well.

In short, we'll continue to put more and more demands on the devices, so there will remain a need for high end computers. I am certainly glad iOS and OSX are separate, because iOS would be a huge step backwards for many of my daily work applications.
 
I

iOSWriter

macrumors newbie
Jul 31, 2011
28
0
Skika said:
Well, laptops "evolutionezed" and nothing wrong there. They havent goten any revolutionary new thing, just faster and thinner, better design... I think the iPad ( and other tablets) awaits the same future.

No need for something drastic to change really.
Click to expand...

The laptop and netbook run a fully functional os, not a gimped smartphone verwion making them a big iPod Touch.
 
Harvey Specter

Harvey Specter

macrumors regular
Aug 29, 2011
220
4
Portland, Oregon
From what Ive been seing around the web, Apple has looked into built-in projectors in future models of i-devices. Retina display is also coming to ipad (or some form of higher resolution screen), its just a matter of time. They can also improve the processor and battery like they have been.

The cameras will surely increase in resolution as well, and hopefully they will work on adding more input ports such as USB, SD card slots, micro SD, and HDMI output ports without any external hardware needed.
 
A

accessoriesguy

macrumors 6502a
Jul 8, 2011
891
0
ChristianJapan said:
Nothing more of what your already mentioned: retina, CPU, memory. I think that's a given and would surprise me if not happen.
Click to expand...

yeah obviously with greater hardware, we will see better software along with it, but I think the strongest part of the new iPod will be iOS5, so you should look into that and the announced features that it will bring along.
 
ChristianVirtual

ChristianVirtual

macrumors 601
May 10, 2010
4,122
282
日本
palpatine said:
I am certainly glad iOS and OSX are separate, because iOS would be a huge step backbords for many of my daily work applications.
Click to expand...

i think under the cover of graphical UI they are very similar. Let me guess 75.879% shared source code. Of course hardware driver and GUI are different as we can see. But that would also those components easy to change or if Apple once become really nice: user can choose.

My imagination goes into a combined OS with have a sandboxed system for those who want and an option to open it up. Ok, nothing we see those days with Apple but they might also evolve. Why not.

If that would not the case I agree with you.

----------
accessoriesguy said:
yeah obviously with greater hardware, we will see better software along with it, but I think the strongest part of the new iPod will be iOS5, so you should look into that and the announced features that it will bring along.
Click to expand...

I know, I do ...

ChristianJapan said:
More impact for you mother will come out iOS5 and iOS6 (PC free, sync across devices, messaging, ...)
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom