"You're selling it wrong"

[nStyle]

Why is Apple suddenly trying to market the iPad as a "Pro" device? The only thing we're seeing in addition to the Air 2 are:

• Pencil capability only useful for creatives mostly (not productivity)
• Mediocre keyboard/stand with no angle adjustment that necessitates learning arcane shortcuts for multimedia/other control
• Two extra speakers that still lack bass
• Beefier internals for use on software that is still limited

Steve would say, "You're selling it wrong!" He already marketed the iPad as it was intended in 2010 when he presented it as a separate category from phones and computers. He said it was awesome at email, photos, videos, and light reading, but never claimed it was ever going to replace a laptop. It was intended and will probably always be used as a consumption device.

The only way this will ever change is if Apple decides to assign a "Pro" operating system to a "Pro" device.

I'm not "anti-iPad". I've owned every one of them up until the Air. Since the Air, there has been no compelling reason to upgrade, and this year is no different. It just seems as though Apple is grasping at straws. I'm also not saying that the iPad Pro is useless. I know this will appeal to a number of people. But the point is that those people are minorities. Apple is known for game-changing updates and products. This year was a huge disappointment.

 

[Patriot24]

I don't disagree with any of your points, but I think the main thing is that as tablets become more powerful and capable they will eat into the use cases traditionally held for smartphones and laptops. There will always be things that those classes of devices do better than a tablet, but the tablet can become a formidable option for a good majority of people. Apple is attempting to push in that direction by introducing the "Pro" moniker and marketing it as a productivity device (rather than simply consumption).

To what degree they're successful in that endeavor is going to depend on the hardware and the software, as you correctly stated. In the meantime, people seem to be liking iPad Pros.

 

[Channan]

Well what makes the 12.9" iPad Pro a "Pro"? It runs the same software. It has the same features. If you don't like the smaller Pro's keyboard by Apple, you can always buy from a third party.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

Exactly. I use a couple of different Bluetooth keyboard with my iPad Pro 12.9", and they work awesome.

 

[sracer]

Why is Apple suddenly trying to market the iPad as a "Pro" device? The only thing we're seeing in addition to the Air 2 are:

• Pencil capability only useful for creatives mostly (not productivity)
• Mediocre keyboard/stand with no angle adjustment that necessitates learning arcane shortcuts for multimedia/other control
• Two extra speakers that still lack bass
• Beefier internals for use on software that is still limited

Steve would say, "You're selling it wrong!" He already marketed the iPad as it was intended in 2010 when he presented it as a separate category from phones and computers. He said it was awesome at email, photos, videos, and light reading, but never claimed it was ever going to replace a laptop. It was intended and will probably always be used as a consumption device.

The only way this will ever change is if Apple decides to assign a "Pro" operating system to a "Pro" device.

I'm not "anti-iPad". I've owned every one of them up until the Air. Since the Air, there has been no compelling reason to upgrade, and this year is no different. It just seems as though Apple is grasping at straws. I'm also not saying that the iPad Pro is useless. I know this will appeal to a number of people. But the point is that those people are minorities. Apple is known for game-changing updates and products. This year was a huge disappointment.

I think it is pretty obvious that Apple is going in this direction.

A few clues...

• In recent years, OSX has taken on iOS-type capabilities (eg. LaunchPad) that make no sense for a desktop-based, non-touch screen operating system.
• file/interface compatibility between iOS and OSX versions of iWork. This may have been a "proof of concept" for cross-platform app development.
• While Apple pushes iCloud, they quickly and dramatically increase onboard storage... up to 256GB. The increase in storage doesn't make sense with the push to cloud storage.
• Apple has quietly expanded iOS' recognition (but not support) of bluetooth/USB devices. Prior to iOS 9, my Targus presentation remote (with USB dongle) was not recognized. with 9 and higher, it is now recognized as a remote but not supported.
• Processor power that outstrips the demands that iOS places on it.

I believe that Apple will do something with iOS 10 that will exploit the 4GB/128GB of the 12.9 Pro that will make it live more up to the "Pro" moniker. Just as the 2GB of the Air 2 was the cut-off for splitwindow support, I believe that 4GB will be the cut-off for the expanded capabilities of the next version of iOS.

4GB/128GB happens to be the same combo for entry level Macbook Airs. I don't think that is coincidence.

There is obviously alternative explanations for the things that I listed, and those explanations may indeed be correct, but I just have a sense that something big is coming.

 

[jwpoof]

I think it is pretty obvious that Apple is going in this direction.

A few clues...

• In recent years, OSX has taken on iOS-type capabilities (eg. LaunchPad) that make no sense for a desktop-based, non-touch screen operating system.
• file/interface compatibility between iOS and OSX versions of iWork. This may have been a "proof of concept" for cross-platform app development.
• While Apple pushes iCloud, they quickly and dramatically increase onboard storage... up to 256GB. The increase in storage doesn't make sense with the push to cloud storage.
• Apple has quietly expanded iOS' recognition (but not support) of bluetooth/USB devices. Prior to iOS 9, my Targus presentation remote (with USB dongle) was not recognized. with 9 and higher, it is now recognized as a remote but not supported.
• Processor power that outstrips the demands that iOS places on it.

I believe that Apple will do something with iOS 10 that will exploit the 4GB/128GB of the 12.9 Pro that will make it live more up to the "Pro" moniker. Just as the 2GB of the Air 2 was the cut-off for splitwindow support, I believe that 4GB will be the cut-off for the expanded capabilities of the next version of iOS.

4GB/128GB happens to be the same combo for entry level Macbook Airs. I don't think that is coincidence.

There is obviously alternative explanations for the things that I listed, and those explanations may indeed be correct, but I just have a sense that something big is coming.

So APPLE is going to give iOS 10 some sort of killer 4GB RAM-only features that the latest iPad they released today can't take advantage of?

That makes no sense.

 

[sracer]

So APPLE is going to give iOS 10 some sort of killer 4GB RAM-only features that the latest iPad they released today can't take advantage of?

That makes no sense.

We'll just have to wait and see.

 

[jwpoof]

We'll just have to wait and see.

I don't have to wait. What you're saying makes no sense, right now. How many 12.9 iPad Pros do you think are out there as a percentage of the current overall iPad user-base? I bet it's under 2%.

The new 9.7 has been labelled "pro". Do you really think Apple is going to create something for the tiny percentage of 12.9 users out there that the other "pro" iPads can't use, even though their iPads are newer than the 12.9?

 

[bensisko]

A lot of people are equating "Pro" with "Professional" (and not just professional as in "I get paid to produce", but 'hard core' as in Expert or Guru).

I don't see Apple marketing it this way at all.

I see Apple marketing "Pro" as in 'bigger' and 'better', or perhaps 'enhanced'.
I see Apple marketing the iPad as something more than content consumption, something capable of more. In that way, both "Pro"s are indeed Pro.

People get WAY too hung up on this.

"It's not 'Pro'!" - says who? What is the definition or standard? Why is OS X "Pro" and iOS not? It's all in the mind's eye. Even if we go by the "Professional" definition, it's still relative. You can't say "It's not Pro" and that's universal. At best you can say "This does not fit my catagory of a tool that I can use to produce professional work." Others can say that it DOES fit.

 

[sracer]

I don't have to wait. What you're saying makes no sense, right now. How many 12.9 iPad Pros do you think are out there as a percentage of the current overall iPad user-base? I bet it's under 2%.

The new 9.7 has been labelled "pro". Do you really think Apple is going to create something for the tiny percentage of 12.9 users out there that the other "pro" iPads can't use, even though their iPads are newer than the 12.9?

You think I don't make any sense. That is fine. I'm not inclined to attempt to convince you otherwise. But you DID hear it here first.

 

[bobbydaz]

People over thinking it again and getting hung up on a name. I don't give a s*** what they call it. All I know is it's THE best 9.7" iPad you can buy. I've got one and it's a great upgrade from my original Air.

 

[bensisko]

Let's break it down even more - the angst isn't over the "Pro" moniker, the real angst is that Apple doesn't make an OS X version of the Surface. It really has nothing to do with the iPad itself - Apple adding the "Pro" onto the iPad is just a reminder to people of Apple saying "We're not making an OS X tablet - Tablets run iOS, desktops and laptops run OS X."

 

[nStyle]

Let's break it down even more - the angst isn't over the "Pro" moniker, the real angst is that Apple doesn't make an OS X version of the Surface. It really has nothing to do with the iPad itself - Apple adding the "Pro" onto the iPad is just a reminder to people of Apple saying "We're not making an OS X tablet - Tablets run iOS, desktops and laptops run OS X."

It's not so much the nomenclature that I'm concerned with as I am with the fact that Apple is very clearly defining what they mean by "Pro". They claim that an iPad is the "future of computing" based on these "enhancements", which I tend to disagree with. They are marketing it incorrectly while Steve had already defined exactly what the iPad was intended for. It's use case largely hasn't changed unless you want to draw on the damn thing...and you could've done that before with Wacom's (albeit inferior) pen.

 

[mcdj]

"Pro" these days means about as much as "amazing", "incredible", "awesome", "epic", "unbelievable", and any number of other overused click-baity millennial-speak superlatives you can think of. That is to say, rarely worthy of its previously accepted meaning, and rarely used in its previously accepted context.

 

[macguy360]

I think that the iPad can be a creation device. Steve may have originally intended for it to be a consumption device, but it has evolved.

In that same sense, I think that Apple should sell the iPad not as a device to replace computers, but a device that is the evolution of computers. In the sense that computers replaced having physical books, dictionaries, and typewriters, the iPad has evolved from using a cumbersome device in which you have to track your background programs running, install the latest updates, worry about viruses, worry about software not running properly etc.

 

[Count Blah]

So APPLE is going to give iOS 10 some sort of killer 4GB RAM-only features that the latest iPad they released today can't take advantage of?

That makes no sense.

Planned obsolescence

Haven't you been paying attention?

 

[CE3]

• In recent years, OSX has taken on iOS-type capabilities (eg. LaunchPad) that make no sense for a desktop-based, non-touch screen operating system.

I agree that LaunchPad is very iOS-like, but I think it's nice way to organize and quickly access applications, and it helps keep the desktop clutter-free.

 

[StPatty33]

How are creative careers "not productivity"?

 

[Kal-037]

My iPP repleaced my laptop and is my current computer. Despite iOS's shortcomings, it still is a great Tablet/Computer device. Great size, weight, screen, colors, everything. I bet Mr. Jobs would be fine as he would see people enjoying the device and doing so much more with it.


K.

 

[jwpoof]

Planned obsolescence

Haven't you been paying attention?

Have you? The iPad 2 was just recently dropped for iOS updates. Since that came out in 2011 and still works pretty well for a lot of stuff, I'd say the exact opposite is the case.

 

[jeremiah256]

People are freaking out about a marketing need to differentiate products. When the iPad Air 1 came out, the main differences between it and the previous Big iPad on Campus, the iPad 4th generation, were:
- faster processor
- addition of motion processor
- lighter weight


It had the same:
- available RAM amount
- available storage
- display pixels
- cameras
- sensors

So, now they come up with a new 9.7" iPad. They are adding tech that they believe is necessary to keep the iPad relevant, but it also adds to the weight and thickness of the device. If they call it the iPad Air, they'd be laughed at for using the same name for a thicker and heavier device. If they call it just iPad, it's not sexy, and people may cause confusion. Apple pretty much sticks to four naming conventions: vanilla product plus version, product plus 'Air', product plus 'Mini', and product plus 'Pro'. So, Pro it was. Yeah, they foolishly confused the issue by also pushing the 'replace your PC with an iPad' push, but that's separate from their need for a name for the iPad Pro 9/7" tablet. I honestly think the 'Air' is gone by this time next year. You'll have the Mini and 2 sizes of Pro.

 

[Kal-037]

The new 9.7" is the exact same weight and thickness as the Air 2. Naming it Air 3 would have been fine, but I am pretty sure Apple are just wanting to re-brand the iPad 9.7" to sell more. I doubt it will work, but we'll see.
I just worry that Apple will shaft the iPP 12.9" (cause if they upgrade the same way as this past update, the smaller one may always get more features each time) or Apple may decide the 12.9" just didn't get the traction they wanted so they just drop it, like the 17" MBP.
That would suck. :/

Kal.

 

[rui no onna]

Let's break it down even more - the angst isn't over the "Pro" moniker, the real angst is that Apple doesn't make an OS X version of the Surface.

To be honest, I reckon the angst is due to the additional $100 over the standard/accepted $499 price for new 9.7" iPads. I doubt anyone would care what Apple calls it as long as it's still $499 for the base model.

 

[bensisko]

To be honest, I reckon the angst is due to the additional $100 over the standard/accepted $499 price for new 9.7" iPads. I doubt anyone would care what Apple calls it as long as it's still $499 for the base model.

I think Apple could sell it for $99.95 and people would still complain "It's Not 'Pro'!"

 

[happyslayer]

It's Pro because it supports the Smart Connector, Smart Keyboard and the Pencil. Assuming there is an iPad Air 3, (and I think there will be later this year) I believe it will not support any of those items, but will instead support 3D Touch and be priced at $499 base as was the iPad Air 2. It may also be thinner as well. just my two cents.