“An argument being made for the iPad Pro is that Apple will produce the large iPad to deal with slowing sales of existing iPads. New product, new sales is the theme,” James Kendrick writes for ZDNet. “The larger tablet will be a natural for the enterprise, we’re told.
“I don’t see it. An iPad this large doesn’t fit the Apple model when it comes to new products. If it does come to pass, I see it possibly becoming the biggest flop from Apple in years,” Kendrick writes. “The rumored iPad Pro doesn’t fit this business model. It’s nothing new, just a bigger iPad.”
“A 12 or 13 inch tablet is too large to have mass appeal. Sure, it would grab some consumers and get picked up by some companies, but the vast consumer market will not warm to such a big, honking device,” Kendrick writes. “As for the rumored stylus, Apple has always been against them since the launch of the original iPad. Steve Jobs made it clear that he was dead set against them, and I don’t think that has changed at Apple. Plus, the company would have to develop new technology to make it work well as existing styli are not good for heavy work with a pen.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: iCal’ed for future reference as there’s certainly been a lot of patent activity focused on something that’ll offer “nothing new.”
And, why is “mass market” the criteria? If an “iPad Pro” helps cement ownership of the enterprise and education markets for years to come, would that not be a rousing success? Surely the world’s most valuable company can manage to make certain “niche” devices, assuming iPad Pro would even be “niche” (see below), that ultimately work to bolster the success of their platforms.
Imagine an edge-to-edge iPad, with inadvertent touch detection (already perfected by Apple) that’s not much bigger than an iPad Air is today, but that offers far more real display real estate and, potentially, smart pen and other coveted (side-by-side multitasking, of one) features? That’s not a “niche” device. That’s the next flagship “iPad.”
Related articles:
Apple files another patent application for sensor-laden active stylus – April 16, 2015
Analyst: Apple likely to launch simple stylus with 12.9-inch iPad Pro; advanced 3D stylus due later – January 18, 2015
Apple granted another smart pen patent for capturing digital copies of notes and drawings – December 30, 2014
Apple files their 10th ‘Smart Pen’ patent of the year – December 6, 2014
iPen: Apple patent applications reveal advanced modular smart-pen – February 2, 2014
iPen? Apple secretly files three dynamic smart-pen patents in Europe – February 28, 2013
Apple patent application reveals advanced ‘active stylus’ for iOS devices – December 31, 2012
Apple patent application reveals more about their optical iPen and graphics program – May 24, 2012
Apple patent app details smart, heated ‘iPen’ stylus for iPad and iPhone – July 7, 2011
Apple patent application details new type of stylus for iPad – February 3, 2011
Even the iPhone 6 Plus offered added features and benefits over iPhone 6. Don’t underestimate consumers that love their Apple ecosystem, invest heavily into this ecosystem, and are always eager to build onto it.
This guy has zero historical perspective. Apple very clearly has a multiple screen size strategy, from MacBook Pros (even more screen size diversity when you lump all Apple laptops together), to iMacs to iPhones to current iPads (mini and Air).
There’s a reason the full-size iPad is called the iPad Air and not just “iPad”; it’s because Apple is planning another distinguishing version of the iPad. The most likely difference is screen size, which will leverage all of the thinness engineering Apple has perfected with the iPad Air and MacBook to create a very thin, very strong, very portable larger screen iPad.
And I don’t think it will be a “Pro” moniker, I think it will simply be “iPad”. Again.
He’s absolutely correct. I already have an iPad Air 2 and an iPad mini Retina. I also have a 6-plus.
There is no way I’m buying a larger iPad if it can’t run real OSX programs. That’s exactly why iPads are in a sales slump. If Tim Cook had given the iPad more power and functions over the years, the sales would be through the roof. Instead, he hasn’t done a blessed thing, other than make it lighter and slightly faster.
If he finally allows the iPad to be the mobile computer that Jobs had envisioned, they won’t be able to keep them on the shelves. As long as they are afraid to cannibalize their Mac business and continue to hobble the iPad, then nothing will change.
Screw him. I’m buying one!
I predict the iPad Pro will be Apple’s best selling iPad ever.
When Steve Jobs introduced the iPad he said first people drove trucks then they started driving sports cars (paraphrase). Actually that is backwards. The first cars were rich men’s toys. They were not very practical, but were faster than anything on the road. There were several entrepreneurs that saw the cars potential, however most people did not. Then Henry Ford approached cars differently. He designed a car for farmers. They were the largest labor force at the time; but the industrialists did not understand them. Ford produced them in mass to lower costs. Now most people’s experience with cars is the opposite. They first get a practical car, like a VW Microbus. Then they get a sports car, like a Mercedes SL.
The same will be true with the iPad. Now they are for early adaptors. Several people have been trying to make it practical. However the tech industry does not understand the mobile workforce. They have made tech jobs more mobile, however that is not the same as making mobile jobs more tech. IBM can be Ford for the iPad. IBM has a long history with businesses that have a large employ base that move around a lot. Hospitals that have a lot of people moving around a large building. Utilities that have small groups of workers spread across a wide area. IBM is large enough to bring the cost of software and support down to practice levels. Soon large groups of people will start using them at work. Then they will start buying them for fun.
The mobile workforce’s days are numbered.Too many mobiles chasing too many other mobiles. Tele-everything is the new in. So, that can be done in an office. They’ve got to make sure you are doing something. And, the cost for mobile continues to rise. There is going to be less mobile by companies, they see it as a cost savings. Employees spend to much time in transit, those are wasted productivity hours. Who really wants to work while in transit?
The mobile workforce is the people who work on the lines that bring you electricity, water, fuel, and data. The people in the hospital that walk around to give care. The people who repair your home. The people who deliver stuff to your doorstep. Exactly what I said. The people you don’t even notice as being workers. This is where the iPad can shine.
Ponder duel purpose. The near convergence of iOS & Yosemite. You could purpose the panel for (touch only) or (screen only) with trackpad/keyboard/mouse running Yosemite. Sounds simple enough right? WRONG. iPonder it ain’t that easy.
I have refused to downgrade to Yosemite. If Apple continues to destroy the Mac OS as it has, becoming uglier and less stable, or making it Apple’s version of Windows 8, then I will not buy another Mac. Hackintosh with Snow Leopard would be a huge step up from any bloated machine that runs iOS and Mac OS. Keep iOS away from my Mac, dman it!!!!
The iPad Pro will likely be a niche thing or targeted market segment as compared to most iPhones. As long as the supply does not overwhelm demand, then its a win. Those buyers will enjoy or they don’t buy. The buyers generally know what they want now when it comes to laptops and iPads and iPhones. And some of them switch later.
I am waiting for some bigger more powerful iPad with a stylus the will fit better for my dedicated creative purposes, but I understand that as the “Mac Pro” an iPad Pro may be a niche profesional tool. Intuos offers dedicated creative tablets, but they are not iOS capable, obviously. I prefer to have both, the pro graphic tablet and total integration with Apple systems.
A bigger kiosk screen alone will be welcome. There certainly is a need and market for larger touch pad screens in many enterprises as well as for many home users.
“The iPad is nothing new. It’s just a bigger iPod.”
These pundits never learn.
I remember a certain ex-CEO of a then-major software company saying the iPhone was not a good business product because it didn’t have buttons on it. Yep!
Don’t you just love how the anal-ysts predicts a product he’s never seen and that hasn’t been produced yet is going to be a flop?
What a waste of both electrons and oxygen…
Most of the people who criticize the things Apple does couldn’t run a profitable front-yard lemonade stand. Where would Apple be if it didn’t take any chances at all? Let’s all just say such and such products will flop. Apple could simply say, “This product might flop, let’s not even try.” Apple has gotten where it is by taking chances. What’s wrong with a company attempting to establish some new category even if it is a risk? Apple is expected to take risks.
People will want one, Industry will want truckloads, but Tim Cook will build only 10 and there will be none available for Christmas. Then when he ramps up on production the world will yawn.
If you think I am wrong, I point you to what happened with the iMac, the Apple Watch, and the Macbook in the past.
Apple’s ‘iPad Pro’ will flop. Yeah, I agree. Apple’s ‘iPad Pro’ will be flopping into my lap after I upgrade from my iPad original when Apple releases the thing! Hurry up Apple, baby needs a new BIG iPad…
Steve said he did not like the idea of using a stylus when he introduced the iPhone the first time, not when he introduced the iPad. Errors like that make this author’s credibility even worse than it would be independent of that gaff.
Steve also said when he introduced the original iPad that they started working on the iPad *BEFORE* they started working on the iPhone, and the iPad was delayed until later because there are more critical issues to solve with the iPad than the iPhone.
Likely the same is true with the iPad Pro — just one such issue could be keeping a Retina display the size of the iPad Pro powered for a full day or more of typical use without having it be too large and heavy. In the last 5-6 years battery technology has matured more slowly than most of the rest of this industry. It’s quite possible that battery technology is just getting to the tipping point to make an iPad Pro practical.
As for no one wanting one, to but it bluntly, is this guy nuts?
Think of all the medical staffs in hospitals. The vast majority of them still use standard size clipboards and paper — or desktop computers — to log everything and check on the current status of things. Why are they not using the iPad or iPad mini (or Android equivalents)? Because the screens are too damn small. They can either pull up an X-ray, sonogram, MRI or whatever on a 19″ (or larger) screen with decent resolution or they can look at the physical media — or look at it on a screen much smaller than they are used to using. It’s obvious which one they pick.
Now go to the iPad Pro’s size (or maybe even larger at a 15″ screen tablet). Many more health care personnel will use that size. The convenience of carrying around all their information (or have access to it over the LAN) is going to start outweighing the fact that the iPad Pro is still a bit smaller than they’d like. The flexibility and added efficiency will start to win out.
Make an iPad Pro 12.9″ MINIMUM with true retina resolution (250 ppi at least) and the medical industry will start to swarm to it.
AND, that’s just an example of a single industry… many, many others will have similar results.
Indeed edge to edge (practically) would I think be a must for this to be a wow product and keep it compact though at the moment I’m not sure that Apple sees it that way. We can live in hope, but a pro tablet certainly will have serious Enterprise appeal especially within showroom, salesman and shop environments, perhaps opening up new shopping and display avenues even whole markets that the present iPad doesn’t quite live up to especially if added capabilities are provided.
If Apple were to create a 12″ iPad Pro and you attached a keyboard/case to it (or via Bluetooth), then you would end up with new 12″ MacBook, except…
* The 12″ MacBook would be lighter (current MacBook Air plus keyboard is approximately the same weight)
* The 12″ MacBook would be faster (unless Apple releases a new A-series processor that bests it
* The 12″ MacBook will run OS X while the iPad Pro would likely run a new version of iOS to enable split screen/multitasking.
If Apple wanted to create a product to fill the niche that an iPad Pro + keyboard would theoretically occupy, then adding multitouch to the 12″ MacBook would be a straightforward solution that would also provide access OS X and OS X apps.
I have come to conclude that the preeminent requirement for the occupation of “tech analyst” is the ability to pull things from the abyss of one’s anal recess.
Well said.
His review will surely convince me not to get one. Suckass. LOL
I may confidently say so, that Apple iPad pro will be the Best till date. Apple has postphoned lauching of new iPads, because thier iPas sales are dropping day by day. Apple is believed to creating some exclusivity and extremity in their new iPad models. If rumours are to be believed, the new iPads of Apple will rock the market and beat the old ones.