Well they went and did it, finally released the iPad that I've been looking for, now it will be interesting to see who, other than me, buys one. Since it is my #1 reading device these days. Only way to make it perfect would be to add an SD card and boost the battery life to 18hrs+. I'm really interested in how well the pen compares to the Surface 3 Pro's pen as well.
Of course it would be really interesting to see a "stripe" cover, which has a stripe reader rather than a keyboard in it :-).
And so it begins... the once innovative company is now playing catch up, losing a little bit of its sex appeal as it copies the bland competition.
I really don't give a shit who is copying who. It's technology; we're all building on the backs of inventions created by other people. The important thing to me is who does it the best, not who does it first. The iPod was nowhere near the first mp3 player, it was just the best one. The iPad wasn't close to the first tablet. Will it be the best tablet? I don't know, but whether or not the Surface had a keyboard first…
But the iPod, iPhone & iPad were much better than the incumbents. iPad Pro is not.
...and on the software side, you don't even have sysadmin access
Or, from the opposed perspective, you're paying Apple to do your sysadmin tasks for you. (Really, you do have sysadmin access, if you care enough. My iPhone has a profile on it put there by my [big, enterprise-y] employer, which gives them the ability to do pretty much whatever they want—including side-loading applications. I'm surprised nobody has used the "corporate-owned device" method to build an App store yet.)
I'm not invested in the Apple ecosystem any more. Is this true? Being trying to find a link to some authoritative info on this but haven't thus far.
Even taking usability into account, an argument can be made that iPad Pro is neither here nor there. Consider a simple use case: let's say iPad Pro is the sole enterprise device handed out to employees at a company. AFAIK, even a simple thing like compressing multiple files (given irrational attachment size limits won't be going away any time soon) and sending them via email will be impossible given how closed and pa…
Being a sole enterprise device is not a simple use case and it has nothing to do with general usability as far as most people are concerned. Your comment is an epitome of what the post you replied to was talking about.
On the contrary, there is perhaps only one use case where iPad Pro could be a boon for users: industrial, graphic, and sundry designers, visual artists, etc. As I see it today, iPad Pro is a niche product, not a mass-market pro tablet like the ones made by PC manufacturers. Everyone else can either just continue using iPads or use full featured laptops. Contrast this with the Surface Pro.
"Who wants a stylus? You have to get 'em, put 'em away, you lose 'em. Yuck! Nobody wants a stylus. So let's not use a stylus." -Steve Jobs
Wasn't he talking about the iPhone, not the iPad? At that time the dominant mobile platform was PDAs with styluses. I'm pretty sure that's the context in which he made those remarks.
Exactly. His point, I think, was trying to get rid of the need for people pulling out a stylus in a car sitting in traffic and scribbling notes and smiley faces. Not catering to artists and people sitting in meetings taking notes. The iPhone doesn't need a stylus. A tablet (especially at that size) acts more like a blank canvas and it makes perfect sense to get a drawing tool like a pencil on that big surface to encourage even more apps and creative outlets.
This comment is exactly why HN won't never understand anything about Apple announcements. Highly technical folks, unable to get out of their technical bias, reprimanding the extremely successful decision makers of a successful company because they pretend to know the matter, while completely ignoring the real world scenarios that actually drive Apple products sales.
His comment doesn't represent someone 'highly technical, unable to get out of their technical bias'. In fact, a 'sales guy' or a banker could have shared a similar opinion. You don't need to be 'highly technical' to be pragmatic and critical.
Ignoring reality in favor of emotionally satisfying opinions doesn't count as either pragmatic or cynical. Under Tim Cook's leadership, Apple continues to break records as it remains the most valuable company in the world. What wake-up call is needed here, exactly?
> For a device at that size, weight, and cost you would be better served buying an Macbook Air For a device at that size, weight, and cost you would be better served buying a Macbook Air. Apple has dozens of devices for dozens of use cases and types of buyers. I would never use the new MacBook (not good enough specs), and most of HN thinks it's a terrible idea. But my wife loves it. She doesn't need to run a virtual…
I see this attitude of "I don't like this product that was never meant for my use case, therefore nobody else will want it either" a lot among tech people, and HN is no exception. Just look at yesterday's comments on the Raspberry Pi touch screen [1]. Or really, the comments on almost any large consumer-oriented product launch. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10184510
Just as often I see this "among tech people" type of attitude thrown around as if we are somehow a totally different class of people who don't think about anything outside of compilers and caching optimizations.
We have lives outside of work that also helps informs our opinions on these things.
It is interesting comparing Microsoft and Apple's convertible tablet strategy. Microsoft's devices use the full OS and are basically laptops first and tablets second while Apple is doing the opposite. If this is truly designed to be "Pro" as in enterprise , I think Microsoft's strategy is going to lead to more productive and therefore better enterprise devices. EDIT: And after the price is revealed the scales tip a l…
The risk with Microsoft's approach is that companies will think "our Windows app runs fine on Surface" and invest little on making their application work great on Surface because they form a small part of the market. The risk with Apple's approach is that companies will think "it's too much work to make a custom UI for such a small market". I guess time will tell who wins this. Possibly, things will go like they went…
I think Apple will have a very hard time convincing companies to port / produce complex apps that come with a lifetime of free updates. Mac App store has failed pretty objectively at applying iOS conventions to serious software.
I really don't give a shit who is copying who. It's technology; we're all building on the backs of inventions created by other people. The important thing to me is who does it the best, not who does it first. The iPod was nowhere near the first mp3 player, it was just the best one. The iPad wasn't close to the first tablet. Will it be the best tablet? I don't know, but whether or not the Surface had a keyboard first…
The really galling part is the total refusal to admit they're not doing anything innovative. "There has never been another product like the iPad Pro before" was a real quote from today's presentation, and is a complete falsehood.
I literally laughed out loud at this comment. HN is always predictable.
The iPad Pro is going to be available in November — 32GB for $799, 64GB for $949 and 128GB for $1,079. The $1,079 comes with Wi-Fi and cellular. The keyboard is going to cost $169 and the stylus is going to cost $99 — magic isn’t cheap. Can someone explain this absurd pricing strategy to me?