iPad Pro – 9.7-inch
apple.com
apple.com
The iPad Pro is likely a reaction to the success of the Microsoft Surface-- but the reaction is not much more than a name change and split screen. The Surface on the other hand actually is a productivity machine. Why isn't Apple diving fully into this area?
Even the iPad Pro alone outsold all MS Surface products despite only being introduced midway through the holiday quarter.
The question is why is Apple not diving into a "productivity machine" like the Surface. The answer is that the iPad Pro is selling better than the Surface. That is: Apple isn't building the Surface because they built something that sells better.
Think about what you're saying, why would replacing laptops be a priority for Apple if they can outsell hybrids 10 to 1 by focusing on making a great consumption device?
Apple and Google are focused on the mobile computing platform of the future which already outsells pcs with the gap widening every year.
Instead Apple uses their OSX product lines to compete in the pc market.
> We believe Apple sold just over two million iPad Pros while Microsoft sold around 1.6 million Surface devices
So 2m Vs. 1.6m, the remaining 14.1m devices are an entirely different class at an entirely different price-point.
The iPad Pro did outsell the Surface line in one quarter, but it is worth noting that the Surface Pro 4 was a minor upgrade, whereas the iPad Pro was a brand new class of device for Apple.
Where Microsoft has been making in-roads with the Surface Pro line in particular is corporate/enterprise ultrabooks. The iPad, even the "Pro" doesn't have an answer to that.
Apparently iPad Pro and iPads are in a different price point but the current Surface product lines: Surface 3, Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book which are nearly doubled in cost respectively, are not. Then apparently an iPad with a larger screen is a brand new "entirely different" class, but Surface Tablet and Surface Books are not.
Then you go on about the launch quarter like it's the only reason why iPad Pro outsold all Surfaces, but both iPhone and iPads go on to outsell their launch quarters in the next year - this is what you get when you grow sales.
I'm surprised you didn't top it off by saying that Apple deliberately withheld introducing the iPad Pro to midway through the quarter so they could sell more units in that quarter.
And as for making an iOS tablet that's more suitable for productivity, the iPad Pro is that device, and basically as good as it gets.
Am I missing your point or is there more nuance to your particular situation?
They tend to apply dynamic subsets of this power tool to "projects", kept in "project folders", containing images downloaded with one tool, edited with another, graphics generated in a third, code edited in another, marketing docs written in yet another, data fetched by a script to be opened by a spreadsheet app, turned into a chart and combined with the marketing doc into a PDF-based presentation....
And Apple builds some hardware that would be great for adding powers to the metatool (quick, finger-drawn sketches turn into useful charts to be merged into some other doc with layout manipulated by hand...) but Apple's position is that their target customers are really far too...limited to be able to understand hard stuff like "folders" or how to even find their files after plugging a thumb drive into a USB port, so no folders, no USB, no confusing "orchestra", just sit back, poke an app button and buy something from one of our nice stores (you understand shopping, don't you? Poke the button), notice how thin it is, poke an app button and watch a nice video, notice what a nice shade of pink, uh, "rose gold" it is, poke an app button and distract yourself with FaceBook, express and opinion about a celebrity and, since we're always adding new ways to buy things, maybe treat yourself and buy something extra....
It has worked wonders for them financially, so I can't fault their logic (bemoan it, yes, but not fault it), but this is no equivalent of a power user OS with a real file system.
If you need to do some heavy work, do it on a laptop. You can buy tons of different laptops now that are very thin and don't take up much more room in your backpack than a tablet would. If you need any more power, then rent a compile server. There is always going to be a cost for having a portable device, it's that you won't be able to get all of your work done on it.
The real issue is when OS developers try to push this simple, tablet environment to devices that shouldn't need it.
Personally, I have two touch-enabled laptops and the only time I interact with the touch screen is when I try to point at something in conversation and am unpleasantly surprised when it moves the cursor.
The idea of sand boxing is a good one, but there needs to be an option for those of us who know what they are doing, or are willing to take a risk. I shouldn't have to rely on cloud availability constantly.
I don't understand what you're trying to say. There's no failure of the device here that requires a third party app.
Sure, if you want to exchange with another device - but not an app.
The Microsoft solution was painful because it was based on the insane premise that all software could run on all devices - as if anyone really needs the full version of Adobe CS or Visual Studio on a mobile, or wants Candy Crush taking up all the available pixels on a 30" monitor.
Apple will do something less insane. There's already overlap between the OS X and iOS touch classes.
I wouldn't be surprised to see a future iPad sold as the next Mac keyboard/remote display a few generations from now, when the tactility is a little better.
It's the same situation when people pretend like the Play App Store is better than Apple's App Stores because anyone can put anything on there without having to go through Apple first. In theory, yes, it's great that you have the freedom to do that and that Google doesn't act as the arbiter of your precious apps. In reality, though, the Play Store is a cesspool of crappy apps. When I got my Nexus 7, I tried to install the Netflix app from the Play Store. There's multiple Netflix apps (all called "Netflix") that claim to be from Netflix, Inc. I don't know if they've fixed that now, but just the fact that something like that can happen is crazy.
Everyone's so caught up on whether or not they could [do something] that they never stopped to think about whether they should [be able to].
I think it's because it's in their best interests to not have that form factor be a 'thing'. Apple wants to sell you a macbook and an iPad, not a single Padbook. If they don't enter that arena, then they force Microsoft to do all the work to get the market there (if at all), when they can come up with a me-too form factor device without any real lost headway.
[1] http://support.logitech.com/en_ca/product/keys-to-go-ipad
The other thing with these keyboards is that when the tablet is held in table mode, you have your fingers on the keys, which is a pain.
I tend to agree with the post above. Good for reading, not the right tool for editing.
This is the same as, say, people who prefer to use laptops docked to a large screen with an external keyboard and mouse. Most of the time, they can get away without needing all that, which is why they have a laptop instead of a desktop PC plugged into the same peripherals. But sometimes, for an especially heavy-duty task, it's good to be able to temporarily assume the next form-factor up.
Works well for me (fiction writer), but might not work for people whose workflows involve constant distraction.
(There are USB docks but they cannot really compete with real docks as they are available for PC notebooks. And Apple does not sell an external Retina screen either.)
If you prefer something exactly like a dock where no cables are involved being plugged in manually, there are several solutions available. Henge Docks, Landing Zone, and BookEndz are some examples.
Because it is very hard? It cost Microsoft a disastrous version of Windows and lots of pushback by customers before they got their productivity OS working both on a tablet and desktop.
http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/28/10858474/microsoft-earning... http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/22/9599674/microsoft-q1-2016...
Apple fundamentally doesn't believe in a hybrid laptop/tablet "productivity" machine (for good reason, debatably). The iPad Pro is an attempt to bring iOS into the realm of productivity, rather than merging the experiences of iOS and Mac OS X.
The Surface series, meanwhile, creates a new platform; new apps (or at least new major versions of apps) have to be written to truly take advantage of it.
The iPad has potential, but Lightroom for the iPad is crap. You can connect an SD card with RAW files on it to the iPad... but Lightroom can't read them. Won't even show you a preview (even though Apple's built-in app can). Not good.
The iPad Pro is a way better device on paper than the Surface. But being able to run every Windows program ever is better than being able to maybe get a stripped-down version of the software you're used to.
I imagine sales numbers between iPad Pro and Surface Pro 4 are orders of magnitude in favor of the iPad for two reasons. One, the Surface Pro 4 competes with every Windows laptop ever -- there are many cheaper ways to get all your favorite Windows programs "on the go". Two, I bet a lot of people bought the iPad Pro imagining things like Lightroom would be useful, discovered they aren't, and put the iPad in the drawer two weeks after buying it. I loved my iPad for the first two weeks after I bought it. Now I don't know where it is. Dead in a drawer somewhere, no doubt.
I would suggesting trying a "fiddly add-on keyboard" first before saying that :). Maybe the iPad Pro's keyboard is like that and I certainly thought that about the surface pro 4 until I decided to spend some time playing with it. Coming from only Macs for the past 6 years I gave in and bought a surface pro 4. Then I did the launch hackathon with it where I coded for 48 straight hours.
It's a FANTASTIC productivity device. Granted it may not be the best fit for everyone but I wouldn't cast absolute doubt on it without spending some time playing with it.
> What's the point of making an OS X machine in tablet form factor
I don't think anyone specifically said it had to be OS X but it would be nice to have a touch screen and have access to iOS apps at the same time at you have access to "real" apps to get work done. I had an iPad before giving it to one of my kids because I couldn't do very much on it productivity wise. As a programmer who doesn't work on games: 99% of my code could run, without issue, on an iPhone 4's processor. I wanted something portable that I could read with, play casual games on but also get real work done. iOS just can't do that for many professions.
It's a pretty good compromise, in my opinion, for someone looking for a full fledge computer that can also have the portability and usability of a tablet.
Apple is making the bet that people want to use apps that are all designed with touch interfaces in mind and that people prefer a simpler computing model. Microsoft is betting that backwards compatibility is more important.
Considering that a Surface can replace a desktop PC, it should sell in the tens of millions annually. It might take another revision or two but this will soon happen.
I dont even use my tablet camera!! How could they justify making the device uneven for a camera few people use, and for a camera where the old one worked perfectly fine for its purpose.
Seriously wtf move by apple. The camera bump a game-ruiner. I'm irrationally pretty upset by this.
Yes the CPU power is on the same level as an Atom/i3 from what I have read which is interesting but what does it really offer that the Air doesn't offer to an average user? I guess it is similar to how some of those average consumers also buy a MacBook Pro when they don't need any of the extra power over an Air (although lack of retina display on the Air is a valid reason thinking about it).
The biggest complaint I have with the iPad Pro is that it runs iOS. If it ran a touch-friendly ARM-version of OS X that would be awesome.
I've had most versions of previous iPads, and I've spent hundreds and hundreds on keyboards that are generally: Too Heavy, MicroUSB, non-Mac layout or otherwise flawed.
The down-stroke on the 12.9" iPad Pro Apple Keyboard takes a little getting used to, but it's otherwise very similar to my MacBook keyboard. Which puts it way ahead of any Logitech, Belkin, etc keyboard I've ever used on my old iPads.
It's great to just go to a trusted source, buy the thing, and it does what you expect.
So that's a major upgrade for the 9.7" version (IMO). There's nothing I can't do on my iPad Pro that I do on my Macbook aside from running IntelliJ and writing web apps. (There's "solutions" for that I guess, but not ones that I want to actually use yet.)
Also because of the screen size I guess, responsive websites think it's a desktop. Which is great. Because responsive usually just means "let me remove a lot of core features entirely and not actually make it any more usable" for 9 out of 10 sites IME.
It feels like it gives me the hardware of an awesome machine, with the software of a phone, at a steep price. If you want to use it as a video screen or something, you don't need LTE, storage or a keyboard, but then you don't need a pro either. If you need a pro for on the road, you need LTE, keyboard and storage, and then the price approaches machines that have far nicer software for professional usecases, e.g. os x or windows.
Yet it's selling quite nicely, in a market that wasn't showing any signs of growth any more. Remarkable.
The one plus is: I could run IntelliJ (I assume). But on a platform I don't normally use, having to jump through hoops (I assume) to get some of my toolchain (ffmpeg, exiftool, graphics-magic) working, with a different keyboard. And then hope it actually works on my main development and deployment environments.
I bought the Pro for games mostly. Love my Kindle Voyage for reading, so I didn't need that. The screen and speakers are awesome for games. I never touch my PS4 because I don't have 2 hours to "get a feel" or "settle into" a game. I've got 20 minutes maybe. So bite sized semi-casual gaming is really the only gaming that's convenient for me these days. I actively do not want a PC for gaming.
It can pull off the duties of all my non-work stuff easily. Photos, videos, web-surfing for a new cooktop. Budgeting and paying bills. Recipes hunting. Grocery app. Sitting on the counter while I'm cooking. It's actually better than a full laptop for most of those things.
I never update drivers. I don't have to configure anything. iOS could definitely do with some sort of multi-user sign-on experience, but it's not a hindrance for me personally.
For a home machine, if you don't want to play full PC games, it's about the best thing going (for a Mac user) IMO.
I picked the Pro (a few weeks ago), for three reasons:
1. Microcenter had it for $100 off MSRP. 2. For every great iPad keyboard, there's 3 or 4 mediocre ones. A first party keyboard is a big deal. 3. I like comics/graphic novels. Reading a full panel the way it was intended is really nice.
I would very much recommend this device to my older in-laws. It's everything they're used to, and more, and not missing anything they need. Price aside, there's really not much to complain about.
Other than an occasional racing game, they's just nothing there I'd play. And even racing games get old fairly quickly, tilting a screen as a way of controlling a car isn't exactly the type of coordination challenge that keeps me enticed for long.
I totally hear you on little time to settle into a PS4 game, life with family, work etc... it's tricky to get a good session in like the old teenager days!
Anyway I get the appeal of a tablet to some extent for non-work stuff, for sure. I have a tablet. But the pro-element I don't get, especially when paring it with e.g. a keyboard etc, then I'd prefer a laptop. But I just can't imagine doing actual work on that thing, over e.g. a Macbook!
Anyway let me know if you have game recommendations on iOS!
Games I play:
* Carcassonne
* Angry Birds
* Monument Valley
* Kingdom Rush (plus Frontiers, plus Origins sequels)
* Creeps
* Rebuild 2 & 3
* Strategery
* Mahjong
* Solitaire
* Sudoku
* Civilization Revolution
* XCOM
* Battle Hearts
* Battle Hearts: Legacy
* rymdkapsel
* Riven
* Ocean horn (I have a Nimbus controllers for my AppleTV I figured I’d use for this one)
* DOOM
* SpaceMarshals: Turn based team shooter games can be fun
* Space Age: The graphics remind me of the original XCOM games
* Legend of Grimrock: Looks like old "Lands of Lore" games?
The one routinely annoying thing on the iPad Pro: When it wants to capitalize something, it's gonna do it, like it or not. Back-spacing, holding SHIFT and typing the letter again has no effect. See the "So" up there. The only way to get around it I've found is to type the letter twice, then cursor back and remove the capitalized one.
I'm not sure if it's an option in auto-correct settings I can disable but it's not enough of a nuisance to bother to check yet so there's that.
Not enough to justify the iPad Pro markup alone IMO, but it's definitely something major that makes me want one.
He uses it for listening to music, writing emails, and surfing - the same things you'd do with any laptop, but he likes the iPad form factor quite a bit.
Most importantly, the iPad Pro (and I guess, now the smaller iPad Pro) is the only platform in the entire world that offers competent Chinese stylus input.
Typing Chinese is a pain in the ass - there are several ways to do it and all of them largely suck and require a steep learning curve (and even then, still a pain in the ass). There has been a lot of demand for writing-based input methods, but most of the solutions so far have sucked a lot. The hardware surrounding it has been bad, and so has the software, which often required you to enter a single character at a time tediously, with poor recognition rates to boot.
The iPad Pro is the first device that let him write entire sentences at a time, which made input much faster and more natural (you used to have to write a character, pause, select from a list of guesses, repeat). Not to mention the low lag between pen movement and on screen display makes the whole process way more pleasant. Being able to write entire sentences also improves the recognition accuracy of the software, which tilts it from being useful-but-crappy to godsend.
Typing pinyin is also a lot faster.
If you don't know pinyin or mofopo, then yes, suddenly handwriting is the fastes, but then it is pretty much by default.
So I conclude that, technically, it is "better than average." You wouldn't expect to write programs on a toaster, would you? (Although you probably could because toasters will run NetBSD. But toasters running NetBSD are not the average.)
If you are similar to me, i.e. you need a proper computer where you can hack away and do whatever you want, you were never meant to be an iPad customer. Due to the way Apple handles its operating system, you are at their mercy if you hope to be coding on an iPad anytime soon. I hope that your wishes come true but it might just not work out.
When I notice that I can't do important things with a certain operating system, I move on and look for something more suitable. For me a computer should do exactly what I tell it and it should only be constrained by its hardware. I'm disgusted by software that artificially imposes limitations on what I can do with the computer I literally own.
But I know, you meant full-on apps. If we lived in a world where there were only locked-down, iOS-type computers, I'd agree with your indignation. But I think there's room enough for the iPad and all the other things out there. (Besides, can you imagine creating an app on the iPad? That'd take some incredible UI to not be awful. I do hope it comes along someday though.)
My take away was that people really liked the keyboard/pen additions, so now they are testing size versions. The camera is interesting too since it always looks uncomfortable when people are trying to take pictures with their tablet. More processor power is a given and it reduces the number of "tricks" that you have to do to get smooth action on the tablet. The lack of LTE support is odd. One thing I would really like to see the Surface line pick up is built in LTE support, they had a great radio team from Nokia that could help there.
The true tone thing is also interesting. I wonder if it will be distracting like the auto intensity balancing some early TVs do.
Naming system remains confusing for consumers. The only reliable metric is 'by release date and size'.
I like my surface book that I bought, but it doesn't replace my iPad because of lack of LTE, the new iPad Pencil is a win (I struggled for years for a decent writing experience on the iPad).
One of those markets where I wish I could bring my vision of what I'd like to market and see how well it was received.
I'm a developer who can't draw. I've used palm, wacom tablets, samsung pen and a window "tablet" from 2008. I've used it to draw stick figures, notes and maybe a math equation or two.
I've played around with an Ipad pro and watched a ux designer use one.
Assuming you can actually draw, Ipad pro seems to be much better. It has a different feel than a regular stylus, it seems easier to shade and sketch than a regular stylus.
While it seems nice, it seems to be a niche devices.
I had the iPad 1 on day one, but the whole tablet movement never really lived up to the hope/hype.
they certainly are great for consuming content. I think the next major trick will be cell connectivity as the only option with a flat rate outside of contract.
1) laptop at desk with monitor 2) laptop on lap. 3) large phone everywhere else.
I really would like to like it more, but my phone has taken over all its use-cases.
But, you could figure out yourself if you like it in approximately 30 seconds at an apple store; try it out in the notes app and a few other drawing apps. You'll know immediately if it's right for you.
But do you have an app that takes notes and converts your handwriting to text? I haven't found reviews of apps that seem to do that well. That's the real point of taking them digitally instead of on paper.
Onenote and Evernote are way, way worse than a paper notebook for my needs, but I can taste the chance that a working digital notebook offers. It's so close!
It has that tiny bit of latency that all ios pencil apps seem to have; only Apple Notes feels 'perfect' to me right now. And, the paper texture / materials in Notes are better; the Notes pencil tool is just about perfect in my opinion.
On the plus side, I liked having all the different graph papers, the notebook features seem to work well, and marking up a pdf was fine.
I'll see if I reach for it next time I'm taking notes, but right now it's neck and neck with Apple Notes for me.
Some downside for those experienced and very comfortable using a Wacom + carefully configured Photoshop brushes, same with 3D artists using zBrush.
Astropad (app) does a fairly good job letting the iPad Pro work as a tablet for OS X devices. I get a little more lag that appears on YouTube videos of it.
http://www.parkablogs.com/picture/review-microsoft-surface-p...
https://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2013/02/22/the-ms-sur...
http://www.windowscentral.com/check-out-artists-perspective-...
Go look at pictures from a recent wedding on e.g. Facebook, and mentally replace all those phones with iPads. Awful.
I just don’t get the naming. Does this mean the iPad Air is end-of-the-line? Or will there be an iPad Air 3 someday that is simply an iPad Pro without the connector and Pencil? weird
Honestly, Apple's pricing is a joke, but I'm sure plenty of people will swoop in to defend them.
First time this happens in a while, as far as I can recall. FWIW I agree with you, Apple is basically forcing you to pay for the iPad Air + memory upgrade (but worse!) if you want this device. It's an obvious margin-increasing move on a product with declining popularity.
Best to wait until it's inevitably discounted everywhere.
I really think Apple needs to accept lower margins and hit some price points that would get its devices in more hands. By only compromising on margins, it would not be compromising on product quality.
Apple still trails total market in phones, tablets, notebooks, TV devices, and computers so I don't think it's quite game over yet.