Hacker News Reader

Comment by alexeisadeski3 | Hacker News Reader

Why does Apple depart from the series numbers with the iPad?

New iPad, now iPad Air... seems silly?

I think Apple leaves the number on the iPhone because carrier contracts make it a naturally cyclical purchase: When users come off contract, Apple wants them to know that there's a new phone available with a big +1 number.

Conversely, Apple wants you to buy a new iPad as soon as you want one, and not sit around waiting for the N+1 model. Spreading out purchases over the device lifecycle gives them better margins as manufacturing and components get cheaper.

An interesting guess would be that they're going to repurpose the generic iPad name for something beefier like the Surface. In that case, the iPad Air would sort of be the lighter portable version similar to the Macbook Pro/Macbook Air. Just an idea that popped into my head.

That's an interesting thought.

It's presumably only a matter of time before the heart of Apple's PC line is converted to touchscreen. Whether they will carry the Macbook branding or iPad branding or a mixture of both will be interesting.

If you look at the back of the iPhones, the iPhone 3GS was the last one to name itself. Recently an Apple store employee wasn't to happy that I kept saying iPad 4.

I suppose in a world where change is frequent and incremental rather than dramatic and rare removing the version number is appropriate to minimize consumer confusion.

What strikes me more about this iPad Air is the price points. $499 16GB wifi only is a very hard sell to the mass market when a Nexus 7 16GB comes in at $230. Size matters here, but I can see Apple being in big trouble when Google's tablet is half the price and has a handful of more advanced features. I guess that is why Apple hired that Burberry executive last week. They can sit right next to the Vertu store.

About the Android tablets - what they seem to get wrong is the aspect ratio and / or dimensions. I have a rooted Nook Tablet, and I dislike the it because both portrait and landscape are too narrow. I grab my sister's iPad and it seems to be much more natural. Even the iPad mini just shrinks what the iPad has. So yes, Nexus, et. al are cheaper, but the dimensions, for me personally, stink.

The Retina Mini is $399. So, yeah, it's more than the N7, but it's not twice as much.

Close enough. $230 vs $400

It doesn't have more advanced features, and there is little or no software optimized for it.

The 3GS didn't have it's name on the back. All iPhones have simply said 'iPhone' on the back.

There's a Mini, there's an Air... maybe soon there'll be a Pro?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com