Third-generation iPad passes Taiwan certification, could see May debut
Apple's new LTE-equipped iPad has reportedly passed governmental certification in Taiwan and could be hitting shelves as soon as May.
Both the Wi-Fi and "4G" version of the tablet have been inspected () by Taiwan's National Communications Commission (NCC) and were found to be in accordance with all wireless laws, reports the Mandarin language Economic Daily News.
Taiwanese users will only be able to use the iPad's 3G functionality, however, as the country has yet to introduce 4G LTE. The nation's largest wireless operator, Chunghwa Telecom, only offers up to WCDMA service and other carriers operate 4G WiMAX networks.
Also inspected were the iPad's battery and wall charging unit.
There has yet to be an official announcement regarding the official launch of the iPad, but Taiwan could possibly get the tablet ahead of the Chinese mainland if Apple follows its iPhone 4S release calendar. The newest iPhone launched in Taiwan in December and was followed by China a month later.
[ View article on AppleInsider ]
Comments
Don't forget properly describe the true meaning of the cell type service technology and it's limitations on Taiwan's Apple web site or you may get a law suit like the one in Australia.
It's too bad the air interfaces weren't marketed by the carriers because then there would haven't been an any issue. It makes a lot of sense to use them because it's the air interface that is the reason for the incompatibly and use of different operating bands. When talking about LTE I'd rather call it E-UTRA. It just sounds cooler.
Steve Jobs never thought it would be a total takeover, just a takeover for the general case, with specialised tasks still needing a PC. But I am wondering if the takeover might not be so complete. Yes, there will be a takeover, but only of the low end, the $500 PC, the general case will still be a laptop, although a much smaller and lighter one.
Don't forget properly describe the true meaning of the cell type service technology and it's limitations on Taiwan's Apple web site or you may get a law suit like the one in Australia.
I bought mine (Wi-Fi + 4G) to replace 1st gen WiFi only not because of the 4G or even LTE but because it is lighter than the 1st gen., it is newer and Retina Display. It's a pity those who sell need to educate those who buy when the buyer is the one who give their hard-earned money, they should know what they are committing to. No corporations no matter how philanthropic they are can get away with anything nowadays.
I love my iPad 3: it is faster, lighter and higher res than my iPad 1. But one thing I noticed: it hasn't taken me any closer to the idea of tablets taking over from PCs. That is, with the purchase of an iPad 3, no additional tasks that I do on my PC have moved to my tablet. Am beginning to doubt the idea of tablets taking over from computers.
Steve Jobs never thought it would be a total takeover, just a takeover for the general case, with specialised tasks still needing a PC. But I am wondering if the takeover might not be so complete. Yes, there will be a takeover, but only of the low end, the $500 PC, the general case will still be a laptop, although a much smaller and lighter one.
I used to carry a laptop to work every day. Now I only bring the iPad third-generation. I have a 27 inch iMac that I use for editing photos and movies. Pretty much for everything else I use the iPad.
My poor laptop has been sitting dead in the closet since the 16th. I think Steve Jobs was right, in order to have a successful product line in the tablet market it has to be better than a smart phone and the laptop.
So considering android tablets are glorified oversized smart phones and small netbooks laptops are basically tablets with keyboards I truly think the iPad is the future of personal computing. With the new iPad's voice dictation and easy typing interface, a physical keyboard to type faster really isn't as needed as it was years ago.
The days of needing a 15 or 17 inch laptop with a DVD burner and USB drives are coming to an end.
I think for the basic house hold, in the coming five years the home desktop will remain, laptops will slowly fade, and the tablet market with optional physical keyboards for those that still feel they need them will dominate.
I also feel within 8 to 10 years the home desktop computer will begin to fade and smaller tablet like devices will become the mainstream source of interactive technology to the average consumer. For some users like those in the photography, video editing, graphic arts, etc. fields, the desktop will be around for quite a bit longer.
It's too bad the air interfaces weren't marketed by the carriers because then there would haven't been an any issue. It makes a lot of sense to use them because it's the air interface that is the reason for the incompatibly and use of different operating bands. When talking about LTE I'd rather call it E-UTRA. It just sounds cooler.
You know a lot about this subject so I have to ask ... Why didn't Apple include more supported versions of so called 4G, was this beyond their control? Or are they trying to influence the uptake of those services they do support (assuming they have that much clout)?
I used to carry a laptop to work every day. Now I only bring the iPad third-generation. I have a 27 inch iMac that I use for editing photos and movies. Pretty much for everything else I use the iPad.
My poor laptop has been sitting dead in the closet since the 16th. I think Steve Jobs was right, in order to have a successful product line in the tablet market it has to be better than a smart phone and the laptop.
So considering android tablets are glorified oversized smart phones and small netbooks laptops are basically tablets with keyboards I truly think the iPad is the future of personal computing. With the new iPad's voice dictation and easy typing interface, a physical keyboard to type faster really isn't as needed as it was years ago.
The days of needing a 15 or 17 inch laptop with a DVD burner and USB drives are coming to an end.
I think for the basic house hold, in the coming five years the home desktop will remain, laptops will slowly fade, and the tablet market with optional physical keyboards for those that still feel they need them will dominate.
I also feel within 8 to 10 years the home desktop computer will begin to fade and smaller tablet like devices will become the mainstream source of interactive technology to the average consumer. For some users like those in the photography, video editing, graphic arts, etc. fields, the desktop will be around for quite a bit longer.
I'd only disagree with the part about desk tops in five years being needed by the average household. You are right on the money IMHO except the time frame will be faster than you speculate. I suspect there will be larger iPads with more power within five years and the desktop will be a tool only used by those who are in the professional creation arena. New generations minis and main frames are coming for enterprise and iPads will become intelligent terminals for those folks I bet further reducing desk top usage.
Apple should look at buying Cray ... So as to create the next generation Apple Servers!
I'd only disagree with the part about desk tops in five years being needed by the average household. You are right on the money IMHO except the time frame will be faster than you speculate. I suspect there will be larger iPads with more power within five years and the desktop will be a tool only used by those who are in the professional creation arena. New generations minis and main frames are coming for enterprise and iPads will become intelligent terminals for those folks I bet further reducing desk top usage.
Apple should look at buying Cray ... So as to create the next generation Apple Servers!
Yea, your probably right! I was being conservative with my projections.
I am ready for the change!
I love my iPad 3: it is faster, lighter and higher res than my iPad 1. But one thing I noticed: it hasn't taken me any closer to the idea of tablets taking over from PCs. That is, with the purchase of an iPad 3, no additional tasks that I do on my PC have moved to my tablet. Am beginning to doubt the idea of tablets taking over from computers.
Steve Jobs never thought it would be a total takeover, just a takeover for the general case, with specialised tasks still needing a PC. But I am wondering if the takeover might not be so complete. Yes, there will be a takeover, but only of the low end, the $500 PC, the general case will still be a laptop, although a much smaller and lighter one.
Interesting.
Which capabilities do you think need to be incorporated into tablets in order to make them preferable - in most respects - to PCs?
Do you use your home computer for things that most people do not? Heavy duty stuff?
Or is it mostly a matter of the form factor? What would you think of a dock where you would get a keyboard and a touchpad, making the tablet's touchscreen optional for use?
If a tablet had the raw power of your current laptop or desktop, and a better input method, could you make the switch? Even assuming that desktops and laptops continue to get more powerful and cheaper and better?
I'm very hopeful that we'll get to the point where you have a small token that will turn any machine you happen to be using into YOUR machine, with abilities commensurate with the hardware. YOu could grab your cheap tablet to take to the beach, and it would be perfectly OK for eBooks, eMail and web surfing.
At home, you could sit down in front of the home sized behemoth, either the medium-sized setup in your bedroom, or the home-theater-sized one in the den, and edit your home movies.
I'm not a big fan of the cloud for doing this, but rather, home storage appliances and broadband connections from wherever, or even better, local storage in your pocket.
As of now, a terabit card that would transform any normal computer into YOUR computer would be great. Boot it up, slide your card and use your passphrase, and all of your data, apps and settings would be right there, just as if you were sitting at home.
Is the lack of large storage something that ruins your use of iPads? The inability to use it as mass storage? The inability to run apps that are as robust and full-featured as those on current desktops? The sheer lack of horsepower in CPU and RAM?
What are the factors?
PS - The Transformer Prime style of doing things seems to me to be the way of the future. It is a pretty good Android tablet which can be "transformed" by plugging it into a sturdy and capable keyboard/trackpad base. With that setup, you get a fairly slim notebook with a 10 inch screen that lasts for a long time on a charge. When you dock it, some screen elements change to make things optimal (?) for a cursor-based UI.
I'm thinking that something similar in a 15 inch size would interest me greatly. If Windows 8 works like that, I'd want to check it out.
You know a lot about this subject so I have to ask ... Why didn't Apple include more supported versions of so called 4G, was this beyond their control? Or are they trying to influence the uptake of those services they do support (assuming they have that much clout)?
Definitely. Even though Apple supports their home country first and foremost (because it's their largest market) they still had to have two models for LTE in the US (and Canada).
If they could have supported even 3 LTE operating bands (2 in the 700MHz frequency band, and one in 2100MHz) they could have reduced the number of iPads from 18 SKUs to 12 SKUs. that's a 1/3 reduction just from adding one operating band. The benefits are significant.
So how this would work is that you if you didn't buy the WiFi model (6 SKUs) but bought the WiFi + 4G model (the other 6 SKUs) it would only work on Verizon's CDMA network (not Sprint, but would be able to connect to any network that supported the 4 GSM (2G)) operating bands, the 4 UMTS/W-CDMA operating bands, and 3 LTE operating bands. It's a much simpler system if you can do that so the only answer is that they couldn't.
Now if Sprint does get the iPad (3) when the get their LTE up and running ? per the rumour ? that will be 6 more SKUs making a total of 24. That's a lot. Now if Sprint only has 1 LTE operating band then it cold be the same Verizon iPad but with the 2nd LTE operating band enabled. However, you still need those 6 other SKUs because the baseband has to be flashed for that carrier.
I addressed this once before but I haven't seen any other site mention it. If we expect an LTE iPhone this Autumn and we expect Apple to offer the "world mode" phone they seem to love, then they will have to use HW that can support more LTE operating bands. Just for the US we need at least three.
How many do we need for the rest of Apple's iPhone markets with decent LTE coverage? Can the Qualcomm MDM9615 support 3? Can it support the 5 or 6 I think would be required? I can't find any info on it but I do know that it wasn't until 2010 that the first phones that could support 5 UMTS (3G) operating bands hit the market so it too soon to expect Qualcomm to have worked this out?
I addressed this once before but I haven't seen any other site mention it. If we expect an LTE iPhone this Autumn and we expect Apple to offer the "world mode" phone they seem to love, then they will have to use HW that can support more LTE operating bands. Just for the US we need at least three.
How many do we need for the rest of Apple's iPhone markets with decent LTE coverage? Can the Qualcomm MDM9615 support 3? Can it support the 5 or 6 I think would be required? I can't find any info on it but I do know that it wasn't until 2010 that the first phones that could support 5 UMTS (3G) operating bands hit the market so it too soon to expect Qualcomm to have worked this out?
As a practical matter, how many additional operating bands would be added? Which systems, and where would the additions be? What's up with any Chinese LTE standards/coverage? Is there much "bang for the buck" in Europe, with many different carriers using the same operating bands?
As a practical matter, how many additional operating bands would be added? Which systems, and where would the additions be? What's up with any Chinese LTE standards/coverage? Is there much "bang for the buck" in Europe, with many different carriers using the same operating bands?
1) I'd think as many as they can.
2) The most relevant systems for getting the highest possible profit from a single device. It's possible we can figure this out. At the minimum we'd need to know the carrier, the number of subs, and the LTE operating band(s) in use. Add those up and see which ones come out one top.
3) The MDM9615 which seems most likely for the next iPhone supports bother FDD-LTE and TD-LTE, used by China Mobile. China Mobile is not yet offering the iPhone and have very little LTE established. However, I believe Japan's SoftBank is also using China Mobile's homegrown TD-LTE. I have no idea what operating bands they are using of even if the same operating bands can be used between FDD-LTE and TD-LTE off the baseband HW.
1) I'd think as many as they can.
2) The most relevant systems for getting the highest possible profit from a single device. It's possible we can figure this out. At the minimum we'd need to know the carrier, the number of subs, and the LTE operating band(s) in use. Add those up and see which ones come out one top.
3) The MDM9615 which seems most likely for the next iPhone supports bother FDD-LTE and TD-LTE, used by China Mobile. China Mobile is not yet offering the iPhone and have very little LTE established. However, I believe Japan's SoftBank is also using China Mobile's homegrown TD-LTE. I have no idea what operating bands they are using of even if the same operating bands can be used between FDD-LTE and TD-LTE off the baseband HW.
It will be very interesting to see where Apple debuts new LTE devices with local functionality. My guess is that it depends on a lot of factors, including "subsidies".
It will be very interesting to see where Apple debuts new LTE devices with local functionality. My guess is that it depends on a lot of factors, including "subsidies".
If they can't get more than 3 LTE operating bands in the next iPhone and if Qualcomm won't have acceptable tech for a couple years I think we'll finally see Apple create several different HW models for different markets.
The Verizon iPhone was an exception but it also was the first to move away from Infineon's X-OLD baseband chip for Qualcomm, and used a "world mode" chip while not having any of the power amps to utilize that feature.
Apple would have thought about this issue at least 2 years ago so I assume they've worked with Qualcomm to come up with a solution... but that doesn't mean it will be possible.
This could be a very unusual release because of LTE.
Interesting.
Which capabilities do you think need to be incorporated into tablets in order to make them preferable - in most respects - to PCs?
Do you use your home computer for things that most people do not? Heavy duty stuff?
Or is it mostly a matter of the form factor? What would you think of a dock where you would get a keyboard and a touchpad, making the tablet's touchscreen optional for use?
If a tablet had the raw power of your current laptop or desktop, and a better input method, could you make the switch? Even assuming that desktops and laptops continue to get more powerful and cheaper and better?
I'm very hopeful that we'll get to the point where you have a small token that will turn any machine you happen to be using into YOUR machine, with abilities commensurate with the hardware. YOu could grab your cheap tablet to take to the beach, and it would be perfectly OK for eBooks, eMail and web surfing.
At home, you could sit down in front of the home sized behemoth, either the medium-sized setup in your bedroom, or the home-theater-sized one in the den, and edit your home movies.
I'm not a big fan of the cloud for doing this, but rather, home storage appliances and broadband connections from wherever, or even better, local storage in your pocket.
I use a few heavyweight apps that are not available on the iPad (software dev), but most of what I do on the PC does have an iPad equivalent.
What it comes down to is the desire to have only one copy of my data. I'm not comfortable having my data scattered across multiple devices and the Internet. And not for security reasons, but data management reasons. Life is short, I want to get on with what I enjoy, not create data management busywork for myself (copying, syncing, remember what file is what).
The token you suggest: if it actually had your data on it, like a portable home directory, I would go for it. But actually, I don't think a personal token and auto-adapting devices all around you is the future. I think, outside the workplace, there's only one form-factor we need: small enough to be implanted in your body and connect to your eye. You can have any size screen you want if it's projecting on to your eye. And if you need a keyboard, just pick one up and it pairs with the computer inside you.
Sound like the distant future? Linux computer the size of a USB stick:
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/...r-preorder.ars
TL;DR: The iPad is a screen without a keyboard, but the future is a keyboard without a screen.
I love my iPad 3: it is faster, lighter and higher res than my iPad 1. But one thing I noticed: it hasn't taken me any closer to the idea of tablets taking over from PCs. That is, with the purchase of an iPad 3, no additional tasks that I do on my PC have moved to my tablet. Am beginning to doubt the idea of tablets taking over from computers.
I disagree completely. I bought the new ipad and it is my first. I now prefer browsing the web and checking email on the ipad over my Macbook with 27" cinema display attached. I never really played games on my Macintosh but I am having so much fun browsing games on the app store and downloading them onto my ipad. I would never think of reading books on my laptop but I am excited to buy and read books on is gorgeous display. I look forward to downloading HD movies from the itunes store and watching hem on my 10" screen than on my lower ppi cinema display. I take my ipad to work and it is a time saver. It seems like every day I am discovering more and more that I can do on my ipad that is less convenient or not possible on my Macbook. That is why I upgraded to the topmof the line 64gb 4g model.
I disagree completely. I bought the new ipad and it is my first. I now prefer browsing the web and checking email on the ipad over my Macbook with 27" cinema display attached. I never really played games on my Macintosh but I am having so much fun browsing games on the app store and downloading them onto my ipad. I would never think of reading books on my laptop but I am excited to buy and read books on is gorgeous display. I look forward to downloading HD movies from the itunes store and watching hem on my 10" screen than on my lower ppi cinema display. I take my ipad to work and it is a time saver. It seems like every day I am discovering more and more that I can do on my ipad that is less convenient or not possible on my Macbook. That is why I upgraded to the topmof the line 64gb 4g model.
I agree the iPad is my favourite way to read email, and read ebooks. Also I rented a 1080p movie the other day ("Drive") just to try out the screen, and it looked amazingly sharp but the screen was very small and not widescreen ratio, so there were big black bars.
The best thing about the iPad imho is the amount of innovation and competition on the app store. It leads to very high quality software for very cheap.
I agree the iPad is my favourite way to read email, and read ebooks. Also I rented a 1080p movie the other day ("Drive") just to try out the screen, and it looked amazingly sharp but the screen was very small and not widescreen ratio, so there were big black bars.
The best thing about the iPad imho is the amount of innovation and competition on the app store. It leads to very high quality software for very cheap.
Not to mention the battery lasts 4x longer!