However I think we must concentrate on why they should release upgrades -- rather than features, specs and profit margins...
The future of computing is Apple's for the taking... IMO, they should grab every opportunity -- and never look back!... Timing!
Then Apple needs to get busy on software and services because that's where the improvement is needed. In the past year we've seen their hardware chops more so than software.
New ASIC with X suffix for the wider memory bandwidth required for the Retina display, with better CPU and Rogue 6 GPU (if not Rogue 6 then some new battery tech to cut down on mass and volume)
A 326 PPI display at 2048x1536 resolution (Imagine the iPhone's 5 display but about 4.5x larger)
IGZO tech (is this even on the market for any vendor?)
That is only the short list. We don't know what potentially other changes there could be to shrink components to fit the smaller size or if they are getting the same gross profit from the smaller iPad. What if it's smaller than its larger brother? How do you account for the costs for what I think are the minimum mandatory changes needed to make this feasible from a technical standpoint? Have you see any info on what IGZO will likely cost Apple per display?
If you are using tried and true business models that Apple loves to work in we would expect to see this tech on the higher-end and then trickle down to the areas that are already less profitable. I am, of course, assuming the iPad mini is less profitable per unit than the iPad. Why do you think the 15" MBP got a Retina display before the 13" MBP? The iGPU that runs that display was available when the 15" RMBP launched and it's clearly easier and cheaper to make a smaller display than a larger one... but is still too much compared to the cost to profit ratio of that device until you can bring down costs from a few million 15" sheets being cut first?
As I've stated before I want what everyone else here wants I just see nothing substantial to make it seem like it's a reasonable expectation. That is not to say it can't happen but that's not planning a trip to Yellow Stone National Park this Summer because I'm afraid the super volcano could blow at any time. Doesn't mean it couldn't but the data all say it's not likely.
Well then since the mini at $329 is selling so well I don't think they should release a retina mini until costs come down to where they can do it for the same price. Everything you just listed makes me skeptical they would be able to pull off a March launch regardless of price anyway. Plus why replace a product that is clearly selling well with a more expensive one so quickly?
IDK about Retina -- but there other things they could upgrade: APU, RAM, Storage, WiFi...
A price reduction on the current models along with the upgrades would keep sales momentum going and unsettle any competition.
MS must be prevented from getting any toehold in the appliance computer market!
However I think we must concentrate on why they should release upgrades -- rather than features, specs and profit margins...
The future of computing is Apple's for the taking... IMO, they should grab every opportunity -- and never look back!... Timing!
Then Apple needs to get busy on software and services because that's where the improvement is needed. In the past year we've seen their hardware chops more so than software.
IDK about Retina -- but there other things they could upgrade: APU, RAM, Storage, WiFi...
A price reduction on the current models along with the upgrades would keep sales momentum going and unsettle any competition.
MS must be prevented from getting any toehold in the appliance computer market!
Well they need something to fill the spring quarter. But updating a very successful product less than 6 months after you released it seems like madness to me. Unless they were so close to pulling off a retina mini but couldn't wait because they needed something out there for the holiday quarter?
Then Apple needs to get busy on software and services because that's where the improvement is needed. In the past year we've seen their hardware chops more so than software.
I've said it before but software is Apple's biggest opportunity.
IDK about Retina -- but there other things they could upgrade: APU, RAM, Storage, WiFi...
A price reduction on the current models along with the upgrades would keep sales momentum going and unsettle any competition.
MS must be prevented from getting any toehold in the appliance computer market!
Well they need something to fill the spring quarter. But updating a very successful product less than 6 months after you released it seems like madness to me. Unless they were so close to pulling off a retina mini but couldn't wait because they needed something out there for the holiday quarter?
Have you used a Mini? I have 73-year-old eyes, and IMO the Mini display resolution is a non-issue...
What is important is that the iPad Mini delivers the iPad experience in a small, affordable package.
There are many other capabilities they could upgrade!
The key, IMO, is to maintain a continuous growth of tablet sales throughout the year -- regardless [in spite] of what the competition does...
Then Apple needs to get busy on software and services because that's where the improvement is needed. In the past year we've seen their hardware chops more so than software.
I've said it before but software is Apple's biggest opportunity.
They need to overhaul iOS with version 7.
Yeah... IOS has virtually everything that OS X has... It's just that much of it is hidden or "off limits" to developers.
IOS can do (does) everything that Unix, Linux and Android can do. The iOS apps are superior performers because they do not use a runtime interpreter, Davlik, that Android apps use.
What Apple needs to do is open the kimono to developers so they can exploit iOS features/devices while maintaining usability and security.
Yeah... IOS has virtually everything that OS X has... It's just that much of it is hidden or "off limits" to developers.
IOS can do (does) everything that Unix, Linux and Android can do. The iOS apps are superior performers because they do not use a runtime interpreter, Davlik, that Android apps use.
What Apple needs to do is open the kimono to developers so they can exploit iOS features/devices while maintaining usability and security.
There's also some UI improvements that are far overdue as well.
I feel that everything since iOS 4 has been tacking on top of the old UI new features that are not intuitive to use.
I'm hoping Ive will fix that since he's over the UI now. I want a more intuitive natural and easy to use iOS.
There's plenty they could do. We've had years of iOS being just an app launcher. I wouldn't mind having a home screen that was something other than 5 rows of icons/folders. Here's just a few things I'd like:
-multiple user accounts, especially for families that are sharing an iPad.
-ability to change default apps
-merging newstand with iBooks
-app previews so you don't have to download a free app only to realize you want the features of the paid app (which is another app to download)
-quick access to certain settings like wifi, Bluetooth, brightness, etc.
-better use of lock screen (too much wasted space right now)
-redesigned stock apps
-photo filters and better file management in photos app
-and please, please can we get a consistent UI design, and one that banishes kitsch forever
There's also some UI improvements that are far overdue as well.
I feel that everything since iOS 4 has been tacking on top of the old UI new features that are not intuitive to use.
I'm hoping Ive will fix that since he's over the UI now. I want a more intuitive natural and easy to use iOS.
Passbook is a perfect example of this. Not intuitive at all. I read somewhere that after keynotes when Apple execs were schmoozing with the press/invited guests Ive would talk shit about iOS. Can't say for sure if its true or not but I wouldn't be surprised if he's wanted to get his hands on software UI for a while but as long as Steve was around that was never happening.
There's plenty they could do. We've had years of iOS being just an app launcher. I wouldn't mind having a home screen that was something other than 5 rows of icons/folders. Here's just a few things I'd like:
-multiple user accounts, especially for families that are sharing an iPad.
-ability to change default apps
-merging newstand with iBooks
-app previews so you don't have to download a free app only to realize you want the features of the paid app (which is another app to download)
-quick access to certain settings like wifi, Bluetooth, brightness, etc.
-better use of lock screen (too much wasted space right now)
-redesigned stock apps
-photo filters and better file management in photos app
-and please, please can we get a consistent UI design, and one that banishes kitsch forever
Those aren't the major upgrades I was thinking, but I do agree Passbook was terribly hard to figure out and use even for me at first.
What's needed is more simplicity all around.
The best example is if you want to turn on private browsing for safari, you have to leave the safari app, go to the settings app, go down the list, find the safari settings section, then turn on private browsing.
Why can't we change app settings while we're in the app just like on OS X? Yes a settings app is needed but only for system settings not for individual app settings.
Those are some of the major UI overhauls I think necessary. Things like photo editing are just more tack on features to make people feel their getting something new with each release.
Oh and the lock screen is fine. It's well used especially if you have a lot of notifications.
Buy one for every member of your family. That's the idea there.
Okay I'm sorry but that's ridiculous. You haven't given a reason why it doesn't make sense other than Apple just wants people to spend more money on iPads.
I disagree, but… *shrug*
Okay this one might be more for the techie crowd but I guarantee you if people could change the default maps app to Google's they would. I hate the fact that Safari automatically redirects you to mobile and tablet versions of websites so I know I'd use something other than Safari my default browser.
This isn't going to change. The easiest thing for developers to do is make one app with paid features, unlockable therein. I don't see "app previews".
I guess I'd be okay with that. I just hate going to the app store and seeing two apps one free and one paid. Just give me one app and if there are upgradable features let me pay for them in-app.
Double-tap Home (/swipe up) and it's right there in Settings.
Personally I think having toggles in NC would be better.
Apple doesn't have to go all flat (ala Windows) to get rid of the abominations like Game Center, find my friends, notes, podcast app, etc. They've taken this unnecessary ornamentation way to far. I think the podcast app was the tipping point. Go to the App Store, the rating on that app is 1.5 stars.
Those aren't the major upgrades I was thinking, but I do agree Passbook was terribly hard to figure out and use even for me at first.
What's needed is more simplicity all around.
The best example is if you want to turn on private browsing for safari, you have to leave the safari app, go to the settings app, go down the list, find the safari settings section, then turn on private browsing.
Why can't we change app settings while we're in the app just like on OS X? Yes a settings app is needed but only for system settings not for individual app settings.
Those are some of the major UI overhauls I think necessary. Things like photo editing are just more tack on features to make people feel their getting something new with each release.
Oh and the lock screen is fine. It's well used especially if you have a lot of notifications.
im optimistic we might get some of these things because the two biggest obstacles (Jobs & Forstall) are gone. I'm hoping Federighi and Ive will bring a fresh perspective and some new ideas.
Most of the people here are techies, and very comfortable with [I]dicking around[/I] * with the minutiae of computers, settings, UIs, widgets, etc. -- and have strong feelings about the iPad changes needed to enable [I]us[/I] to do [I]our[/I] "proper" computer work.
*There, I've said it
It is worth reminding ourselves that 95% of the population just want to get it done... and don't care how!
[QUOTE][B][SIZE=4]What you're seeing in the industry's reaction to the iPad is nothing less than future shock.[/SIZE][/B]
For years we've all held to the belief that computing had to be made simpler for the 'average person'. I find it difficult to come to any conclusion other than that we have totally failed in this effort.
Secretly, I suspect, we technologists quite liked the idea that Normals would be dependent on us for our technological shamanism. Those incantations that only we can perform to heal their computers, those oracular proclamations that we make over the future and the blessings we bestow on purchasing choices.
Ask yourself this: in what other walk of life do grown adults depend on other people to help them buy something? Women often turn to men to help them purchase a car but that's because of the obnoxious misogyny of car dealers, not because ladies worry that the car they buy won't work on their local roads. (Sorry computer/car analogy. My bad.)
I'm often saddened by the infantilising effect of high technology on adults. From being in control of their world, they're thrust back to a childish, mediaeval world in which gremlins appear to torment them and disappear at will and against which magic, spells, and the local witch doctor are their only refuges.
With the iPhone OS as incarnated in the iPad, Apple proposes to do something about this, and I mean really do something about it instead of just talking about doing something about it, and the world is going mental.
Not the entire world, though. The people whose backs have been broken under the weight of technological complexity and failure immediately understand what's happening here. Those of us who patiently, day after day, explain to a child or colleague that the reason there's no Print item in the File menu is because, although the Pages document is filling the screen, Finder is actually the frontmost application and it doesn't have any windows open, understand what's happening here.
The visigoths are at the gate of the city. They're demanding access to software. they're demanding to be in control of their own experience of information. They may not like our high art and culture, they may be really into OpenGL boob-jiggling apps and they may not always share our sense of aesthetics, but they are the people we have claimed to serve for 30 years whilst screwing them over in innumerable ways. There are also many, many more of them than us.[/QUOTE]
Okay I'm sorry but that's ridiculous. You haven't given a reason why it doesn't make sense other than Apple just wants people to spend more money on iPads.
That's the idea. They're designed that way.
Okay this one might be more for the techie crowd but I guarantee you if people could change the default maps app to Google's they would.
No, they wouldn't.
I hate the fact that Safari automatically redirects you to mobile and tablet versions of websites so I know I'd use something other than Safari my default browser.
This has nothing to do with Apple at all. This has everything to do with website creators being fools.
something like this would be cool:
Can this not be done right now? I just did this…
I'm referring to the stock app.
iPhoto (they want you to pay for it; I thought you'd pick that up).
They've taken this unnecessary ornamentation way to far.
Well, that's your opinion. That's also the rating for Apple's chargers on their website, but would any one of you honestly tell someone to buy anything but a genuine Apple charger? No. It's that low because morons mistreat their possessions.
You can't go by "user reviews". Particularly on the App Store where they can be faked so easily.
Originally Posted by MarkyMarc43
There's only one reason why this rumor exists. Stock manipulation and hit whoring.
Naw, the stock is always a genuine reflection of how people feel about Apple's worth¡ (you're new; that denotes sarcasm; just taking one extra step)
Haven't we been over this? The A6 is not suitable for the resolution of the retina iPad. You need the A6X. I had explained this previously in detail and then listed paragraph after paragraph of AnandTech stating the same thing.
First, I disagree. The benchmarks show that the 543MP3 is fast enough if the memory design is altered to be more like the A6X.
Second, the A6+ I listed has a 32nm A6+ with a SGX 554MP2 which is faster than the current 543MP3 in the A6 or the 543MP4 in the A5X.
We go round and round but frankly you never accepted what is plain truth...the GPU in the A6 or half the GPU in the A6X is fast enough with a lot less silicon than is required in the A6X. The restructuring of the memory pipeline is already done for the A6X and packaging it with either half the cores (554MP2) or the existing GPU (543MP3) will work.
There was NOT paragraph after paragraph...there was one comment followed by a bunch of benchmarks and comments that showed the 543MP3 in the A6 was within a few percentage points of performance with the 543MP4 in the A5X. The one objection of memory bandwidth is a solved problem.
Moving the half the cores greatly reduces the footprint and power consumption and the iPad mini currently has a lot of headroom in terms of battery life.
Comments
IDK about Retina -- but there other things they could upgrade: APU, RAM, Storage, WiFi...
A price reduction on the current models along with the upgrades would keep sales momentum going and unsettle any competition.
MS must be prevented from getting any toehold in the appliance computer market!
Yes... YES... YES!
I've said it before but software is Apple's biggest opportunity.
They need to overhaul iOS with version 7.
I would hope that wasn't the case but you never know.
Have you used a Mini? I have 73-year-old eyes, and IMO the Mini display resolution is a non-issue...
What is important is that the iPad Mini delivers the iPad experience in a small, affordable package.
There are many other capabilities they could upgrade!
The key, IMO, is to maintain a continuous growth of tablet sales throughout the year -- regardless [in spite] of what the competition does...
Keep the spotlight on the iPad solutions!
Yeah... IOS has virtually everything that OS X has... It's just that much of it is hidden or "off limits" to developers.
IOS can do (does) everything that Unix, Linux and Android can do. The iOS apps are superior performers because they do not use a runtime interpreter, Davlik, that Android apps use.
What Apple needs to do is open the kimono to developers so they can exploit iOS features/devices while maintaining usability and security.
There's also some UI improvements that are far overdue as well.
I feel that everything since iOS 4 has been tacking on top of the old UI new features that are not intuitive to use.
I'm hoping Ive will fix that since he's over the UI now. I want a more intuitive natural and easy to use iOS.
Originally Posted by blackbook
They need to overhaul iOS with version 7.
For what reason, and to what end?
-multiple user accounts, especially for families that are sharing an iPad.
-ability to change default apps
-merging newstand with iBooks
-app previews so you don't have to download a free app only to realize you want the features of the paid app (which is another app to download)
-quick access to certain settings like wifi, Bluetooth, brightness, etc.
-better use of lock screen (too much wasted space right now)
-redesigned stock apps
-photo filters and better file management in photos app
-and please, please can we get a consistent UI design, and one that banishes kitsch forever
Originally Posted by Rogifan
-multiple user accounts, especially for families that are sharing an iPad.
Buy one for every member of your family. That's the idea there.
-ability to change default apps
I disagree, but… *shrug*
-merging newstand with iBooks
Agreed wholeheartedly. Makes no sense that Newsstand is in the OS by default and iBooks isn't.
-app previews so you don't have to download a free app only to realize you want the features of the paid app
This isn't going to change. The easiest thing for developers to do is make one app with paid features, unlockable therein. I don't see "app previews".
-quick access to certain settings like wifi, Bluetooth, brightness, etc.
Double-tap Home (/swipe up) and it's right there in Settings.
-better use of lock screen (too much wasted space right now)
-redesigned stock apps
Oh? For example?
-photo filters and better file management in photos app
iPhoto.
-and please, please can we get a consistent UI design, and one that banishes kitsch forever
No. You're gonna want to learn why skeuomorphism isn't (and shouldn't) going away.
Those aren't the major upgrades I was thinking, but I do agree Passbook was terribly hard to figure out and use even for me at first.
What's needed is more simplicity all around.
The best example is if you want to turn on private browsing for safari, you have to leave the safari app, go to the settings app, go down the list, find the safari settings section, then turn on private browsing.
Why can't we change app settings while we're in the app just like on OS X? Yes a settings app is needed but only for system settings not for individual app settings.
Those are some of the major UI overhauls I think necessary. Things like photo editing are just more tack on features to make people feel their getting something new with each release.
Oh and the lock screen is fine. It's well used especially if you have a lot of notifications.
Okay this one might be more for the techie crowd but I guarantee you if people could change the default maps app to Google's they would. I hate the fact that Safari automatically redirects you to mobile and tablet versions of websites so I know I'd use something other than Safari my default browser.
I guess I'd be okay with that. I just hate going to the app store and seeing two apps one free and one paid. Just give me one app and if there are upgradable features let me pay for them in-app.
Personally I think having toggles in NC would be better.
something like this would be cool:
I'm referring to the stock app.
Apple doesn't have to go all flat (ala Windows) to get rid of the abominations like Game Center, find my friends, notes, podcast app, etc. They've taken this unnecessary ornamentation way to far. I think the podcast app was the tipping point. Go to the App Store, the rating on that app is 1.5 stars.
There's only one reason why this rumor exists.
Stock manipulation and hit whoring.
And Apple Insider could do the community a service and stop publishing rumors.
Period
*There, I've said it
It is worth reminding ourselves that 95% of the population just want to get it done... and don't care how!
[QUOTE][B][SIZE=4]What you're seeing in the industry's reaction to the iPad is nothing less than future shock.[/SIZE][/B]
For years we've all held to the belief that computing had to be made simpler for the 'average person'. I find it difficult to come to any conclusion other than that we have totally failed in this effort.
Secretly, I suspect, we technologists quite liked the idea that Normals would be dependent on us for our technological shamanism. Those incantations that only we can perform to heal their computers, those oracular proclamations that we make over the future and the blessings we bestow on purchasing choices.
Ask yourself this: in what other walk of life do grown adults depend on other people to help them buy something? Women often turn to men to help them purchase a car but that's because of the obnoxious misogyny of car dealers, not because ladies worry that the car they buy won't work on their local roads. (Sorry computer/car analogy. My bad.)
I'm often saddened by the infantilising effect of high technology on adults. From being in control of their world, they're thrust back to a childish, mediaeval world in which gremlins appear to torment them and disappear at will and against which magic, spells, and the local witch doctor are their only refuges.
With the iPhone OS as incarnated in the iPad, Apple proposes to do something about this, and I mean really do something about it instead of just talking about doing something about it, and the world is going mental.
Not the entire world, though. The people whose backs have been broken under the weight of technological complexity and failure immediately understand what's happening here. Those of us who patiently, day after day, explain to a child or colleague that the reason there's no Print item in the File menu is because, although the Pages document is filling the screen, Finder is actually the frontmost application and it doesn't have any windows open, understand what's happening here.
The visigoths are at the gate of the city. They're demanding access to software. they're demanding to be in control of their own experience of information. They may not like our high art and culture, they may be really into OpenGL boob-jiggling apps and they may not always share our sense of aesthetics, but they are the people we have claimed to serve for 30 years whilst screwing them over in innumerable ways. There are also many, many more of them than us.[/QUOTE]
- Fraser Speirs
http://speirs.org/blog/2010/1/29/future-shock.html
Originally Posted by Rogifan
Okay I'm sorry but that's ridiculous. You haven't given a reason why it doesn't make sense other than Apple just wants people to spend more money on iPads.
That's the idea. They're designed that way.
Okay this one might be more for the techie crowd but I guarantee you if people could change the default maps app to Google's they would.
No, they wouldn't.
I hate the fact that Safari automatically redirects you to mobile and tablet versions of websites so I know I'd use something other than Safari my default browser.
This has nothing to do with Apple at all. This has everything to do with website creators being fools.
something like this would be cool:
Can this not be done right now? I just did this…
I'm referring to the stock app.
iPhoto (they want you to pay for it; I thought you'd pick that up).
They've taken this unnecessary ornamentation way to far.
Well, that's your opinion. That's also the rating for Apple's chargers on their website, but would any one of you honestly tell someone to buy anything but a genuine Apple charger? No. It's that low because morons mistreat their possessions.
You can't go by "user reviews". Particularly on the App Store where they can be faked so easily.
Originally Posted by MarkyMarc43
There's only one reason why this rumor exists. Stock manipulation and hit whoring.
Naw, the stock is always a genuine reflection of how people feel about Apple's worth¡ (you're new; that denotes sarcasm; just taking one extra step)
Quote:
Originally Posted by SolipsismX
Haven't we been over this? The A6 is not suitable for the resolution of the retina iPad. You need the A6X. I had explained this previously in detail and then listed paragraph after paragraph of AnandTech stating the same thing.
First, I disagree. The benchmarks show that the 543MP3 is fast enough if the memory design is altered to be more like the A6X.
Second, the A6+ I listed has a 32nm A6+ with a SGX 554MP2 which is faster than the current 543MP3 in the A6 or the 543MP4 in the A5X.
We go round and round but frankly you never accepted what is plain truth...the GPU in the A6 or half the GPU in the A6X is fast enough with a lot less silicon than is required in the A6X. The restructuring of the memory pipeline is already done for the A6X and packaging it with either half the cores (554MP2) or the existing GPU (543MP3) will work.
There was NOT paragraph after paragraph...there was one comment followed by a bunch of benchmarks and comments that showed the 543MP3 in the A6 was within a few percentage points of performance with the 543MP4 in the A5X. The one objection of memory bandwidth is a solved problem.
Moving the half the cores greatly reduces the footprint and power consumption and the iPad mini currently has a lot of headroom in terms of battery life.