charlesn

Probably the most wrong-headed, boneheaded, flat-out stupid marketing decision I've ever seen by Apple. It should pull this immediately. It's hard for me to believe that Apple execs sat in a room and actually said yes to this. Lots of comments here dismissing "just overly sensitive wimps getting offended," or something to that effect. It's not about people being offended. It's about this being egregiously wrong from a marketing perspective. Here's why:

The creative class of people across all the arts and industries like architecture--which is an absolute core Apple customer constituency--are all rightfully filled with fear about job devastation from AI. I know because I'm in that group. And all of the cheerful destruction in this ad is of "analogue" equipment connected to human creativity. Starting right from the top, where the trumpet gets smashed, Apple's message seems to be, "Who needs real trumpets--or human trumpet players--when you can have digitized trumpets in your iPad Pro?" This ad doesn't "offend" me. Not at all. It just leaves me with a feeling of dread. Which is not exactly a vibe you want connected to your product. 

Another core Apple constituency--and the secret sauce, IMO, to what has kept the company so relevant for so long--is youth, as represented currently by Gen Alpha and Gen Z. You know what those groups prize most right now? Realness. Analogue. Things that aren't just zeroes and ones. You see it with the vinyl record resurgence, cassette tapes, "Polaroid" prints, point and shoot cameras instead of phones, etc. This ad is the exact opposite message of that. 

And finally: why associate your product with the destruction of anything--especially things that people like and have an emotional connection to? That's just Dumb Marketing 101. This could have easily been an ad with real humans spotlighting the boundless creativity possible with the new iPad Pro. I guarantee there's a lot of "WTF, who approved this?" going on at Infinite Loop today and I'm sure this ad will have a very short lifespan. 

AniMill said:

The new Air looks like the perfect replacement for my 11” iPad Pro 2nd generation with its cracked screen. But I will look into the 11” iPad Pro with that OLED display.

Yes, by all means, just "look into it,"lol. You know how this will end, right? Just get your wallet ready. 

danox said:

charlesn said:

Kierkegaarden said:

That’s a lot of power — I can’t help think that something else with be unveiled at WWDC to take advantage of this.  Maybe I’m completely off, 

Hello? Did you see the new Live Multicam capabilities with four iPhones?! I'm sure more is coming at WWDC, but that alone is INSANE. 

HOWEVER... Mark Gurman really nailed the crux of the issue in his most recent Power Up column: Apple has intentionally held back the iPad from becoming a true laptop replacement by hobbling it in iPadOS. How else to explain that they can pull off a near miracle like Live Multicam but the simple task of multitasking on an iPad remains a kludge? This much is clear: the new iPad Pros, at first blush, might be the best hardware Apple has ever produced--they are at least in the running for that title. But will Apple FINALLY provide an iPadOS as good as the hardware? We'll soon see... If they do, I'd trade in my MBA M2 immediately. 

Apple is in league of their own they don't need to double back and do what Microsoft is doing with the Surface, new software and upgraded software will be introduced to take advantage of another step forward for Apple who has again cemented the iPads place as the best tablet in the world.

Note: Samsung tried to talk Apple out of tandem OLED but LG stepped up and said yes we can and they are building the screen for the 13" model.

https://www.oled-info.com/tags/tandem-architecture

Yep. It's the best tablet in the world. And the largest-selling. And the iPad (as well as the Mac) have been struggling with growth. All those things can be true at the same time. And since Apple stock is priced as a growth company, lack of growth in major product lines is a big problem. Apple doesn't need to replicate what Surface does--but it basic computing functions like multi-tasking shouldn't be a kludge. I'm very anxious to see what awaits in the iPadOS unveiled at WWDC. 

This makes no sense. You don't make the momentous decision to shut down and layoff/reassign your whole car development unit after more than a decade and who knows how many billions in investment... and then, about two months later, say, "Nevermind, let's go buy a car company." Try this scenario instead: If Rivian is going to survive the softening EV market and ruthless price cutting, then it needs to not be turning away any potential buyers by failing to support Apple CarPlay. I'm guessing that a lot of the deep-pocketed buyers who could afford a Rivian are also using iPhones, so offering CarPlay support would be an important reason not to have them looking elsewhere. Yes, Tesla got away with not having CarPlay support, but Tesla also had the EV market to itself for a long time. 

libertyandfree said:

 I really do not care if we ever get an under display FaceID with a pinhole or we just continue with the notch.  The notch has zero impact upon me at all and somehow a pinhole in the screen is not going to be a concern for those who dislike the notch.  People that dislike the notch will also dislike the pinhole. 

Ummm... you realize the notch is gone, right? Replaced by "Dynamic Island," which is destined to join the dustbin of Apple history with other interface ideas that never gained significant support or traction ... 3D Touch, Touch Bar, etc. Personally, I found the notch less visually intrusive than the Island because the notch was at least integrated with the screen bezels. I'd never switch to Android, but I do admire the uninterrupted screen space of Samsung and Pixel phones.