Is this big news?
It certainly does appear we've seen a plateauing of technology news. Nothing really exciting came out with the iPhone 5S and nothing really exciting was announced today.
Que sera sera.
Here is a brief write-up from ZDNet on the iPad Air:
http://www.zdnet.com/apple-announces-ipad-5-heres-what-you-need-to-know-7000022267/
It will be at a starting price of $499 while the iPad 2 remains at $399. The iPad Mini gets a resolution bump to the "Retina" display quality and a bump in price too: also $399. Apple still prefers "premium" to any other title.
On of my favorite bloggers has a short bit on the plateauing of tablets that is worth reading:
http://www.zdnet.com/tablets-hitting-the-wall-for-innovation-7000022223/
Finally, here is a short bit on the iPad Mini:
http://www.zdnet.com/apple-pins-a-retina-display-onto-the-next-ipad-mini-7000022227/
Happy reading,
J.W. Gant
**UPDATE**
Good post on ComputerWorld.com:
new-ipad-air-ipad-mini-leave-plenty-room-windows-8-tablets-succeed
Here is a quick quote from it:
If you're looking for innovative new tablet form factors, you'll need to look to Windows 8 tablets, not to Apple. There are plenty of devices that don't even have proper names yet, sometimes called convertibles, hybrids, or two-in-one devices. Microsoft, HP, Nokia, Dell, Lenovo and others have all been experimenting with them. There's one common denominator among them: They all can function not only as tablets, but as ultrabooks as well.
**UPDATE #2**
This is hilarious:
http://pocketnow.com/2013/10/29/nexus-versus-ipad
"Why do people buy Apple products?"
What happened to the innovation? Does "We made it thinner and faster!" really qualify as a successful debut these days, in Apple's eyes? Today's announcement further solidified why my next tablet will be running either Android (Google Nexus 10v2) or Windows (Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 3).
ReplyDeleteOne thing that absolutely blows my mind is that Apple still believes withholding technology is acceptable... In the case of the iPad Air and iPad Mini, there's absolutely no reason for Touch ID, which was released with the iPhone 5S last month, to not be included. Ah, wait - the reason is so Apple can release the iPad Air Plus (or some other nonsense) five months from now. I hope they enjoy watching Google, Samsung, and Microsoft (heck, maybe even Nokia) pass them by.
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ReplyDeleteInteresting. One reviewer over on CNet agrees with M. Campbell almost word for word in some areas:
ReplyDeletehttp://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57608893-37/why-i-wont-buy-this-years-ipad/?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=News-Apple
The quote that most fits:
I also expected the latest iPad to include the Touch ID fingerprint sensor found on the iPhone 5S. The lack of this feature wouldn't have been a deal breaker for me, but it almost feels like Apple purposely left it out so it would have something unique to add to next year's model.
That Microsoft Surface 2 unit is looking better and better. It even has an optional keyboard/cover that Apple is "working on" providing for the iPad.