Anandtech’s review of the iPad Air 2 says the tablet continues the same tried-and-true formula of previous iPads, iterating on both design and hardware specs to produce “one of the only tablets worth buying on the market today”. Significant improvements in the display and camera make it more usable, and while hardware specs don’t matter for most people, the updated…
I think he’s hit the nail on the head with the iPad. It has its professional niche, of course, but I believe (and I have no facts to back this up) that the main uses for iPad are to browse website, watch and listen to media and play casual games.
No matter how much they push the idea, it just isn’t suited to a lot of productivity applications and that’s got nothing to do with its power, it’s got to do with its screen size and it’s lack of precise input devices.
My ageing iPad 3 does exactly the same stuff today as it did on its release. For me, that’s visiting websites, watching YouTube, Netflix, Hulu etc and very occasionally playing a game. It’s by and large a toy and that’s ok - there’s a market for it, but it’ll never be as big as production computing.
When I go to the Apple store and pick up the new iPad I go “Meh. Looks nice but it’s just an iPad”. Why would I buy a new one when my existing one does the same thing? Until I can’t consume today’s media on it I have no reason to upgrade, and unless you are a hardcore iOS gamer the extra power in newer models is impressive but not a deal maker.
I think iPads are a lot like computers in that their upgrade cycles are similar. People are used to upgrading phones every two years because that’s just how contracts with telcos work, so after your two years is up you might as well get a new phone.
IPads, on the other hand, don’t need to be upgraded as often. I’ve seen people with iPad 2s still around — and maybe some of that is because Apple still sold the devices up until a year ago (or whenever), but I reckon a lot of it just because the iPad 2 is still a fine iPad for what most people use it for.
I mean, I guess it comes back down to the fact that computers have been way more powerful than most people need for years now, and I guess it’s the same with the iPad. Not really sure what Apple could do to entice people to upgrade every year.