Last week brought the first—and surprising—rumor from AppleInsider of an OLED touch bar above a new MacBook Pro (MBP) keyboard. At the time, I tweeted an image I mocked up of what that touch bar may represent.
This week brings a fresh rumor, including a supposed spy shot, of the OLED touch bar, so I thought I’d write a blog post to further explain my mockup from last week, with the amazing ways it could be used on a Mac.
While responding to a tweet yesterday by Neil Cybart (@NeilCybart), I suddenly had an epiphany about the strange difference between the original iPhone and the iPad Pro.
Neil’s tweet was about an anticipated and continued drop in sales for iPads:
My response was much like the refrain from a real estate agent, but instead of location, location, location, I said this:
And that got me thinking about just how much has changed in the mobile industry over the past 8 years, since the introduction of the iPhone. (It can hardly be called the “mobile” industry anymore, though, as the iPad Pro at 12.9˝ is now larger than the Retina MacBook at 12˝, and iOS & Android work on everything from watches to TVs to cars to phones to laptop-like tablets.)
So, what was the epiphany?
Apple recently released iOS 9.3, surprising everyone with its robust education features. Chromebooks have overtaken education, and Apple needs to be competitive.
It seems curious to me, though, that all these education features come in a point-release, iOS 9.3, instead of a major release like iOS 10. Sure, Apple might want to get these features our there ASAP, since Chromebooks are now over 50% of the education market in just a few years’ time.
However, point releases such as 9.3 often relate to new hardware. Everyone’s expecting an iPad Air 3 this spring, and like all past iPad Air’s, it’ll have Apple’s fastest CPU, the A9X, right?
Well, something funny happened along the way to this year’s delayed iPad Air: the iPad Pro.
Sure, the iPad Pro is bigger than the iPad Air, but Pro is more than just about being bigger. MacBook Air’s and MacBook Pro’s have both had 13˝ models, for example. Pro models are typically more expandable (ports), have nicer screens, have more RAM & storage options, & have faster CPU’s. The iPad Pro has all of these things, with Smart Connector, Smart Keyboard, Pencil, 128 GB option, 4 GB RAM…
And, I’m suggesting, the iPad Air may “just” get the A9 CPU instead of the A9X. This might logically come with a $50-$100 price reduction.
Why would Apple lower the price of the iPad Air? Simple: the education market. Chromebooks are cheap, and while Apple doesn’t do cheap, they are astute competitors.
The iPad Air used to need the fastest CPU because mobile CPUs were generally pretty slow compared to laptops. The A9 and A9X changed that equation. The A9X is actually faster than the mobile Intel CPUs in the base models of the Surface Pro 4 and the Retina MacBook.
The A9X is actually faster than the mobile Intel CPUs in the base models of the Surface Pro 4 and the Retina MacBook.
Meanwhile the A9 is no slouch. It makes the iPhone 6S the fastest phone on the market—by a very wide margin. If the Air series is a “light” (figuratively and literally) version of the Pro line, then it certainly makes sense for it to have a lighter-weight, but still very capable, CPU.
This would allow Apple to lower the price of the iPad Air, making it more attractive to the education market, the enterprise, and consumers. It would also allow Apple to create a bigger price gap between the iPad Air and the iPad Pro, possibly allowing the iPad Pro 2 to start at $799 and the iPad Pro 1 to drop to $699 this fall.
To drop the iPad Air’s price by $100, Apple would have to make other hardware compromises. Maybe 3 MB RAM instead of 4; probably no Pencil support; definitely no Smart Connector. In other words, Apple needs to further distinguish the Air and Pro lines—more than just screen size.
But this low price and basic features, while still being powerful enough, could make it a great tablet for large purchasers, such as schools, the enterprise, and for children. Don’t scoff: many people are perfectly fine with a MacBook Air or Retina MacBook instead of a MacBook Pro. Pro’s can still buy the iPad Pro, if they need features like the Pencil, Smart Keyboard, 4 GB RAM, and 128 GB storage options.
So I think iOS 9.3 was the final puzzle piece that makes this all make sense. The iPad Air 3 was delayed for reasons that no one really understood. But a lower priced model aimed at education & the enterprise would make all the puzzle pieces fit together.
So there’s been much wailing and gnashing of teeth lately about the design of some of Apple’s accessories. This includes the new Magic Mouse 2 with the charging port on the bottom, the iPad Pro with the Pencil sticking out of it, and the iPhone 6s battery pack.
People need to remember that great design in not just about making something look good. It’s about making it work well.
As I said in the last couple of posts about the iPad Pro’s keyboard, great design is all about compromise, and Apple does that exceptionally well.
Today, let’s look at the iPad Pro’s Pencil accessory, and look at what the hubbub is all about.
There’s been a lot of chatter on the web about recent Apple design decisions, such as the iPhone 6 battery case and the iPad Pro’s keyboard. Yesterday, I talked about how the iPad Pro’s keyboard was designed specifically for a touchscreen device, and the compromises that entailed.
Today, I want to talk briefly about another design element of the iPad Pro’s keyboard cover (Smart Keyboard) that’s often overlooked.
Microsoft famously claimed that the Surface Pro was a “no-compromise” device—the best of both a tablet and laptop. John Gruber of Daring Fireball famously pointed to reviews calling that claim into question. It was a touchscreen tablet with a full laptop keyboard.
So it was not surprising that reviewers and people on Twitter complained bitterly about the iPad Pro’s Smart Keyboard, and how un-laptop-like it was.
So I did a little research, and in this post I’ll explain my thoughts with photos to back them up.
Analysts and bloggers have been all over Apple’s new iPad Pro. Headlines scream “It’s a Laptop Replacement!” or alternatively, “iPad Pro Will NEVER Replace my Laptop!”.
What’s a person to think?
Well, of course, the answer is somewhere in the middle.
Apple just announced that iPad Pro is available for ordering Wednesday. I think it’s going to be a huge success, but I am a little concerned about one thing: Where are Apple’s pro apps?
Now I fully understand that the iPad Pro is, in many ways, “just another iPad” and thus will not likely have any apps that only run on the iPad Pro. And I understand that Apple wants to encourage third party developers to create apps of their own.
But for it to be successful, it certainly needs apps that take advantage of its hallmark features for professionals, such as Pencil and its new keyboard cover (a first for iPads and, I predict, will not be shared with smaller iPads).
But is Apple going to leave the pro apps to third parties like Microsoft and Adobe?
The Verge has reported that Microsoft is planning on releasing OneNote for the Mac. While Evernote is certainly a target, I think there’s more to the story than that.
There are also rumors of iOS 8 containing a note-taking application. How this app differs from the built-in iOS Notes app is not clear, but it may have a lot to do with this acquisition by Apple: Continue reading
A new rumor from Digitimes, reported by 9to5Mac, corroborates previous rumors (from The Wall Street Journal and others) of a larger, 13-inch iPad Pro.
While I agree with much of 9to5Mac’s analysis, I don’t agree with their comments about keeping the same form factor as the current iPad, nor do I agree with the rumor’s educational customer emphasis.
What would an enterprise like more than Continue reading
Lou Miranda 