Apple gearing up for an iPad update/refresh?

DubDJ

Normally I wouldn't read into these things too much but this week I noticed that the Apple refurb store was now selling refurbished models of the latest iPad (4th Gen) and the iPad mini. Not only are they now available but they also seem to be plentiful too, with every model listed as available.

Not only this but Bestbuy is now selling the iPad (3rd Gen) in the Clearence section over in the US. Walmart and Bestbuy have dropped the iPad mini price this week too.

It could all be coincidence but at the same time maybe Apple's getting ready for a late spring refresh for the iPad and iPad mini. It makes no sense to me why they're pushing all product announcements to the end of the year.

It's been all quiet on the update front with Apple so far this year. No mention of OS X 10.9 or any product updates. Only update has been the 128GB iPad. Be interesting to see if anything comes from it.

meoklmrk91

Well I wouldn't read too much into the best buy thing, they are just selling old stock off, officially the 3rd gen was defunct they announced the 4th gen, the current models are the 2nd gen, the fourth gen and of course the mini.

I quite liked the model they had going for launches. Ipad in the spring, iPhone and iPods in the autumn, however they were losing out on holiday sales die to the fact that people were waiting for the new ipad in the spring, some people were left with quite a bad taste in their mouth after the fourth gen was released, they had an out of date product in a very short space of time.

My personal guess would be that they will do a summer announcement of the ipad. Long enough from Christmas that people will be less likely to hold out for the next launch. There has been a lot of talk in the last year or so that apple is waining, they are no longer industry leaders in innovation and they a new big product etc. etc. while they certainly aren't in any kind of trouble, they are a massively profitable company, Samsung is really going at them hard! They S4 announcement had people exited, especially in the tech industry. I would be surprised if apple didn't try to take the wind out of their sales with an announcement in around the time of the launch.

flyguy

Well spotted on the refurb sales, lots of people will be happy with a little savings. As for speculating on the launch of new products, I just google but I think it's a guess for anyone until Apple announces some sort of event...

DubDJ

Personally I thought it made sense having the iPad for March, OS X and the major mac refresh at WWDC in June and the leaving the iPhone (their biggest seller) for September. It gave them a steady stream of revenue coming in all year with no announcement towards December but Christmas obviously making up for this.

They used to be able to predict like clockwork but last year changed the schedule and now they could announce a new update anytime. However with the lack of leaks on the rumour sites it doesn't seem likely that a refresh will happen anytime soon. Curious how there's no word on OS X so far. This time last year Dev's were already testing it.

Sad Professor

The reason for the lack of 10.9 news is that Apple have pulled engineers from the OS X team to work on iOS 7, which is apparently encountering delays due to Ive's UI redesign. Leopard ended up being delayed for the same reason.

Hopefully they'll just move 10.9 to next year and focus on pushing out more bug and stability fixes in the meantime. There's no need for yearly OS X upgrades.

Anyway, I think Apple have gone back to a release-it-when-it's-ready schedule for just about everything, except the iPhone.

Creamy Goodness

there might be something announced at dubdubdc my guess would be a retina ipad mini and iOS 7 preview.

iOS 7 and new iphone and new full size iPad to be launched at separate event to dubdubdc and in sept/oct time.

would be a fool to buy a mini ipad now less so for an full sized ipad (although if the leaks are correct they'll be making the full size ipad a lot smaller).

meoklmrk91

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

there might be something announced at dubdubdc my guess would be a retina ipad mini and iOS 7 preview.

iOS 7 and new iphone and new full size iPad to be launched at separate event to dubdubdc and in sept/oct time.

would be a fool to buy a mini ipad now less so for an full sized ipad (although if the leaks are correct they'll be making the full size ipad a lot smaller).

I won't be happy if they make the full size smaller, I am a big fan if the 10 inch form and won't buy anything smaller.

Sad Professor

The screen size of the iPad will remain the same, they'll probably just make the bezel smaller. It'll be narrower like the Mini.

McGrath5

Sad Professor wrote: »

The reason for the lack of 10.9 news is that Apple have pulled engineers from the OS X team to work on iOS 7, which is apparently encountering delays due to Ive's UI redesign.

I am really looking forward to iOS 7 for this reason.

Creamy Goodness

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

I won't be happy if they make the full size smaller, I am a big fan if the 10 inch form and won't buy anything smaller.

Sad Professor wrote: »

The screen size of the iPad will remain the same, they'll probably just make the bezel smaller. It'll be narrower like the Mini.

Sad Professor hit the nail on the head, the bezel around the screen will get smaller the screen won't. apple aren't that crazy.

DubDJ

I don't think there'll be a major overhaul of iOS 7 with Ive's input this year. I'd say that will come by next year. Or even with incremental updates. It's not much time for him to completely change the look and feel of iOS IMO.

I look forward to new updates and features. Won't be updating any hardware this year so I'll be focusing on OS updates hoping for something exciting. But won't be getting my hopes up.

Seen this today and have to say its one of the best concepts I've seen so far.
http://9to5mac.com/2013/04/05/latest-ios-7-concept-shows-slick-widget-integration-enhanced-lockscreen-much-more/

Sad Professor

It depends what you mean by overhaul. I expect all the skeuomorphism to be gone and for things to be generally "flatter". But people expecting the UI to work differently or better will probably be disappointed. Ive is a designer not an engineer, and Apple aren't going to fundamentally change how the OS works just for the sake of it.

The latest version of the Podcasts app is probably a good indication of the direction they are headed in.

DubDJ

Sad Professor wrote: »

It depends what you mean by overhaul. I expect all the skeuomorphism to be gone and for things to be generally "flatter". But people expecting the UI to work differently or better will probably be disappointed. Ive is a designer not an engineer, and Apple aren't going to fundamentally change how the OS works just for the sake of it.

The latest version of the Podcasts app is probably a good indication of the direction they are headed in.

Yeah I agree I can see a more consistent design throughout both iOS and OS X in future updates. I noticed the change already in the Podcasts app, but I personally miss the old player design. I hate when they remove something like this. Don't think adding a design option in settings for the old or new skin would of been too difficult. Same with Game Centre. Really like the layout and feel. But again I can see this getting changed under Ive's supervision.

One thing I never understand with Apple is why they don't listen when consumers are crying out for certain things. Every year with every update people say they should of added quick settings. Same with every iPhone update. They try to relentlessly make it thinner when most people don't care but constantly complain about battery life. I wish they'd devote a bit more space to the battery and keep some of the thickness there. Who knows maybe iOS 7 and the 5S

Gorilla Rising

I think they'd be better off releasing a new iOS, iPad and iPhone at the same time this year and consolidate them around ' brand 7' and get back to yearly updates for each one (not necessarily all at the same time again).

I know there hasn't been 7 iPhones or iPads, but the whole range has become very fragmented and this would be a much better streamlined approach.

Creamy Goodness

fortune wookiee wrote: »

I think they'd be better off releasing a new iOS, iPad and iPhone at the same time this year and consolidate them around ' brand 7' and get back to yearly updates for each one (not necessarily all at the same time again).

I know there hasn't been 7 iPhones or iPads, but the whole range has become very fragmented and this would be a much better streamlined approach.

ipad 7? ipad mini 7? ipod touch 7? iphone 7? that's not going to be confusing at all.

this is why apple rarely put numbers on their products it confuses the hell out of people, you'll see from a look at their site the only one that acutally has a number in its official title is the iphone. the rests may have the Xth/Ynd generation.

apple want people to come into the shop and buy an ipad, not spend 30 minutes (which they'll do anyways as their CS is second to none) having a conversation about what number ipad/iphone etc is better.

opinion guy

No recent supply chain rumours of note pointing to imminent release.

This means that either Apple have actually clamped down on security, or there is nothing being released soon

Gorilla Rising

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

ipad 7? ipad mini 7? ipod touch 7? iphone 7? that's not going to be confusing at all.

this is why apple rarely put numbers on their products it confuses the hell out of people, you'll see from a look at their site the only one that acutally has a number in its official title is the iphone. the rests may have the Xth/Ynd generation.

apple want people to come into the shop and buy an ipad, not spend 30 minutes (which they'll do anyways as their CS is second to none) having a conversation about what number ipad/iphone etc is better.

I never said they should call it the iPad 7 etc. but rather introduce the new line of products around iOS 7 and just have them as iPhone, iPad etc.

As for your last point - that's pretty much what people are doing now!

At one stage there was an iPad, iPad2, iPad 3 (the new iPad, but everyone called it that to differentiate it), and the iPad retina.

Though not all would be available at the same time for long, the fact people know about them will have them asking questions about the range of products.

You go onto the Apple store now and the 3rd generation iPad is no longer, yet there iPad 2 is still there.

It's hard to deny the range of products has become fragmented.

Creamy Goodness

yeh but you also say that

better off releasing a new iOS, iPad and iPhone at the same time this year

yet you want

yearly updates for each one (not necessarily all at the same time again)

I don't see how that's possible frankly :pac:

there's really only two choice of ipad's these days, ipad 4th gen and mini. if customer doesn't want the small sized mini and think the 4th gen is too expensive they'll get the ipad 2nd gen.

this is simpler again for ipod touch and iphone, you have the top of the range iphone 5 and 5th gen ipod touch, again if you're too cheap there's the 4S and ipod touch 4th gen to fall back on.

It's perfect upsell tactics really.

Gorilla Rising

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

yeh but you also say that

yet you want



I don't see how that's possible frankly :pac:

there's really only two choice of ipad's these days, ipad 4th gen and mini. if customer doesn't want the small sized mini and think the 4th gen is too expensive they'll get the ipad 2nd gen.

this is simpler again for ipod touch and iphone, you have the top of the range iphone 5 and 5th gen ipod touch, again if you're too cheap there's the 4S and ipod touch 4th gen to fall back on.

It's perfect upsell tactics really.

OK I know it wouldn't be really be possible, I was just stating so incase it appeared as though it my opinion was that they should do something like that.

So there's 3 choices of iPads

You're right, it is the perfect upsell tactic, but I just personally feel less is more when it comes to having a line of such products.

DubDJ

I agree with some of the comments. Apple really need to crack down and simplify the naming scheme. I think when they released the new iPhone they should just drop the numbering scheme altogether. They've a more fragmented product line these days. With all this talk of a low cost iPhone maybe they might just do that. The new iPhone and a cheaper model would do away with the need for keeping the 4 and 4S.
They'll have to do it with he iPad unless they're keeping the iPad 2 on sale. And the iPad mini 2 sounds wrong. Not simplified and nothing at all like Apple's usual tactics. Frankly I was surprised they called the latest iPhone the iPhone 5. Running iOS 6 and a 6th Gen iPhone with an A6 chip. Never made sense and still doesn't.