28 ms·

Apple Unveils the iPad Pro

• etimberg 11y ago
  It looks like it would be really awesome to have, but I have a feeling that it's going to be much more expensive than the current iPads. If that's the case, it almost makes more sense to buy a Surface Pro 3.
  • hullo 11y ago
    If you're going to be using the web and Microsoft apps exclusively, it does, sure.
    • Amezarak 11y ago
      If by "Microsoft apps" you mean any program compiled for Windows in addition to any of those that can run on an OS supported by VirtualBox. So the iPad can run iOS apps while the Surface can run virtually anything except iOS apps. They're not really comparable platforms.
      • gress 11y ago
        Are you seriously suggesting that anything more than a tiny fraction of Windows apps are any good on a touch device?
        • Aldo_MX 11y ago
          You can run not only Windows Apps but Android Apps and Chrome Apps
          • gress 11y ago
            There are no serious pro Android apps, and Chrome Apps are not touch typically designed for touch, so this changes nothing.
            • Aldo_MX 11y ago
              I use this in my surface tablet, the performance is great, it doesn't even feel it's emulated: http://www.amiduos.com/ http://www.amiduos.com/
              • gress 11y ago
                What Pro apps does that allow you to run?
                • Aldo_MX 11y ago
                  What do you mean by "Pro" apps? Photoshop? Illustrator? Premiere? After Effects? Autocad? 3DS Max? Eclipse? Netbeans? IntelliJ? Visual Studio? AFAIK mobile OSes don't have "Pro" apps, just niche apps, and unless those niche apps use ARM assembly or something that an x86 wouldn't run at native speed, you should have no issues.
                  • gress 11y ago
                    The discussion here is about the availability of software for Pro tablets - specifically the iPad Pro, and the Surface Pro 3. You have correctly established that the Surface Pro 3 can run Android apps very well. I was curious about why it's valuable to run Android apps on a Pro tablet, or whether it's just a curiosity for running phone apps. If there was an important pro app that ran on android tablets that was made available to Windows users via emulation, that would seem to be a meaningful advantage. It seems this is not the case.
                    • Aldo_MX 11y ago
                      The point about having an hybrid device is that you can use it in different ways, ex. as a laptop when you are doing productive work, or as a tablet when you just want to relax and check social networks or play some games. You don't need to purchase 2 different devices. The fact that you are using a "pro" device doesn't mean you wouldn't want to use "non-pro" apps, and having a full-featured Android subsystem (which emulates ARM if needed) is a good advantage when you want to use apps that don't exist in the Windows market, or want to use your previous purchases in markets like Amazon or Google Play. Remember that several companies just focus in releasing iOS and Android apps and fall back to the web version for desptop, which usually is not optimized with a touch-friendly workflow.
        • redblacktree 11y ago
          You mean a touch device with a keyboard and stylus?
        • DiThi 11y ago
          An increasingly number of desktop windows apps I use have touch controls. Most of the time being able to scroll and zoom with touch is all an app needs to be usable.
    • banashark 11y ago
      I'm hoping this lights a fire for a surface pro 4 announcement. What's wrong with using non-microsoft apps on windows?
    • hkmurakami 11y ago
      Or any number of 3rd party Windows applications?
    • dangrossman 11y ago
      Windows RT, the OS that could only run "Metro" apps, is dead and gone. All the current Surface tablets run Windows 8.1/10. They're ordinary PCs, with your choice of Atom x7 (Surface 3) or Core i3/i5/i7 processor (Surface 3 Pro), in tablet form-factor.
  • dragonwriter 11y ago
    Or, if you like the form factor, are price conscious, and don't need a full desktop Windows box squeezed into it, a Galaxy Note Pro 12.2. But, if you are already invested in the Apple ecosystem and are interested in the form factor, the iPad Pro probably makes a lot of sense.
• hullo 11y ago
  & just announcing "The Smart Keyboard", smart case built just for iPad Pro with keyboard built in. "Unlike any keyboard you've ever used before." With Apple Fabric! And an Apple Dome Switch!
  • hullo 11y ago
    If you see a stylus, you know (there's a video with whiskey-smooth voiceover coming)
  • venomsnake 11y ago
    Hmm ... call me stupid but ipad + keyboard << macbook . What is the point?
    • rev_bird 11y ago
      I'd guess the option to use the device without a keyboard if you wanted to.
  • ihuman 11y ago
    For anyone that doesn't know this, you can connect USB keyboard to the iPad Camera Connection kit. It works with most keyboards, including mechanical ones.
    • tdicola 11y ago
      Or just use a bluetooth keyboard and forget all the dongle and wire mess.
      • comex 11y ago
        But don't forget to charge the keyboard ;)
• deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
• zxcvcxz 11y ago
  I don't want it unless it has an exposed CLI without jail breaking.
  • sroerick 11y ago
    Right? Why is this so difficult.
    • oldmanjay 11y ago
      It's interesting that you would think difficulty is somehow related to this. Unless what you're really asking is "why is it so difficult to give me whatever I want" in which case the answer is not anything you're likely to want to hear.
    • tlrobinson 11y ago
      It's not about "difficulty", it's about control. Approximately 0% of Apple's customers (who don't frequent Hacker News etc) care about that sort of thing.
      • Nicholas_C 11y ago
        I think you're right. Control is definitely why I switched to Android. Switching back to iOS soon and that's one thing that has me worried.
  • ComputerGuru 11y ago
    It's officially running iOS and not mainline OS-X-for-tablets, so I think it's safe to say that's out of the question.
  • geofft 11y ago
    What do you want the CLI to do? It's pretty fundamental to the iOS model (and the Android one) that apps are isolated from each other, so you certainly could have a CLI app that does stuff (ssh, git, vi?) within its own home directory, but can't interact with the rest of the system. In fact there are Android apps that do this. It's harder on iOS because you don't get fork(), but if someone wanted to try super hard, you could make all the apps run as threads within the same process. If you want a root shell without jailbreaking, that's almost contradictory.
• gshakir 11y ago
  It is in direct competition to the 'Surface Pro'.
  • zxcvcxz 11y ago
    Except it runs iOS and not a full desktop operating system. Why would a "pro" user choose this over a surface pro/MBP/ubuntu certified system?
    • rimantas 11y ago
      It is not desktop, so that makes sense. If it suits your workflow, why not? I can see it replacing wacoms for many.
      • eropple 11y ago
        "Many"? Who? It won't work for web design, because it doesn't handle a file system. It's a more expensive option than a Cintiq or a Surface Pro and doesn't work with the existing install base of Adobe CC products (or the tons of third-party software that works with them), and any other art tools that come out will be in the exact same boat. I think you're projecting, and severely.
    • gress 11y ago
      Because those systems have no good touch enabled software.
      • untog 11y ago
        A lot of artists use Surface Pros.
        • comex 11y ago
          Until now, Surface Pro had no competition in this specific niche, except some Android devices that are likely inferior in hardware and app support. Now it does. Every app for iPad is designed for touch from the start, including the Photoshop port etc., meaning the touch experience for artistry will be better; the question is whether the inability to switch to a trackpad afterward for more precise editing and more complex functionality will outweigh this.
• omarchowdhury 11y ago
  Hooray.
• jefflinwood 11y ago
  Exciting to see the Apple Pencil/Smart Keyboard - this appears to be very similar to the Surface Pro 3, leaving the ball in Microsoft's court for their Surface Pro 4. (Leaving aside all the differences in software)
  • michaelbuddy 11y ago
    shoot, Microsoft doesn't even need to come out with an sp4 against the iPad pro.
  • JohnTHaller 11y ago
    You can't really compare them without talking about the software, though. The Surface runs a full desktop OS in addition to tablet-style apps while the iPad Pro can only run iOS apps... making the Surface better for media/content creation and the iPad Pro better for consumption. The Surface also has an active digitizer compared to the passive one in the iPad Pro for better sensitivity, resolution, and accuracy.... unless of course Apple's Pencil is miraculously better than the dozens of similar products already on the market including the one they stole the name from: http://www.fiftythree.com/pencil http://www.fiftythree.com/pencil
    • jagger27 11y ago
      What's truly funny is that Surface Pro can run OS X with a bit (actually, a lot) of fiddling.
    • Dolores12 11y ago
      Surface is great for consumption too.
• gorena 11y ago
  "Who wants a stylus? You have to get 'em, put 'em away, you lose 'em. Yuck! Nobody wants a stylus. So let's not use a stylus." -Steve Jobs
  • nsxwolf 11y ago
    On a 3.5 inch screen? Yeah, the stylus was terrible for that. Touch screen interfaces were held back for years because everyone blindly used a stylus as the primary input device. This is for a much larger screen, and it is an accessory and not the primary input device.
  • dimgl 11y ago
    While I do agree Jobs was saying that no one wants to use a stylus to use their devices, you have to admit this stylus is a pretty good idea. With the additional sensors you can actually do things you can't do with traditional styluses and you're not forced to use it with your device, it's just an add-on.
    • wnevets 11y ago
      > While I do agree Jobs was saying that no one wants to use a stylus to use their devices, you have to admit this stylus is a pretty good idea. The apple distortion field is running at maximum.
      • oblio 11y ago
        These aren't the styluses you are looking for...
      • revscat 11y ago
        No. No one wants to be required to use a stylus to successfully use a device. This is true, and remains so. What has become apparent is that there is a need -- especially for artists -- for a tool more fine-grained than a finger if you want to do more complicated tasks.
        • 11y ago
• gadrfgaesgysd 11y ago
  Pencil. Jobs is spinning in his grave. Edit: 99 dollars !!
  • hullo 11y ago
    I like to joke too, but not really, if you're serious - Jobs always hated things until he could claim that Apple reinvented them. Even Gruber was making fun of it yesterday. http://daringfireball.net/linked/2015/09/08/gizmodo-netflix http://daringfireball.net/linked/2015/09/08/gizmodo-netflix In any case what Jobs meant was that the companies that were putting out devices that required a stylus to operate correctly were doing it wrong, and that's been proven pretty extensively by the kind of touch interaction that the iPhone popularized. Specifically: the new iPad Pro works just fine with touch, but you also have an option of an Apple-sourced stylus for more intricate work.
    • dragonwriter 11y ago
      > In any case what Jobs meant was that the companies that were putting out devices that required a stylus to operate correctly were doing it wrong, Perhaps in the original iPhone announcement, but Jobs kept repeating anti-stylus lines long after that, when the only current major products with stylus that they could have been referencing were multitouch devices with styluses included but not required. Just like anything other than the original iPhone (or iPad!) size, everyone in the market doing it was wrong -- until Apple decided they needed to do it, too.
  • marknutter 11y ago
    $99 is right on par with similar styluses.
    • gadrfgaesgysd 11y ago
      Its competitor costs between 35$ and 50$. That isn't on par. http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Surface-Pen-Pro/dp/B00KHQWAIC http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Surface-Pen-Pro/dp/B00KHQWAI...
  • 11y ago
• MikusR 11y ago
  They announced a Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2"
  • dragonwriter 11y ago
    Well, its bigger and has a somewhat higher resolution screen, but, yeah, its basically the iOS version of that. Which for people already invested in the Apple ecosystem is probably a big deal, even though Android and Windows each already had something in this class (Windows option being a bit more expensive normal price, but with a full desktop OS.)
  • Jedd 11y ago
    My initial thought precisely. Samsung Note Pro : 12.2" , 2560 x 1600 Apple iPad Pro : 12.9" , 2732 x 2048 So, about 15mm longer in the diagonal, and a higher resolution. I have a Sammy Note Pro 12.2 - purchased with the vague intent of not needing to take a laptop with me on some work outings. Consequently I picked up an integrated keyboard / cover (the custom Logitech model). Combined they bring me very close to the weight of a laptop, but (just like the iPad will) it wins out on battery life and needing a USB charger rather than a power brick. And carrying a mouse is optional, though once you use a keyboard, a mouse also becomes a convenience. Curiously enough I'd originally expected to not get much use from the stylus / digitiser, but it's become one of the more compelling features of the thing. Nonetheless it's a heavy beast, and I usually end up carrying a laptop too. The Samsung (just like the innovation <sic> that Apple has only just announced) has been doing side-by-side and floating application windows for a while now - but even so, painful to do anything productive on it compared to working on a proper operating system.
  • 72deluxe 11y ago
    The Note Pro 12.2 is cheap - I can only assume that they can't sell them for some reason
• slg 11y ago
  It is interesting comparing Microsoft and Apple's convertible tablet strategy. Microsoft's devices use the full OS and are basically laptops first and tablets second while Apple is doing the opposite. If this is truly designed to be "Pro" as in enterprise , I think Microsoft's strategy is going to lead to more productive and therefore better enterprise devices. EDIT: And after the price is revealed the scales tip a little more in Microsoft's favor. The entry level iPad Pro is the same price as a Surface Pro 3, but has half the disk space and doesn't include the stylus.
  • relaytheurgency 11y ago
    The Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro is basically the Android version of the new Apple device. I own one, albeit not for enterprise purposes, and it's not very well executed. I could never imagine using such a stripped down interface as my primary work device. People use Surfaces here all the time for whatever that's worth, it's a valid device choice option.
    • 72deluxe 11y ago
      I have a Note 2014 edition and like you, I feel it is clunky by comparison. I really wanted to love it but lame battery life in comparison to a three-year old iPad3 and the inability of S Note to ignore my hand motions and not do zooming when I move my hand irritates me. Coupled with worse performance than the iPad3, and I have the LTE edition of the Note. I can only imagine how stuttery and slow the non-LTE edition is (which uses an 8 core chip and got rubbish performance reviews). Using Google Maps in 3D mode gives me framerates like viewing a compressed VNC session over an SSH link on a Raspberry Pi over a 2G GSM connection. Slow.
  • drzaiusapelord 11y ago
    This a million times. Apple is just slowly re-inventing the Desktop OS (hey look multi-tasking, a keyboard, etc) while MS went full into a hybrid OS over all its lines that can adapt to whatever hardware its installed on. For all the grief MS got for Windows 8, the move it made was ultimately the right one and builds the proper foundation they need for the future. As side note, lets recall about three or four years ago that we were reading, and agreeing with, articles predicting the death of the MS, at the very least, if not WIMP computing in general. Now we're sitting here with Windows 10, Surface, etc. MS did what it needed to do to stop its fall into irrelevancy. I can't imagine shelling out near a $1,000+ for this thing (lets price in the keyboard and other accessories) when I can get a proper Macbook or Surface Pro, both which are much more capable. I imagine this will become the next hot executive toy (I need my twitter and my exchange mail up at the same time, nerds!). It'll sell in predictable low numbers and then one day mysteriously disappear from the Apple webpage with no fanfare. I feel Apple has painted itself in a corner here. It never bonded OSX and iOS and carefully made them separate products. This probably made sense 5-6 years ago, but unified devices are now practical and affordable. I suspect Apple has a unified OS ready to go soon and is just buying time with this "Pro" to seem competitive. I can't imagine the status quo lasting. What exactly does a mobile OS get me, especially when it needs hardware and RAM on the level of a desktop OS not too long ago? Trying to "keep it simple" is what got Nokia and Blackberry killed. I fear that this industry is destined to just re-invent the desktop, but with sexier devices, in the end. I'm not one to underestimate Apple, but the past couple years have been underwhelming. Even their much hyped watch is a fairly milquetoast design with a poor value proposition. Or the mobile game has simply matured and there are no more big ideas in this space. Are we at the "gimmicks and minor refinements" stage of this technology?
• deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
  • MikusR 11y ago
    It didn't have apps. This one has all of iPad apps.
• gshakir 11y ago
  "Who knows more about productivity than Microsoft" ?
  • gadrfgaesgysd 11y ago
    Audience gave Schiller the exact response he wanted (notice the silence and the delayed laughter). On paper it look like Apple is giving credit to Microsoft, but the subtext is: it's a joke, don't take the sentence too seriously, and Apple is still better at productivity.
    • natch 11y ago
      Didn't think about that but now that you mention it, nice catch... heh totally true.
    • seunosewa 11y ago
      If it was a joke, then it's far more likely that the exact response he wanted was laughter, but he got awkward silence instead. But I dont think it was meant as a joke at all. If he didnt want to praise Microsoft, he could have left out the line; there was no reason to resort to mockery disguised as praise. Microsoft could not have said, "we wont demo our products unless you say we are best at productivity". Apple holds all the cards.
    • 72deluxe 11y ago
      I don't know - Microsoft is massive in businesses. You only see Macs at web development companies or design agencies, typically. And even then if they grow in size a Windows AD machine may be in a back room because SOHO is the only server system Apple targets. They are pretty productive and Office is widely considered a necessity. (I could be wrong, btw) I thought it was quite a complimentary thing to say.
• jasonkostempski 11y ago
  What about Pencil from 53? http://www.fiftythree.com/pencil http://www.fiftythree.com/pencil Edit: To clarify, seems like they shouldn't (maybe couldn't, but I don't see a TM on the 53 site) call it Pencil since there is already a device made specifically for iPad called Pencil.
  • tvon 11y ago
    It is not clear what question you are asking.
    • captn3m0 11y ago
      This is an existing stylus product that works with the iPad called Pencil.
      • bpicolo 11y ago
        It's not exactly an imaginative name for the direct analogue.
  • slg 11y ago
    The exact same thing will happen that happened with Facebook Paper. 53 will write an angry blog post, get some free publicity, and then Apple will say they aren't changing anything. I said it then and I will repeat it now, if you want to avoid name collision you shouldn't give your product a simple one word name that relates directly to your product.
  • gorner 11y ago
    Per the USPTO trademark database (on mobile so can't readily link), FiftyThree has a trademark on "Pencil by FiftyThree", not on "Pencil". Moreover the trademark they do have specifically disclaims exclusive rights to the word "pencil" by itself. (IANAL but typically USPTO will ask for these sorts of disclaimers if part of the trademark is deemed generic/descriptive.) Similarly Apple's product is officially named "Apple Pencil". So Apple is probably in the clear.
• cryptoz 11y ago
  "We can have both Word and Excel on the screen at the same time!" - Apple, 2015. These Apple keynotes can be pretty funny.
  • danso 11y ago
    I'm hoping that was deliberate phrasing...because it would reflect the (correct, IMO) opinion that Apple's office suite isn't a replacement for MS Office, and that that opinion is agreed upon internally. That said, it'd be fun to hear from a Apple employee...do they frequently use iWork for intraoffice documents?
    • sbuccini 11y ago
      iWork is strongly encouraged, but they'll equip you with Microsoft Office if it's essential for your job. At least in my department, there was one piece of software you could never use: Powerpoint. You MUST use Keynote for any internal presentation. If you even say the word "Powerpoint" around the wrong person, you'll get some nasty looks.
      • X-Istence 11y ago
        Keynote has always worked much better for me, and has allowed me to make professional looking presentations fasters.
  • seiji 11y ago
    You compare current features against previous features, not globally available features. Many software platforms still aren't as good as Hypercard or even a damn Amiga from the 80s, but we pretend to have continual "advancements" anyway.
  • cryoshon 11y ago
    This is my thought as well-- but the iPad isn't for us, it's for grandmas and quasi-luddites. The marketing and feature set reflects this.
  • agumonkey 11y ago
• joshmn 11y ago
  I love my Nexus-series tablets. I'm a ruby guy, so I have a Macbook (and a hackintosh); if they were to release a Surface killer, I would be in line. Kind of disappointing.
• ebbv 11y ago
  Predicting now price of $1k or higher. Also the press is absolutely going to hammer Apple for copying the Surface Pro (even down to the name.) EDIT: Ended up a bit high for the base price, $800. But add on any additional storage/LTE capability and you're at $1k. So I was damn close.
  • revscat 11y ago
    $799 for 32GB model.
    • fname 11y ago
      + the pencil @ $99 and the smart keyboard at $169. > $1k for the entry level model to be comparable with the Surface Pro 3 at ~$930 (which starts at 64GB, btw).
      • dangrossman 11y ago
        It seems more comparable to the Surface 3 ($499) than Surface Pro 3. The "Pro" moniker doesn't buy you a laptop replacement with Apple like it does with Microsoft.
  • gress 11y ago
    If they do, they'll be being intellectually dishonest, given that 'Pro' has been part of Apple's naming scheme for a decade. 'Mac Pro', 'MacBook Pro', 'iPad Pro'. Microsoft wasn't even making computers when Apple started using the name.
  • venomsnake 11y ago
    >Also the press is absolutely going to hammer Apple for copying the Surface Pro The press only give the writers' equivalent of blowjobs to apple. It has been that way for a decade.
• Xcelerate 11y ago
  I don't understand the allure of a "pro" iPad. Wouldn't you just want a laptop then? The keyboard is (at least for me) the fastest accurate text input device ever invented. It's the main reason I type everything instead of write it by hand.
  • SyneRyder 11y ago
    Most of the input they've been showing is drawing and using the stylus. It might not be ideal for programming or writing, but this is going to be ideal for artists, photographers and anyone who wanted a 13" Cintiq.
    • hodwik 11y ago
      > "this is going to be ideal for artists, photographers and anyone who wanted a 13" Cintiq" No, a 13" Cintiq is perfect for artists, & photographers who need a 13" Cintiq. This is perfect for anyone who has no idea what they're doing.
      • comex 11y ago
        This is much more portable (since you don't have to attach it to a computer - you can carry it around like a paper notebook), has a significantly higher resolution display, and is not much more expensive (especially considering the difference in internals).
        • hodwik 11y ago
          There is not a chance in hell this thing is coming anywhere near the Cintiq's 2,048 pressure levels. The Surface Pro 3, for example, clocks in at about 256 levels. Good enough for note taking, not good enough for any serious graphics workflow. Even Wacom's $99.00 "Inkling" clocks in at 1,248 levels. The only serious competitor against Wacom that I have seen is "Huion" out of Shenzhen.
    • rodgerd 11y ago
      Those people have a Surface and run Photoshop, Illustrator, Manga Pro, and other software not available for iOS.
• jff 11y ago
  Predicted by a 3 year old comic: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/COenroJWEAAjLoi.jpg:large https://pbs.twimg.com/media/COenroJWEAAjLoi.jpg:large
  • ant6n 11y ago
    source?
    • deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
    • simonbh 11y ago
      http://hijinksensue.com/comic/surface-tension/ http://hijinksensue.com/comic/surface-tension/
    • phaer 11y ago
      Has been online since at least March 27th 2014: http://web.archive.org/web/20140327014007/http://hijinksensue.com/comic/surface-tension/ http://web.archive.org/web/20140327014007/http://hijinksensu...
      • nanofortnight 11y ago
        It's date-marked 2012.
        • phaer 11y ago
          yes, but that could be spoofed, theoretically. That's why I added the link to archive.org ;)
          • guillaumefoo 11y ago
            https://web.archive.org/web/20120623030508/http://hijinksensue.com/2012/06/19/surface-tension/ https://web.archive.org/web/20120623030508/http://hijinksens...? better?
• blinkingled 11y ago
  Looks like the Surface Pro with type cover and Stylus. As long as the mobile OS and locked down ecosystem limits it, many will be better off buying the Surface. Although the stylus too seems to be inferior - it has batteries. Both the Surface and Note ones don't - probably because Wacom? If that's the case this is classic NIH case - putting out inferior product just because they couldn't call it Apple Pencil.
  • prodmerc 11y ago
    "No, no, the Surface Pro looks like our iPad Pro. Just ignore the specs" - Apple fans and iPad owners :-D
  • hcurtiss 11y ago
    SP3 stylus uses batteries. Two of them. Not an issue, and I find the technology far more accurate than the Wacoms, especially around the edges.
    • blinkingled 11y ago
      Thanks, I wasn't aware that SP3 wasn't using Wacom.
      • intended 11y ago
        Ntrig, and msft bought ntrig earlier this year.
• deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
• Grazester 11y ago
  They are saying all this and not saying how much Ram it has.
  • deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  • Grazester 11y ago
    Seems like its only 2 gig. They touted the ability to edit video on this in relation to its CPU/GPU prowess but fail to mention the all important ram. This isn't editing anything but a 1 minutes HD video with 2 gigs of ram.
• chrisseldo 11y ago
  see you later surface
• api 11y ago
  Not excited at all. Mobile OSes are crippled by design, especially iOS, so why would I spend this much when I can just get a real computer with a very similar form factor? Mobile OSes are fundamentally designed for quick, limited interaction use cases like ordering an Uber car or checking a web site, not for "real work." I'm sure someone will buy it, but I don't predict it'll be very big.
  • webXL 11y ago
    Just like the top of line products from any company. They fill a niche, and they're more about gaining a competitive edge than they are about generating tons of profit. You see one in a coffee shop, go to the store (instead of a competitor's) and see the price, and walk out with an Air 2.
    • api 11y ago
      Good point about total coverage. Apple probably does not want any gaps in their lineup that might be filled by Microsoft or Google or any other vendor. I would just by a small form factor ultraportable laptop, but yeah -- it's about brand penetration.
• tetraodonpuffer 11y ago
  no USB port to be able to easily copy files to/from seems a bit detrimental to pro usage, as well as no way to connect an external display for presentations. This said there are plenty of use cases for a larger ipad with a stylus, I am sure it will be a very successful product.
  • robotresearcher 11y ago
    > no USB port to be able to easily copy files to/from It's networked. iCloud, Dropbox, email, etc. > as well as no way to connect an external display for presentations. All current iPads have a dongle for HDMI out. And they can output to Apple TV. Do you think they removed that for this one? Despite the cute size and gorgeous screen I still haven't found a great use for the iPad. edit: Just looked at the dongles available. There's both USB and SD card input and VGA output as well the HDMI I mentioned.
    • asdtgy 11y ago
      "let's make everything a dongle"... that is to be expected from Apple ... or being completely unavailable... and stick to proprietary ports...
      • robotresearcher 11y ago
        "let's not make everyone carry around the cost and size of the ports they won't use."
        • icebraining 11y ago
          I suppose that's why Apple devices are so much cheaper than the competitors.
          • robotresearcher 11y ago
            Yep, you can find cheaper products with more ports. Go buy one and be happy. This one is the mindshare, design and profit leader, which is why we're talking about it.
• callesgg 11y ago
  At that size it is balancing close to the edge where computers live. But my guess is that as long as computers dont have proper touch interfaces tablets will be considered to have a different use senario. It is hard to lift up my computer on the buss and look at a video or browse the web in a somewhat comfortable way.
  • overgryphon 11y ago
    Touch laptops already exist.
    • callesgg 11y ago
      I was talking about interfaces in the software.
  • spyder 11y ago
    ASUS Transformer Books: http://www.amazon.com/Transformer-T300CHI-F1-DB-All-Aluminum-Detachable-Touchscreen/dp/B00T7XR888/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1441827164&sr=1-1&keywords=ASUS+Transformer+Book+chi http://www.amazon.com/Transformer-T300CHI-F1-DB-All-Aluminum...
• pearjuice 11y ago
  >It's like we said on the iPad, if you see a stylus, they blew it. >In multitasking, if you see a task manager... they blew it. >Users shouldn't ever have to think about it. Steve Jobs, 2010[0] [0] http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/08/jobs-if-you-see-a-stylus-or-a-task-manager-they-blew-it/ http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/08/jobs-if-you-see-a-stylus-...
  • Watabou 11y ago
    I think as we've seen on Surfaces and on many other tablets, styluses can be pretty useful for pro-sumers. So why not allow Apple to eat their own words and create a well-designed easy to use, functional stylus? The only downside here is it's $50 too expensive. On your second point, where do you see a task manager? You can only see apps when bringing up multitasking in iOS 9. There is no "task manager" where you have a list of running processes with CPU percentages and everything. And since iOS 9 handles running apps by itself, users don't have to close out any apps so they really don't "ever have to think about it".
• deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
• ape4 11y ago
  I know this is petty, but every time I see an Apple demo and they are saying how many inches the screen is I think - wow that's a really uncool and old fashioned system of measures. If Apple can force standards - like Thunderbolt - how about using centimeters. Edit: they can even say they invented the metric system - ok with me ;)
  • soylentcola 11y ago
    This is one petty matter that I can get behind!
  • cyrus_ 11y ago
    Apple is a US company and the keynote is in the US. Inches are not considered "uncool" nor "old fashioned" in the US. The US tried switching to metric many years ago, but it didn't work. I'm sure their localized advertising for other countries lists the dimensions in metric units.
    • robotresearcher 11y ago
      Nope. The UK and German stores give e.g. iPad Air 2 thickness in mm, weight in grams and screen size in inches. They are sticking to inches deliberately for screen measurement. They even use the German 9,7" instead of the US/UK 9.7" so it's not that they forgot to translate.
      • realityking 11y ago
        Oddly enough, screen sizes are one of the things that are measures in imperial units all over the world. Another example would be engines, where horsepower is incredibly popular.
        • e28eta 11y ago
          Maybe because it's really hard to visualize/understand the size of a device based on diagonal screen size? It's only useful to me as a number to compare to other devices. I need height and width, which they do localize.
• Jack000 11y ago
  Personally all I really want is a macbook air with retina. I feel like apple has really been resting on its laurels the last few years. During the Jobsian era they'd come up with a new, category-defining product every few years. Now all we get is yearly updates of existing product lines. well, here's hoping for a "one more thing" moment.
  • pat2man 11y ago
    Isn't that the MacBook? http://www.apple.com/macbook/ http://www.apple.com/macbook/
    • Jack000 11y ago
      I don't think so, for one it's a major downgrade in terms of power. I thought the 12" macbook would be the entry level notebook, and there would be something in the macbook air form factor right above it.
      • justizin 11y ago
        I felt this way for a while, but I have a hard time arguing that my 15" Retina MacBook Pro is too large or heavy. You don't even get quad-core on anything smaller, so the performance jump between a 12" "New Macbook" and an 11" or 13" "Macbook air" is fairly marginal. I'd expect that gap to close in the next product cycle as well, since the 12" MacBook is the first run, has some heat issues, etc..
  • icebraining 11y ago
    Not for me to defend Apple, but the iPhone did launch six years after the iPod, and it's been only five since the iPad.
• RexRollman 11y ago
  I know a lot of you will think this is ridiculous but I want one to read digital comics with. I find the 9.7" iPad screen too small for this but the iPad Pro might work.
  • michaelbuddy 11y ago
    surface pro 3 has been out for over a year. also has more storage capacity for all those comics you want to read.
    • RexRollman 11y ago
      I wouldn't touch the Surface in light of Windows 10's issues with privacy. (Not that iOS doesn't have some issues itself.)
      • anjc 11y ago
        Windows 8.1 is amazing on the Surface Pro. W10 is a major step back for me. It's also the perfect form factor for reading graphic novels, although it's easier holding an iPad Air for extended periods.
        • RexRollman 11y ago
          Your not the first one I have heard say that but the screenshots I've seen of Windows 10 makes me think it is still pretty usuable.
      • desdiv 11y ago
        Well put Linux on it then. No one's forcing you to use Windows.
        • dubrocks 11y ago
          Using a Surface running Linux sounds like a proper definition of "hell."
    • 11y ago
• bigtunacan 11y ago
  The announcements today just make me hang my head in chagrin. I love Apple products. Both my wife and I only use Macbooks, we have multiple iPads, iPods, and a second generation Apple TV. I look at this iPad Pro though and I see a totally useless device. For a device at that size, weight, and cost you would be better served buying an Macbook Air. If you want a tablet form factor then you would be better served buying a Surface, since at least it runs a real operating system designed for "pro" use not the closed eco system that is iOS. I "upgraded" from an iPad to a iPad mini, because I didn't want to carry around such a large device that is just a glorified eReader that I can waste time on with games. Then I "upgraded" again to a Kindle Paperwhite since it's lighter still, the battery lasts forever, I can read it in bright sunlight, and I don't get distracted and waste my time on pointless things like Doodle Jump. Everything else can run on my phone anyway which now comes in tablet sizes if that is what you want. Then the Apple TV. My current generation Apple TV is unplugged and gathering dust while I use the Smart TV, PS4, Xbox 360 (In that order) for my on demand streaming. More and more Apple TV becomes unnecessary as what it does it build into televisions. Why Apple didn't put iTunes on Smart TVs, Roku, game systems, etc... so I could rent/purchase my videos there is beyond me; but now I (along with many others) have moved on to competitors. Almost forgot to mention; this thing doesn't even support UHD? Tim Cook needs a wake up call.
  • marknutter 11y ago
    There's one in every Apple announcement thread.
    • bigtunacan 11y ago
      One what? It's unclear what you are trying to convey with this post.
      • apetresc 11y ago
        One person saying "They've finally jumped the shark this time, it's a totally useless device." And then at the next sales-record-breaking keynote, repeat.
• roymurdock 11y ago
  The iPad Pro is going to be available in November — 32GB for $799, 64GB for $949 and 128GB for $1,079. The $1,079 comes with Wi-Fi and cellular. The keyboard is going to cost $169 and the stylus is going to cost $99 — magic isn’t cheap. Can someone explain this absurd pricing strategy to me?
  • zxcvcxz 11y ago
    I just want someone to explain the $99 stylus. What's so special about it?
    • roymurdock 11y ago
      It's like the $80 magsafe charger. Thing probably costs $3 to manufacture and distribute, but good luck using your macbook without one. Simple price gouging, but most customers are happy to pay.
      • adevine 11y ago
        > Simple price gouging, but most customers are happy to pay. Also known as "economics".
      • outworlder 11y ago
        It doesn't cost $3. Not even an iPad charger costs are that low. Of course, no brand chargers made in China could reach that price point but one just have to do a Hacker News search to figure out what they are sacrificing.
      • Gracana 11y ago
        $80 is definitely too much, but fwiw there is a difference between Apple's chargers and the $3 aftermarket competition: http://www.righto.com/2014/05/a-look-inside-ipad-chargers-pricey.html http://www.righto.com/2014/05/a-look-inside-ipad-chargers-pr...
      • ctdonath 11y ago
        Someone did a detailed comparison between the $19 Apple 500mW cube charger vs a no-name $4 lookalike. Short version: the former is an engineering marvel of efficiency, compactness, and safety ... while the latter is likely to kill someone. You may not appreciate the "diminishing returns" of increased quality for increased price, but Apple's bottom line shows a great many do.
• Artistry121 11y ago
  Does it have 3D or Force Touch?
  • tetraodonpuffer 11y ago
    if it had I would think they'd have said something, I wouldn't be surprised if it was only for the pen for now, it might also not be possible to be as precise when it comes to finger pressure detection on a larger screen compared to a smartphone
• WhitneyLand 11y ago
  In a dream world Apple would license all OS's. Then you'd have a Surface Pro hardware running iOS and OSX in a VM to access mobile and Mac Apps, and Windows 10 to run anything else.
• synthmeat 11y ago
  Depending on stylus input quality (both hardware and software, as well as screen), this might destroy Wacom's bottom line. Destroy? Annihilate.
• ThomPete 11y ago
  I still believe that in order for apple to get more iPads sold, Apple need to move towards enterprise which IMO means they need to loose the Sandbox requirements which is holding back a lot of innovation. The iPad Pro is a beautiful machine but it's hardly going to change the issues that apple generally have with selling the iPad. One solution could be to give Sandbox control to enterprises instead, so they could keep security high while still being offered some freedom to innovate on the platform. It's really holding a lot of interesting applications back IMO. Until then I fear that it's not going to do much for the sales at least not quantity wise.
  • JeremyBanks 11y ago
    https://developer.apple.com/programs/enterprise/ https://developer.apple.com/programs/enterprise/ Enterprise customers can already sign their own apps for internal use.
    • ThomPete 11y ago
      Yeah but still sandbox restrictions no?
      • musesum 11y ago
        I suspect that Enterprise IT would prefer Sandboxing - prevents users from downloading malware. What do you get without the sandbox?
        • ThomPete 11y ago
          Possibilities to properly innovate on the platform. There is a reason why iPad is not doing well and I don't believe it's solved by turning it into a sketchpad. Sandboxing control could come with the enterprise license that way everyone is happy.
          • chillacy 11y ago
            Not really apple's way it seems. But I'm not sure that the ipad is doing poorly... despite all its many restrictions, it's extremely popular with schools and companies. I still remember when iphones weren't allowed on corp networks but people kept on using them anyways till IT had to support it. Things have come a long way in 5 years
• Nib 11y ago
  People crying about Steve Job's views on a stylus: 1. Really, he said that for a phone. But considering the argument valid even on a tablet, well, to put it in scale, the iPad Pro is barely a tablet. It's nearly the average laptop screen(not considering those shitty huge ones that don't fit in bags). 2. Have you even looked at that thing. It's pretty slick. Imagine the utility to artists(the pencil from FiftyThree is an example of its utility). 3. They don't put a ass-like slot to shove it up. Period. That is, I suspect the biggest problem I've had with a stylus. They just do NOT make it compulsory for you to buy one, contrary to what Microsoft or Samsung would have(and are still) done.
• noahbradley 11y ago
  Speaking as an artist who uses the Surface Pro 3 for all of my work, an iPad Pro will be useless without the right software. And as great as Procreate might be, it's not Photoshop and will never be Photoshop. Without the ability to run full desktop apps, this would never be much more than a toy for me.
  • rsync 11y ago
    I sympathize with this, although playing devils advocate ... if adobe has web-based photoshop (which I think they do ?) then does it matter ?
    • anjc 11y ago
      You may be able to run two apps side by side on the iPad now, but you wont be able to instantly alt/cmd+tab between the fully capable PC versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, Chrome running 50 tabs, 500 page Word document, while rendering something, while powering 2 or 3 external monitors if needs be. It's a completely different paradigm in terms of productivity for artists and so on.
    • nsxwolf 11y ago
      My suspicion is the Pencil will not work with it, or if it does, will not have acceptable latency.
      • tsumnia 11y ago
        I'd be curious who they brought in to test the iPad Pro out. I really enjoyed the fact Microsoft used Penny-Arcade for their Surface and even let them write about the experience. As a consumer, it made me feel like Microsoft cared a great deal about making sure that demographic was heard and they designed a product with that demo in mind.
      • csl 11y ago
        Seems the holy grail is a really tough 1ms: https://youtu.be/vOvQCPLkPt4?t=52s https://youtu.be/vOvQCPLkPt4?t=52s Hard to see from the videos, but I don't really expect anything better than 10ms. At least, we can hope to see incremental improvements in the coming years.
• NathanCH 11y ago
  https://i.imgur.com/sV4SZyD.png https://i.imgur.com/sV4SZyD.png What is going on with Apple's line-up? This is unnecessarily confusing.
  • BinaryIdiot 11y ago
    Yeah for a long time it was higher the version number the better and the rest was old, sold at refurbished. Now they have new with lower version numbers selling along side the other ones? There goes that simplicity. Maybe in the end this is better for the bottom line but it's just uncharacteristic.
    • elemenopy 11y ago
      Also, how come on the slide they are selling iPad Mini 2 & 4 but not iPad Mini 3? This is so confusing
      • josephpmay 11y ago
        The iPad Mini 3 is just an iPad Mini 2 with touchID. They probably figured touchID should remain a differentiating feature to upcharge for.
        • randyrand 11y ago
          They should have just called it ipad Mini 2 with TouchID. It didn't even improve on the CPU. bah-humbug!
• drinchev 11y ago
  I wouldn't imagine a device like that to literally goes out without any decent content creation thought in mind. I'm sick of using my medium (now) screen iPad as a comment maker. I want to use it for development. I want my iPad to run WebStorm , SublimeText, GitHub. I want a jailbreak iOS that is capable of running a desktop Apps on that new desktop-performance iPad. This should've been the big news about the new big-size iPad.
  • bsimpson 11y ago
    Curious to see how long until Atom is ported to iOS. It's all just HTML and a JS engine, right? If Facebook can build React Native, someone can build Atom for the iPad Pro.
    • Artemis2 11y ago
      > It's all just HTML and a JS engine Yeah, about that... It's actually a [pretty huge piece of software](https://github.com/atom/electron https://github.com/atom/electron). That's not saying that porting it is impossible, it's that if it was easy, an ARM Android version would already exist.
    • robterrell 11y ago
      Why Atom? There a countless good native text editors for iOS already. I really like Editorial (with Python macros!) but Coda and Textastic are both great.
  • devindotcom 11y ago
    Seems to me the iPad was always intended as a content consumption device. Seems like your use case is much, much better served by an iPad Air - which costs about the same as an iPad Pro but is way more developer friendly. It's kind of like saying "man, they ought to sharpen these spoons up, I can't cut my food with them at all!" A little bit, anyway. At any rate they're starting down this road so your use case won't be so rare or unaccommodated soon.
    • bsimpson 11y ago
• adultSwim 11y ago
  These techcrunch articles are little more than Apple press releases (i.e. ads)
• brandon272 11y ago
  Why am I always left yearning for more with these latest Apple keynotes? I feel like Apple's innovation has gone from "groundbreaking" to "safe". All of these products are just too predictable. It used to be that after an Apple keynote you'd be talking about the products with friends, family and coworkers the following afternoon/day and waiting eagerly for them to hit the stores. No longer. The "I need to have this!" feeling has evolved into a "maybe one day I will consider that". I see people's critiques of the iPad Pro being countered with, "But it's not for you!" ... Then who is it for, exactly? Apple didn't seem to imply or treat it like a niche product in their keynote. Tim Cook said something about it being the centrepiece of the iPad lineup. I'm an avid Apple TV user but they aren't doing anything groundbreaking with it. Enough with the charade and actually give me something I can replace my cable package with. Despite the nightmare that is cable TV, Apple TV's available content doesn't compete, especially for new content. Fix that and charge me for it. People have been yearning for Apple to modernize TV like they've modernized music and aside from what appear to be basic agreements with distributors for pay-per-episode next-day TV shows and some movies that they've had in place for a while, they haven't brought much to the table.
• AstroJetson 11y ago
  I didn't see the entire demo, but can I write on it? I have a pencil, can I write words and have them come out as text? I'm happy to write in Palm's Graffitti. It works now for iDevices and my finger, but the new pencil would make that easier. Looking for the ad that says: "I'm an enterprise business drone, I go to meetings, I need to take notes. I use my iPad Pro and my iPencil and by the time I walk out of the room the meeting notes are to my team." Otherwise it's not something I can use. While my doodles make my co-workers laugh, not sure that my PHB wants to buy me one of these....
• AstroJetson 11y ago
  (second post different topic) Work uses Two Factor Authentication using certificates. Presently they are on a USB smart card or a device with a smart card reader. So far it works well on Surface and Android tablets. Did anybody see the iOS9 section if they will support certificates? Living in a smartcard world, this is also a must. Apple hasn't cracked the Citrix world so far, they keep saying iOSx+1.
• cft 11y ago
  I would like to short APPL long term, say for 4-5 years. Is there a (simple) mechanism to short a stock long term, that is immune to local price fluctuations?
  • gargarplex 11y ago
    LEAP puts.
• a3n 11y ago
  Please don't complain about the next vim vs emacs debate. :)
• Calvein 11y ago
  Any indication if Apple is going to support pointer events[1] now since there is a stylus ? [1]: http://caniuse.com/#feat=pointer http://caniuse.com/#feat=pointer
• mladenkovacevic 11y ago
  Any word on how many levels of pressure sensitivity the pencil thing has?
• mjsweet 11y ago
  From the iPad Pro landing page: The New Smart Keyboard for iPad Pro The only thing we didn't reinvent was the alphabet. A little shot across Google's bow?
• jameshart 11y ago
  I found it interesting that there was no mention of handwriting recognition for the pencil input - just not on the radar, it seems. Probably for the best, it's always been a disappointment on every device it's been used on. Official support for an external keyboard for iPad is interesting - among the 'professional' kinds of applications that might now become possible to use on a device like this are development tools: code editors, command line interfaces... any chance that as they open up the scope of what's possible on the device, they'll liberalize the app store policies that currently prevent those kinds of things being created?
  • josephpmay 11y ago
    Eat Up Martha
  • randyrand 11y ago
    I agree. Interesting. Typing became faster than writing is what caused it IMO.
• notNow 11y ago
  It's official people, Apple has jumped the shark and it's getting rougher and rougher for them from now on.
• gcb0 11y ago
  still runs ios? so it's not a surface pro killer, but a mere ipad RT?
  • zan3 11y ago
    It's hard to kill something that's already dead
    • Dolores12 11y ago
      why would you steal keyboard from something that is already dead?
• nso95 11y ago
  No mouse or trackpad? Really? I'm supposed to awkwardly and dangerously contort my wrist every time I want to click on something?
• exabrial 11y ago
  Gigabit Ethernet Port? USB or thunderbolt ports? NFC?
• slg 11y ago
  After digging in a little more on the details, it doesn't look like Pencil will be compatible with any other device outside the iPad Pro. That is a little disappointing and there doesn't appear to be any specific hardware reason for it. I would welcome the opportunity to replace my paper notebook with a iPad Mini 4 and Pencil.
• rw2 11y ago
  Mac got this product completely wrong. We needed a tablet that runs Mac OS that we can use for work not a bigger iOS form factor. One of the worst product decision I've seen Apple make.
  • 0x4a42 11y ago
    Couldn't agree more. "Pro" is OS X, not iOS.
• esolyt 11y ago
  Unfortunately the keyboard seems similar to the keyboard on the New Macbook.
• dharma1 11y ago
  An iPad Pro that runs both OSX and iOS, or at least iOS apps inside OSX would be more interesting
• kefka 11y ago
  Look at the bright side: in a few years, Apple users might be able to run multiple programs... at the same time!* * Like Windows and Linux.
• Zak 11y ago
  I want that screen in a laptop.
• ChuckMcM 11y ago
  Well they went and did it, finally released the iPad that I've been looking for, now it will be interesting to see who, other than me, buys one. Since it is my #1 reading device these days. Only way to make it perfect would be to add an SD card and boost the battery life to 18hrs+. I'm really interested in how well the pen compares to the Surface 3 Pro's pen as well. Of course it would be really interesting to see a "stripe" cover, which has a stripe reader rather than a keyboard in it :-).
• rjurney 11y ago
  I am continuously amused at how the startup tech crowd can't see how innovative Apple products are... and yet they inevitably chase the markets Apple creates a few years later. For most of you, I would suggest that the innovation in the web and mobile spaces were the development of the platforms, and your web/mobile app does not constitute innovation. In other words, you have no idea what innovation looks like.
  • iolothebard 11y ago
    And this is the most amazing thing ever: http://www.relato.io/ http://www.relato.io/ Your smug is leaking.
    • rjurney 11y ago
      Mapping markets constitutes basic research. Product aside, it is important work. Understanding markets better makes them more efficient. Is this new? http://oreilly.com/go/mapbigdata http://oreilly.com/go/mapbigdata It is the first data driven market report. What have you done first? What are you building that is new or ambitious?
      • 72deluxe 11y ago
        Is it a competition? Odd attitudes I see sometimes.
        • rjurney 11y ago
          No, it shouldn't be. I didn't claim to innovate myself, but I can at least recognize the complexity of researching and crafting new interfaces the whole world can't figure out. Having just done something new, I lost my temper. Which is crap behavior, I admit. Wait... yes, it is a competition. Maybe not in this forum.
• dangoor 11y ago
  The Innovators Dilemma[1] is a great book for thinking about announcements like this. A "disruptive innovation" does something really well such that some people want it, but it is inferior in many ways to the market leaders. The market leaders can even laugh at the weak alternative and wonder why someone would want it. Over time, though, the "inferior" solution gradually meets more and more of the needs that were previously served by the market leaders... and eventually it wins (if the stars align and all that... but the examples in the book show how companies can be blind to the disruptors). Starting with the iPhone in 2007, on the surface Apple was disrupting phones/smartphones. But it was also music players. And then cameras. And, with the iPad, computers. When I first saw the iPad, I thought "someday, this will be the perfect computer for my mom". That time came when they added printing. Really, what they started disrupting in 2007 was computing in general. With iOS, they're trying to make an interaction model that works better for today's use cases than what we had before. The iPad Pro is one more step along the line of replacing our computers. Clearly, iOS devices are inferior to Macs for our (Hacker News readers) needs. Today. All of that said, it's an interesting race to see which model "wins" between Microsoft's "blend the old and new worlds" and Apple's "clean break". [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innovator's_Dilemma https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innovator's_Dilemma
• mrmondo 11y ago
  I know I'm taking the bate here but it seems to me that this is a product marketed towards artists and is clearly not a stylus for operating the device which was common practise before the iPhone was launched for the reason of mitigating the problems with resistive touch screens that were widely used at the time. Calling this a stylus seems a bit like calling a paintbrush a chisel, and by that I don't mean that it's better than a chisel I mean that it's a completely different tool.
• macspoofing 11y ago
  Two years ago I tried really hard to use my iPad as my primary workstation (or at least primary outside of the office). It didn't work. No mouse support, no multi-tasking, and very mediocre keyboard support. What they released today doesn't fix any of the above.
  • 72deluxe 11y ago
    Did you try that with an Android tablet? Sadly battery life is miles worse on Android, in my experience.
    • macspoofing 11y ago
      Never bothered. I liked the iPad screen aspect ratio and size.
• deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
• veidr 11y ago
  This makes the iPad ("finally") a legitimate successor to the Apple Newton MessagePad 2100 (from the 1990s), and incidentally the first iPad that I personally am excited about buying. The stylus is not just some accessory. Real stylus support is a fundamental advance that revolutionizes the device. This is every bit as significant (for the iPad) as a keyboard-only computer finally supporting mouse input. (To stretch that analogy a bit, the stylus products available for the iPad so far would be like wiring an Atari 2600 controller to the PC and being able to do rudimentary cursor movements with it.) The stylus was a fundamental advance for humankind, too. The first stylus was invented about 30 seconds after the first caveperson discovered that flat surfaces are good for drawing on with your fingers. And humans have used them ever since. Steve Jobs was right that "If you see a stylus [as a requirement for basic input and manipulation of the device], they blew it [if they meant their device to be a mainstream consumer product]." There's a corollary, though: If a tablet meant to be directly manipulated doesn't support a stylus, it is going to be worse than a simple piece of paper and a pen for a wide variety of everyday tasks. (Meeting notes, class notes, sketches, etc.) The iPad has sucked at all of those things, forever. (Despite the amazing (truly!) software enhancements that have made fingerpainting pretty expressive.) I cannot think of a more fundamental advance Apple could have bestowed upon the iPad. They are indeed playing catchup -- I have all the iPad generations at work and have never used them for much. I do use the Microsoft Surface Pro 3; it has a lot of shortcomings but is hugely, objectively superior to any iPad for taking notes (in just about any setting one would take free-form notes in). But it's heavy, fans, Windows, etc. I am a refugee from the end of the Newton days. In college, I took all my notes on an MP2000 and it was amazing. It totally worked, for text and diagrams, on balance better than paper. And nothing since then has been both highly portable and as good at note taking. The iPad is better than the Newton at lots of things -- movies and media consumption come to mind (</troll>) -- but even almost two decades later, no iPad has never been even close to as good as the MP2100 is at taking notes. So, $1050 for the new iPad Pro plus the stylus? Funny coincidence, that's exactly what I paid for my last Newton. Sign me the fuck up; I'll take a couple.
• 72deluxe 11y ago
  Very interesting to see the Microsoft demo on it and warm welcome during the keynote. Very different to the shouts of "NOOOO!" during the Apple event where they had Bill Gates call in, and IE was made the default browser. I was kind of expecting them to sneakily pull a Microsoft surface out. Pity there was no "it's road trip" fudged demo. Watching that makes me laugh every time.