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iPad Pro: ‘Monster screen’ runs full-sized side-by-side apps, LTE models, keyboard + stylus separate

Alongside the new iPhones, new Apple TV, new Apple Watch bands, and a gold anodized version of the Apple Watch Sport, Apple plans to debut a pair of new iPads on Wednesday: the larger iPad Pro and a new iPad mini. Since our report last week that the iPad Pro would be unveiled at this event, we’ve gathered a few more details about the device from several sources who have either used the iPad Pro or are familiar with the product.

Unlike earlier iPads, which have started at 16GB of capacity and been designed to appeal in both pricing and size to the masses, even the base model iPad Pro will have features fitting its name. We’re also hearing that it’s coming a little later than originally expected, but will still make it out by year’s end…

First, we understand that production of the new tablet is running slightly behind schedule. While Apple still plans to announce the device this week, open up pre-orders in October, and begin shipping in November, we understand that the first shipments may fall towards the end of November. Even then, it seems likely that the device will experience initial supply constraints, despite a higher set of price tags than existing iPad models.

We’ve also learned that the base model of iPad Pro will likely ship with 64GB of storage, which is substantially more space than the 16GB base models of the iPad Air and iPad mini lines. Apple will also sell a pricier 128GB model. The device will run iOS 9.1, the first full point release to iOS 9. While the new iPhones will come in an additional Rose Gold color, we’re told that the iPad Pro is likely to ship in the prior Gold, Silver, and Space Grey variations to start.

As with the iPad Air and Mini lines, the Pro will be available with built-in LTE capabilities. We’re told that the pricing of the highest-end iPad Pro versions with LTE chips will compare closely to Apple’s latest MacBooks. As the iPad Pro will support a new Apple-designed Bluetooth keyboard, customers may have a tough choice in the $1,000+ price range when looking for either a large-sized iPad or small-sized MacBook.

Speaking of the larger screen, we have been told that the 12.9-inch display is a “monster.” To give it truly “Pro” capabilities, the iPad Pro’s landscape split-screen mode will be bolstered to allow two full-sized portrait iPad apps to be displayed. This is unlike the split-screen mode on the iPad Air 2 and upcoming iPad mini 4 that condenses portrait iPad apps to fit side-by-side in landscape mode. The iPad Pro will include an A9X chip, which we’ve heard will be a “large” leap over the Air 2’s A8X. It will also have four stereo speakers, but a single Lightning port on the bottom.

Lastly, we’re told that Apple has decided not to bundle the iPad Pro with either the new Force Touch-integrated iPad stylus or keyboard. These accessories will be sold separately. We’re told Apple has developed two versions of an iPad Pro keyboard attachment: one that doubles as a case and another that is more similar to the Apple Wireless Keyboard it has previously sold for Macs and iPads. It remains to be seen whether Apple announces one or both on Wednesday. Apple will also sell its usual portfolio of Smart Covers and Smart Cases that are tweaked for the larger iPad.

You can read our extensive roundup to learn about Apple’s other announcements in store for September 9th.

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Comments

  1. Alan Aurmont - 9 years ago

    No Mac OS. Epic fail. Should’ve been called Maxi iPad. Because bigger is all it is.

    • mikhailt - 9 years ago

      Get a Retina Macbook then.

      OS X is never going to work well on a full screen without overhauling the entire UI and that’s exactly what they did, it became known as iOS.

      • mikhailt - 9 years ago

        Fuck, I meant to say touch screen, not full screen.

      • Konstantin Gonikman - 9 years ago

        +1, bro :)

      • OS X has evolved (simplified) so much that it would work very well on touch screen devices. Even many 3rd party apps overhauled for Yosemite have become touch friendly. I would even argue OS X is more touch friendly than Windows 10.

      • Robert Stukenbroeker - 9 years ago

        iOS is far too limited to be used on a “pro” device costing close to $1000 or more.

    • You forgot to stamp your little feet.

    • 1) Apple already offers a 13″ Mac OS device.
      2) This thing isn’t even announced yet, let alone released. Calm down.

    • Gregory Wright - 9 years ago

      What’s the point of having OS X on an iPad? With the availability of apps and the cloud it makes little sense to equip an iPad with OS X. I don’t see Apple gutting Macbook sales by loading OS X on an iPad. This will not happen in the near term at least.

    • It’s actually a benefit NOT having OS X on an iPad-formfactor.

    • Máté Molnár - 9 years ago

      To replace your MacBook Pro at work with iPad Pro you need a DoBox! #thisisdobox

    • Joe - 9 years ago

      Buy a Modbook Pro, they’ve been around for years. I much prefer an iOS tablet to an OS X tablet.

    • Colin Hooper - 9 years ago

      take a hint from microsoft dude. When are people going to learn that an OS designed for mouse and keyboard will never work on a touch interface.

  2. mikhailt - 9 years ago

    > To give it truly “Pro” capabilities, the iPad Pro’s landscape split-screen mode will be bolstered to allow two full-sized portrait iPad apps to be displayed.

    Basically, the same as the Split View feature in El Capitan. I would also be concerned about the 2GB of RRAM, is it enough for two apps or they’re bumping up RAM in Pro as well?

    • flame1230 - 9 years ago

      Trust me, the 2gb of RAM will be just fine. If your used to the larger amounts of RAM in Android, iOS is more power efficient so it’ll use less RAM. This is why Apple products perform much better than their specs on paper.

      • Andrew Messenger - 9 years ago

        2GB would not be fine running actual PRO apps. Which is why this thing either needs to have more RAM or it’ll just be a big iPad and not actually more useful.

      • @Andrew Messenger

        It depends on what you define as PRO apps. If you mean Photoshop, FCPX, etc., then even 4GB won’t be enough. If you’re talking about more powerful iPad apps that allow you to do more sophisticated content creation then that’s a different story. Remember, this is PRO TABLET, not a MBP or desktop replacement.

      • vancefry - 9 years ago

        I always heard that 1gb would be fine, and yet my browser tabs are always reloading…

      • shareef777 - 9 years ago

        No, 2GB is NOT enough, not even on the current Air. 1GB on my Air today has browser windows reloading all the time (and having 3 tabs is not ‘excessive’). I can’t imagine adding another gig will do much to help if you’re launching two separate apps.

      • pellegew - 9 years ago

        Do you have even the most basic understanding of what RAM is?

    • dugbug - 9 years ago

      It’s two full sized retina apps side by side so a lot more gui going on. A9x is probably a monster chip too. I would guess 4gb

    • Quinlan McNellen - 9 years ago

      2GB should be enough for two apps, but really not enough for ‘pro’ apps. Currently running Opera w/ 4 tabs, Steam, Settings, Control Panel, Xamarin Studio, Weather, News, and Task Manager. 1GB RAM, Windows 10 Home x86.

      iOS is clearly a RAM eater if Windows can multitask better on 1GB.

  3. srgmac - 9 years ago

    Please please please put some kind of external storage on this thing; I’ll buy it if it has some way to add external storage; even network storage is fine, but you can’t even do that with iOS.

    • mikhailt - 9 years ago

      You can grab files via network drives but your apps has to support it. GoodReader for an example has no issues grabbing my files from my NAS, when I can than transfer iBooks via the Share button.

      I do agree, it would be nice if Document Picker is updated to support network drives and if they would add USB-C port to iOS devices that can read it as a standard storage device without requiring special apps for them.

      • RP - 9 years ago

        I imagined using the pro in conjunction with a mac for content creation. But without even one USB c connection there goes that Idea. No USB c is a huge mistake

  4. Leonardo Maracino - 9 years ago

    I’m still waiting for a touch screen + physical keyboard.

  5. SKR Imaging - 9 years ago

    1- Needs 2 USB-C ports on this device.. 1 to allow charging while the other allows plugging in USB hard drive or camera for tethering. If you aim this device at the PRO market, you can’t just release it without the ability to plug an external storage device (hopefully ios 9.1 opens this up for all models)… If not, I have a feeling we are looking at an iPad Plus.

    2- Needs 4GB RAM

    • nonyabiness - 9 years ago

      Disagree with point 1. Plugging into an external storage device is unnecessary for a *wireless* device. The iPad has always been first and foremost a wireless device. Users need to stop trying to use old technologies with new technology. Want access to more data? Get more cloud storage.

      Agree with point 2.

      • Rev (@Ravenosa1025) - 9 years ago

        Users just need to get a tablet from Microsoft, Samsung or somebody that doesn’t try to make you pay through the nose for memory. You’ll get USB ports/expandable storage and a heck of a lot more flexibility. Most people I know don’t use cloud storage. It’s not even really an option when you’re doing serious work.

      • joshdoremus - 9 years ago

        Rev, why the crap are you on an apple fanboy site?

      • taoprophet420 - 9 years ago

        It’s needs to hook up a camera and upload and edit photos.

      • Quinlan McNellen - 9 years ago

        Professionals don’t want all this ‘wireless’ and ‘cloud’ crap, they want something that works.
        USB is the way to go.

    • Paul Andrew Dixon - 9 years ago

      They will probably stick with lighting – maybe version 2 will get usb C… but there wont be 2 of them

      for a pro tablet…i agree 4gb ram is needed

  6. Mark Granger - 9 years ago

    As a developer, I just want one thing: XCode for the iPad Pro. I use my apps in the field so being able to develop, test and run on the same device would be a killer feature. I think most iOS developers would love to leave their laptops at home when they travel.

    • This. This. This.

      Even though I don’t think we’ll get full XCode at this event, I have a strange feeling we might see a Xcode Playgrounds app instead. Just to get the ball rolling on with coding on an iPad.

    • Bapple115 - 9 years ago

      Apple pls make this happen. I will literally throw $100 bills at the screen if they announce this on Wednesday. I don’t think playgrounds is enough. We need a full on Xcode App with this thing for it to be a Pro class device.

    • Nick Cook - 9 years ago

      Xcode is literally the only reason I still own a Mac.

    • memuslism - 9 years ago

      Yes, Xcode is the killer app for this device! I just don’t know git can live in an iOS file sandboxing world. Or really in other file type (images, sounds, etc) that isn’t managed directly from within Xcode.

  7. David Pat (@Patfactorx) - 9 years ago

    They are going to make massive margins on this thing if it ships without accessories. Congrats on the money grab.

    • mikhailt - 9 years ago

      It’s the same thing Microsoft did with Surface lineups. It’s just business as usual.

    • “Congrats on the money grab.” You know who writes stuff like that? Someone who doesn’t run his own business but offers endless advice for those who do.

  8. Ronald Sondergaard - 9 years ago

    i might buy the 6s plus but will not for one reason…the ios operating system is too retictive…cannot do nothing with the screen…etc…sorry,,,just don,t like apples os.

  9. modeyabsolom - 9 years ago

    From the spec described here, this is the iPad I’ve been waiting for!

  10. taoprophet420 - 9 years ago

    I wish Apple would make the Smart Covers and Smart Cases smart. Shutting off or turning on the display when you open or close the cover should not count as smart anymore.

  11. monty72 - 9 years ago

    I just don’t get the point of this. It’s going to be too big to hold and use and if you put it in a stand with a keyboard you might as well just use a laptop.

  12. Jason Keen (@jasonckeen) - 9 years ago

    I am a working commercial photographer and I am dying for a tablet with stylus, raw support, and (eventually) a port of Lightroom. The problem is color management. You need to be able to calibrate the display. I’d assume photographers would be a predominant demographic interested in this Pro device, but will iOS ever allow profiling? Without it, this device is not really useful to us. I can’t edit and deliver files made on an uncalibrated display.

  13. If this iPad Pro is not running full Mac OS it will indeed be a major fail. I’ve been waiting on this forgoing a Surface. With the Surface 4 due to come I will op for his to run Adobe Pro Apps. Don’t call this device Pro if I can’t run FCPX or Premiere Pro on it.

    • ericisking - 9 years ago

      …because the only ‘real’ professionals are video producers?

    • wdm6502 - 9 years ago

      You think they redesigned Mac OS X for touch in secret just for this tablet? oh wait, they already have that, it’s called “iOS”.

  14. BongBong (@BongBong) - 9 years ago

    I’ll believe it when I see it, not based on a thinly sourced rumor.

  15. Pier Carlo Cadoppi - 9 years ago

    side-by-siZe typo

  16. jakexb - 9 years ago

    It’s too early to say what will happen, but even as an Apple fan, I find Microsoft’s new approach intriguing — one OS to rule them all, designed for touch first, responsive from phone all the way to desktop. Whether there are too many tradeoffs remains to be seen. There’s already a lot of software / websites that are designed that way… why not an OS?

    • Jim Phong - 9 years ago

      The childish kindergarten style Metro/ModernUI tiles failure you mean? The atrocious Windows8.2=10 spyware ridden OS which is the worst WindowsNT ever ?

      • Chris McCready - 9 years ago

        Who pays you for your comments? Because you make the same one over and over… No need for you to contribute to the Win 10 FUD.

      • I don’t think anyone pays Jim, his rampant racism and homophobia would be a PR nightmare. He just has very limited capacities and an overzealous use of the copy/paste function.

  17. driverbenji - 9 years ago

    To all people posting rumors about a larger iPad, here on this site and all others, this will most likely be called iPad Plus.

    The person that started the iPad Pro rumor was based on thinking the surface pro was good marketing and that apple needed to compete with it, yet, the reality is, Apple’s iPads still have the largest share of the tablet market, so, that is all bunk. Apple’s pro products are in the Mac lineup, and will stay there.

    iPad Mini is smaller than the iPad, an iPad larger than the iPad will likely be called Plus or something to denote it’s size. They are all iOS devices and will remain such, Apple has no plans to merge iOS & OS X into one OS, it will not happen. iOS is for touch screen based devices, OS X remains the OS for all the other, bigger devices.

    Why is everyone looking for some super-duper magical major new innovation every single year? That’s fantasy, not reality.

    • Paul Andrew Dixon - 9 years ago

      Totally disagree… if it were to be called the “ipad plus”…it just sounds like a regular ipad with a bigger screen and nothing amazingly new…given that the tablet market is struggling, even though ipad holds a larger part of the market, apple need to do something to grab attention — so calling it “ipad pro” makes it sound more powerful and something that could take on other tablets and even laptops — basic laptops, such as chrome books, have been stealing some of the market…

  18. patstar5 - 9 years ago

    While Microsoft will announce their surface pro 4 with bundled stylus and keyboard….

    • Word on the street is that the Surface Pro 4 is nothing more than a SP 3 + Intel Skyake + Intel RealSense Camera.

      No reason to start forming lines for.

      • patstar5 - 9 years ago

        Well Lenovo has their miix 700 tablet coming out and it includes a stylus and keyboard and starts at $700.
        Well if Lenovo copied the design, we could see other manufacturers start to do it which might drive Microsoft to lower their price.
        I wish I would of bought a surface instead of a MacBook pro for college, would of been much better for taking notes.
        It was $2200 for a 512gb 13 inch MacBook pro! At least I have 4 year warranty but that’s ridiculous!

  19. usmansaghir - 9 years ago

    Ipad pro indeed sounds promising. Guys lets not forget the notebook and ipads are two different things. Notebook is obviously designed to stay at home, making the ipad more easier and comfortable to take out and about with you. Storage starting at 64gb is a good move. Especially if Apple are going to market the ipad pro as more of business use.

    • Quinlan McNellen - 9 years ago

      “Notebook is obviously designed to stay at home” I think you are confusing notebooks with desktops. Notebooks were designed to be portable.

  20. Christopher R. Ellis - 9 years ago

    Even if it’s the same size and price, an iPad Pro running iOS isn’t even going to be a consideration for someone buying an MacBook running OSX. Apple has stood their ground to keep their mobile OS and desktop OS completely separate. They are starting to merge minute features, but there isn’t even a whisper of a rumor to suggest OSX is close to being touch ready. Maybe in a few years as the Surface Pro line continues on it’s growth and continuum pays off we’ll see an iPad/MacBook hybrid capable of running iOS apps and OSX programs.

    • vancefry - 9 years ago

      Those terms… “Mobile.” “Desktop.” Terminology from yesterday. Aren’t Macbooks mobile? Don’t tablet devices deserve full desktop application support?

  21. kpom1 - 9 years ago

    I wonder if, at some point, Apple will be forced by market demands to merge OS X and iOS, just like Microsoft has done with WIndows 10. Tablets are getting more powerful (the A9X will have similar, if not somewhat better, CPU specs than the Skylake Core m5, though the graphics won’t be as good). Apple did finally release a “phablet,” and benefited tremendously. The iPad user base is larger than the Mac base, so I wonder if the transition would be to move Mac to ARM, or the iPad to Intel to enable the code merger.

    • Jim Phong - 9 years ago

      The whole Microsoft Metro/ModernUI unusable childish thing along with the spyware ridden Windows8.2=10 is just a big failure. Same goes for the Surface/SurfacePro crap and WindowsPhone…

      • Windows 10 has been met with universal acclaim and apparently stomps all over OS X and oddly enough “that unusable childish thing” of Windows 8/Windows 10 is installed on more PC’s worldwide than OSX, by a HUGE margin. Not quite the failure you would make it out to be.

        Windows 8 or 10 in no way affects you at all yet your making out as if you have been deeply, personally affected by it, almost to the point of ranting and raving. Take a chill pill or grow up.

  22. Paul Andrew Dixon - 9 years ago

    I bought the original ipad and felt excited when it first came out…but with limited books, no decent keyboard, no use for my actual daily life, i soon gave it up… i then went onto buying and ipad mini – i wanted something lighter and more of a reader or something bigger to play games on because the iphone 5 screen was too small … again i found little use of it because mostly i wanted a portable office and the ipad was terrible to create worksheets on and do real office stuff — it felt like an oversize cellphone…

    Then i got the iphone 6+… i rarely phone, i message, use the internet, read, and do basic office stuff — this works as the ipad intended and fills that gap between a laptop and phone…

    when i heard of the ipad pro, i was intrigued… just like macs have bootcamp to install OS X and windows – i think the ipad pro needs to run both iOS and OS X — otherwise it is just a big slab…it will add nothing new except being a bigger size…the ipad market is already suffering due to bigger phones and smaller and light laptops — the ipad was created to fill a market, but the phablet has sort of filled most of that now…

    If this is just a bigger ipad – then it’s a poor move and not worth it…they need to innovate

    • Jim Phong - 9 years ago

      I bet you never bought any iPad nor an iPhone. You are just babbling nonsense bashing Apple.

      • mahmudf2014 - 9 years ago

        So tell me, what are you gonna do with the “nothing more but bigger iPad” ? It’s not going to be able to run other than iOS apps. It won’t have an USB port to connect external devices. It won’t have the ability to run OS X. And remember, this is a device that could be called “Pro” If it would be called “Plus” that would be ok but the Pro term won’t be acceptable, because that can make people confused. Also, why would you buy iPad Pro when there is rMBP?

    • Paul Van Obberghen - 9 years ago

      Maybe Apple needs a bigger iPad also to make sure to get those who bought a 6+ – or any other phablet – back and have them have both an iPhone and an iPad. It wont be confused with a phablet (what a terrible word btw). When it comes to screen sizes, bigger is always better. I would have a 52 inch 4K TV set if I could afford one. I work on a 27″ iMac, but if their was a 29″ or even 32″ Retina iMac, I bet I would go for it. I also have a 13″ MacBook Air for occasional customer’s presentations, but I would have a 15″ MBA if there was one. I had once a 17″ MacBook Pro and I loved it. Though I really liked my iPhone 4S, I enjoy the 6 bigger screen for sure, and if it wasn’t for the money, I would probably have taken a 6+ for that reason. Yes, bigger is better. “Pro” I don’t know though…

  23. Roman Hawke - 9 years ago

    So for a thousand dollars I can get iOS or a MacBook? If people were honest with themselves they would be forced to admit that this is just Absurd!!
    No way would I spend a thousand dollars to have iOS on a larger screen. The iPad Air line is plenty big enough. Fulfills all my needs in a tablet. It’s powerful, and best of all portable. I can just see it now, people taking photos with their 12 inch iPad. If Apple was to sell a rock covered in aluminum, and call it the irock, people would buy it in the millions. A fool and his money are soon parted, and apple is the best at making us all fools.

    • Have you ever considered you were a fool even before you bought into Apple?

    • creavite - 9 years ago

      So you are a time traveler that you know iPad Pro is only a bigger form factor of the iPad Air? Because for my best knowledge, the event is only taking place tomorrow.

  24. HacksLabs (@HacksLabs) - 9 years ago

    What’s the starting price point? Lighting or USB C? Colors? Does it count with an integrated stand like the surface?… I know this too much but please! I’m waiting for Wednesday to decide wether to ditch my MBP for an iPad Pro or buy a Retina MacBook Pro

  25. It’s “Mac Tablet” with Mac OS X! Core M with 8GB memory has already shipped this spring. That is like a MacBook 12″.

  26. Chris McCready - 9 years ago

    To me, between a Macbook that can run OS X or Windows vs a Pro tablet that runs iOS… There would be no true choice to be made. The Macbook wins (for me) hands down.

  27. Paul Van Obberghen - 9 years ago

    It is going to be interresting to see how Apple will position this iPad Pro alongside the MacBook Retina, as with a keyboard, and possibly a stylus, it seems that they will both cost about the same. It may even be more expensive than a MacBook Air, which does not have a Retina display. And the MacBooks do not even have built in LTE (which always seemed odd to me btw).
    Speaking of “Pro”, and apart from being bigger and running 2 full sized iPad Air App side by side, I don’t see what this larger iPad will have to gain it’s “Pro” denomination. The MacBook Pro and Mac Pro are powerfull machines both in terms of processing and storage, yet this iPad will have the same processor and storage as the other iPads. Will there be something else in iOS 9.1 that we don’t know of that will make it really “Pro”?
    Also, at a price equivalent to a MacBook Retina, it wont appeal to the education sector at all, a sector that has been said to be one of the primary market for a larger iPad. Or maybe the education sector has been enquired and considering that the iPad Air screen size (and especially pricing) is good enough for them.

  28. tush4r - 9 years ago

    iPad Pro, if it goes on sale, would then be backed by the classic Apple marketing strategy, forcing people to buy an overrated adapter, stylus and keyboards. None of them is going to be less than $50. I am an Apple user and totally dependent on their technology – sometimes I hate drilling a hole in my pocket for Apple.

  29. dipaguco - 9 years ago

    Creating OS X apps like Xcode for iPad Plus is the most logical solution imo. Kinda like how they tweak apps for iPhone Plus models.

    • tush4r - 9 years ago

      Are you saying Apple should create a new Xcode App for iPad Pro? Not that doesn’t work like this. We get a square shaped canvas called as Storyboard and options to choose either of the iOS version and programming language (Swift or Objective-C). All of the apps are made using the same square shaped canvas with a logic in the backend. The reason behind using this kind of Storyboard is that it automatically resizes when put in different sizes and aspects ratios of the screen.

      • dipaguco - 9 years ago

        Yes, I’m saying the only thing holding iPad back from being OS X is apps, like XCode. Once we can develop apps for platforms on the very platform the game changes

    • tush4r - 9 years ago

      I guess that would be useless, we, developers, are already happy with Xcode. It’s a powerful tool, indeed. I am sure Apple would add another dimension in the tool for iPad Pro, but not a new vesion. Similar to what they did with Watch by introducing WatchKit.

  30. Will Van Gelderen - 9 years ago

    It will be interesting to see where Apple positions this device. I had an iPad for a while alongside my Macbook Pro, used to use the ipad a lot, but lately haven’t really found a need for it other that the occasional trip. The iPad to me has always been a secondary device. Now I also have a surface pro 3 for work and honestly its one of the best hardware devices I have ever used, great as a tablet when needed and great as a laptop when needed.
    I just wonder with the iPad pro, even with the extra keyboard and stylus will iOS be good enough for daily use as my main OS. I like the SP3 because its one device that does both

  31. Hope we’ll see some Pro Software, Logic or Final Cut Touch would be very nice. Adobe is actually reworking Photoshop for Touch, maybe this is a hint. I hope i can produce serious music on this thing in the near future. The Potential is incredible.

  32. Josh (@yournot) - 9 years ago

    Speculation and rumor, no hard facts, just wait until tomorrow and they don’t have a big ipad, instead they reveal touch integration on the imac.

  33. Mark Daunis - 9 years ago

    1. The “iPad Pro” isn’t necessarily “a thing” yet.

    2. The rumors surrounding the device do *not* make it a competitor to the Surface Pro. iOS is not a “pro” level operating system. Adding split screen functionality and active stylus support/force touch doesn’t change that. It’s as silly of a proposition as what Microsoft did with Windows 8–i.e. bolting on a “Start Screen” experience and calling it a tablet OS. Apple is now in the inverse situation. They’re haphazardly adding on “desktop” features to their tablet OS, resulting in what will (based on rumors thus far) make for a very weak enterprise offering.

    The entire value proposition of the Surface line is that it can be used as a full-blown Windows computer, that’s where the “Pro” moniker comes in. The (rumored) iPad Pro is literally just a larger, faster iPad (and the [rumored] Mini 3 could have the same processor/split screen/force touch). So Apple’s “me too” device totally missed the entire “purpose” of the category.

    The “iPad Pro” also adds to Apple’s already ridiculously convoluted product line. They’re approaching Samsung-level silliness

    As someone who has always owned Surface products, I knew this day would come, where Apple would make their own “Surface” and tech journalists would hail it as “What Microsoft was going for but didn’t achieve.” The truth, though, if rumors turn out to be true… Is that Apple simply missed the point, and proved they don’t really understand the distinct purpose of devices like the Surface Pro.

    Just another post-Jobs, me-too product that won’t live up to the hype in reality, but tech journalists will desperately try to prove they “got it right.”***

    ***Based on what we “know,” acknowledging that most Apple rumors lately have been mostly spot on.

  34. Bobby Dickerson-Murray - 9 years ago

    It is about time someone paid attention to online book and magazine publishers need to display fixed graphic rich pages, as designed for print. When it comes to mini-coffee table photo books, and “children’s” books creative designers cannot stand having their work squished down to fit a small screen that also destroys 500 years of typographic principles just to be tech savvy correct. That is not the creative point of writing books, and spending hours on illustrations.

    Case in point, author Barry Murray [dotcom] is just about ready to publish http://www.searchforashadowofthepast.com in a compromise 7 x 10 verso / verso vertical bleed trim that could have fit a spread across an I-Pad screen… perhaps! Now he would like to know what Apple suggests might become the new standard for fine art folio photography display. Remember that bashful Steve(2) went on to pioneering, also, huge digital photo prints.

    Our corporate name is Mac&Murray because Barry Murray bought into the insanely great idea of a Mac Plus, and Laserwriter. He loved the fact that Steve(1) had all of the developers credit names signed inside the revolutionary designed case, and that a lesbian was the production manager because she was the “best man for the job.” He also was an “Apple Hero” for his OOP Hypercard programming … such a brilliant application that coined the terms “App” and “Home Page.”

    In the early days of Macdom you actually could buy a swivel screen to solve the “landscape to portrait” screen display problem. Who knew that in these days of climate change that Apple, again, would hurl a hammer into a controversial “big screen” conflict between physical, and pixel paper?

    Thank you!

  35. Allen Boe - 9 years ago

    No OS X means no adobe core apps which means I’m out and probably going to go ahead and buy a Cintique instead. OH WELL…..

  36. lrnpage - 9 years ago

    I am desperately hoping that this device will be good enough to rival a surface pro 3… I’ve been holding off for ages because I prefer Apple to Microsoft for many reasons, and my current iPad is the 3 which is just a pain now. It would be awesome to be able to run OS X software off it, namely photoshop because force touch and stylus compatibility makes it fantastic (finally) for graphics work. However, as someone said before, it’s going to need colour optimisation for it to be of any use. as someone who travels whilst running an illustration buisness from their backpack this would be great!

  37. 3D touch? No? hm.

  38. rick (@rick90385772) - 9 years ago

    So, the company that makes the absolute best trackpad in the business won’t make a trackpad available for it’s tablets.
    If it’s all “touch” then why have physical keyboards? Now there is a physical keyboard made for it by Apple. Why no precision input?

    Oh wait. Apparently touch isn’t enough because now there is the “Pencil”. So they do allow a physical input besides fingers. Well then, that should change it up so keyboard makers can now make them with trackpads.

    But no. There is still no trackpad availability. For. No. Good. Reason. What. So. Ever.

  39. arrianadaviscoleman - 9 years ago

    Thanks for the article. Netflix, Hulu and BBC App is great on iPhone. If live outside USA, you can use tools like UnoTelly to getNetflix, Hulu and BBC on your iPad.

  40. Kasandra Jeffcoat - 8 years ago

    Savvy commentary . I learned a lot from the information . Does someone know if my company might get a sample TSP-76 version to work with ?

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