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The New iPad Impressed Investors, But Not The Fans
In the lead up to March 12, speculation and anticipation were rife for the hotly awaited iPad 3, However, when the new iPad was unveiled by Tim Cook in the early morning, the collective response around the internet seemed to lack the usual Apple magic, on paper, the device is certainly a winner,the screen is nothing short of astounding and the CPU is a definite step forward – even if results of independent testing on Apple‘s claims regarding its performance versus the Tegra have been less than conclusive.
But by keeping the old design – and even, it must be noted, delivering a device that’s slightly thicker and heavier than its predecessor – Apple has given the sense of producing an iPad 2.5. A refresh of an old model more than a new product.
This wasn’t helped by Apple‘s bizarre reluctance to actually call the device the iPad 3. By falling back to the plain old iPad as the title, the company has contributed to the sense that this is a nonessential next step – something people should swap an iPad 2 for – rather than the company’s usual “magical” marketing spin.
It was reflected in the launch day crowds, Outside Sydney’s Apple store queues were noticeably down, according to tech blog Gizmodo, and it’s worth noting that the Telstra store across the road pipped the Apple flagship shop by 8 hours, opening at one minute past Midnight on the morning of Friday 15 March. Meanwhile, in London, The Register was reporting that staff outnumbered customers on opening day.
Certainly the new iPad hasn’t harmed Apple’s share price, with the company hitting the US$600 mark the day before launch, closing slightly down by the end of the day – only one month after the tech giant crested the US$500 share mark.
Locally, this wasn’t helped by the confusion over the network operability. With the terms 4G and LTE being common in Australia at the moment, Apple‘s promotion of the new iPad as being 4G, when it actually would not work on any of the existing or upcoming spectra being utilized for 4G in Australia, was confounding at best and at worst -according to some media outlets – even a little disingenuous.
While it’s apparent that Apple has lost none of its flair for creating compelling technology, the greater fan base seems in need of a release with a little more “wow” factor than a high-res screen,
