AAPL - Apple Inc.

[Liberty]

Liberty - you listen to WWOZ?

 

I mostly listen to WWNO3, but I listen to WWOZ too (it's great, but more hit & miss, and sometimes they just talk too much, which breaks my concentration when reading).

 

And Treme on HBO is one of my fave series, despite never having been to New Orleans :)

[KCLarkin]

5 years seems excessively high. 

 

I have owned each of the first 3 generations. My wife and kids use my iPad 2. I don't think we have any need to upgrade it in the next two years (which would be 5 years). They only use it for video, web, and email. My iPad 3 is way too heavy, so I do want to replace it with the Air. But after that, I don't see a compelling need to upgrade in the next several years.

[gfp]

Not a particularly surprising or predictive correlation, but interesting nonetheless -

 

http://www.macrumors.com/2014/07/25/apple-revenue-growth/

[rmitz]

I have an iPad 3 as well.  It was my first tablet.  I will not be upgrading with whatever comes out this fall however.  I only use my iPad for email/websurfing/viewing pictures/videos/etc.  the iPad 3 does all of those sufficiently and the retina screen is good enough as well.  I don't see a reason to upgrade.  Then again, my wife has been using my iPad a lot, so I have to admit the thought of just giving it to her and buying myself another one has crossed my mind. That might not mean I upgrade to the new one this fall however, because if the new one comes out and the current iPad Air is still available at a reduced price it will be tempting to pickup an older model or even search craigslist for a used iPad 3/4/Air from people like you who are upgrading.  In short, I don't see what I would need a faster processor for in an iPad yet.  If I was using it for a computer replacement it wouldn't be sufficient (and the new one this fall surely won't be either), but to surf the web it is fine as it is.

 

There are lots of interesting individual apps that are ipad specific and do require the CPU.  A lot of the ones I’m interested in are more kid-focused, so that might not matter to many, but there are lots of people out there using it for more gaming, etc.

[rmitz]

I use the iPad so much now (reading ebooks, 10K/Qs, web stuff, CC transcripts, listening to audio of calls, RSS feeds, Twitter, email, podcasts, writing notes in investing journal, listening to streaming radio (mostly New Orleans Jazz public radio, if you're curious), etc) that I'm thinking about upgrading this year too, since a faster CPU and more RAM would improve the experience further, and any improvement to something you spend hours on every day is worth a lot. Any new features on top of that (fingerprint sensor, etc) would just be a bonus.

 

I have tried it.  I liked it, but not enough to upgrade—though I am looking forward to the new one.  Also, mine will be handed down so no used market for that iPad. 

[Palantir]

iPad Air is utter shite at handling multiple tabs. Everytime I have more than one tab open, it always refreshes, which is a pain, for example when you're running a screen and you're on page 50, and end up on page 1 every time.

[bargainman]

iPad Air is utter shite at handling multiple tabs. Everytime I have more than one tab open, it always refreshes, which is a pain, for example when you're running a screen and you're on page 50, and end up on page 1 every time.

 

The other thing that sucks about IOS in general especially after having used an android device, is the lack of both a back button and a search button. It is really handy to have that back button especially.

 

On a somewhat unrelated note I was just in the Microsoft store the other day playing around with their news Microsoft surface pro three.  I must say that is a pretty impressive piece of hardware.

[ragu]

[...] I upgraded to the Air when it came out. [...]

 

Apologies for the OT: Do you have a case/cover to go with it? I'd ordered the Kavaj Hamburg, but it turned out to be defective.

 

If you'd rather respond by PM, that's fine too.

 

Thanks,

Ragu

[Liberty]

iPad Air is utter shite at handling multiple tabs. Everytime I have more than one tab open, it always refreshes, which is a pain, for example when you're running a screen and you're on page 50, and end up on page 1 every time.

 

The other thing that sucks about IOS in general especially after having used an android device, is the lack of both a back button and a search button. It is really handy to have that back button especially.

 

I think a dedicated back button is really annoying. Too easy to hit by mistake. Much rather swipe from the left side to go back or swipe from the right side to go forward.

[Liberty]

[...] I upgraded to the Air when it came out. [...]

 

Apologies for the OT: Do you have a case/cover to go with it? I'd ordered the Kavaj Hamburg, but it turned out to be defective.

 

If you'd rather respond by PM, that's fine too.

 

Thanks,

Ragu

 

Hi Ragu,

 

I only got a smart cover from Apple, and later I got an Origami keyboard case to type on a physical keyboard:

 

http://goincase.com/shop/incase-origami-workstation-for-ipad-2  (shown here with iPad 2, but works fine with iPad Air)

[Liberty]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-29/ford-plans-iphones-for-global-employees-job-posting-says.html

 

Guess we'll see a lot more of those types of news over the next few years...

[bargainman]

iPad Air is utter shite at handling multiple tabs. Everytime I have more than one tab open, it always refreshes, which is a pain, for example when you're running a screen and you're on page 50, and end up on page 1 every time.

 

The other thing that sucks about IOS in general especially after having used an android device, is the lack of both a back button and a search button. It is really handy to have that back button especially.

 

I think a dedicated back button is really annoying. Too easy to hit by mistake. Much rather swipe from the left side to go back or swipe from the right side to go forward.

 

When you say you think, does that mean you have actually bought an android device and tried it? Or are you just speculating? I use the back button on my phone almost daily and I don't think I have ever hit it by accident.  Or at the very least it's very rare.

 

I will need to try out my iPad, but I don't think that the back swiping functionality is anywhere near as useful as Android back button.  Androids back button Will even switch between apps if you came from A different location by clicking a link for example.  In addition I am certainly not the first person to make this criticism of IOS.

 

http://www.zdnet.com/i-bought-an-iphone-5s-but-i-returned-it-the-next-day-7000021830/

 

Never go back

I returned the iPhone to Apple because it didn't have a "back" button.

 

Post-PC encourages users to be lazy. I don't mean that in a bad way, it's just how these devices are supposed to be used. Post-PC devices like smartphones and tablets are designed to hang around in the background, and brought forward into the foreground to be used. These devices need to have very low "cognitive loading". Simply, they shouldn't ask you to think too much.

 

The problem that Android users going to iOS will have is that Android trains you to use the back button as a lazy way of getting around an app. You never have to look for the back option on Android -- it's always in the same place and does essentially the same things. It's become part of every Android app design.

 

iOS devices don't have back buttons. This means that wherever you are in an iOS app you have to think in order to reach back into the app -- for example, to go back to your inbox, or a list of folders. It's this thinking that makes iOS less easy to use than Android. That grates when you're trying to use the device quickly, or when you desire to do so with little effort -- e.g. when you're on the hoof, or when you're tired.

 

 

 

[Liberty]

This is based on my limited experience using other people's Android devices and from reading about other people's experience. I'm sure some people love it, I was just describing my preference. Soft buttons are a really bad idea, IMO, I much prefer tactile feedback so you can feel where the buttons are and feel when they are pressed.

[Palantir]

Wouldn't it be awesome if you could use your iPad as a plug in monitor....? I'm curious, can Androids do that?

[Liberty]

Wouldn't it be awesome if you could use your iPad as a plug in monitor....? I'm curious, can Androids do that?

 

There are apps for that:

 

http://www.avatron.com/applications/air-display/

 

http://getidisplay.com/

[ragu]

I only got a smart cover from Apple [...]

 

Liberty,

 

Thanks for that! How then do you protect the back of your iPad?

 

Best,

Ragu

[Liberty]

Liberty,

 

Thanks for that! How then do you protect the back of your iPad?

 

Best,

Ragu

 

Aluminium  ;)

[bargainman]

This is based on my limited experience using other people's Android devices and from reading about other people's experience. I'm sure some people love it, I was just describing my preference. Soft buttons are a really bad idea, IMO, I much prefer tactile feedback so you can feel where the buttons are and feel when they are pressed.

 

Yes But I can feel when It is pressed.  My phone will let out a little vibration when you touch the buttons.  I am pretty sure this is the case with the tablet I tried as well. 

[tengen]

Yes But I can feel when It is pressed.  My phone will let out a little vibration when you touch the buttons.  I am pretty sure this is the case with the tablet I tried as well.

 

Which phone is this?  If you mentioned it in the last couple of pages of discussion, I somehow missed it. I'm curious to give it a try.

[ragu]

Aluminium  ;)

 

Heh. You're one of those, eh? :). No little ones about the house, I presume?

 

Best,

Ragu

[Liberty]

Heh. You're one of those, eh? :). No little ones about the house, I presume?

 

He's not old enough to do damage yet.

 

My sister has an older kid and has a really great heavy-duty iPad case that is kind of rubberized and seems to absorb shocks really well. I'll probably get one of those eventually. Don't know what it's called, though.

[bargainman]

Yes But I can feel when It is pressed.  My phone will let out a little vibration when you touch the buttons.  I am pretty sure this is the case with the tablet I tried as well.

 

Which phone is this?  If you mentioned it in the last couple of pages of discussion, I somehow missed it. I'm curious to give it a try.

 

It's a pretty old phone it's one of the original Motorola Atrix, I think it's the HD model or 2. I just assumed that all android phones have this vibration feature, maybe they don't.

[Phaceliacapital]

Windows Phones also have that function.

[Liberty]

http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/08/04/editorial-why-apple-inc-isnt-worried-about-ipads-idc-tablet-market-share-

 

Apple sold 26 million iPads in the December quarter, an increase of 13.5 percent (3.1 million additional units) over its previous record holiday sales quarter. If rather than fixating on Apple's slow quarters, you instead step back and look at the last annual cycle of four quarters, Apple sold 69.7 iPads, compared to 71 million iPads over the previous four quarters.

 

That's a difference of 1.3 million fewer units compared to the previous year, or effectively a rounding error when considering that Apple maintains 4-6 weeks of inventory, and that Apple has consistently sold on average 1.3 million iPads per week over the last year, and that it ended the last quarter with a half-million unit reduction in iPad inventory. While Apple's iPad sales are not growing globally over its year-ago sales, iPads are flat, not contracting and certainly not "collapsing." [...]

 

It's actually pretty remarkable that Apple's sales are not "collapsing," given that Samsung has long been liberally giving away its tablets while others in the tablet industry (notably Amazon, Google/Motorola and Microsoft) have actively lost lots of money from their tablet adventures, without selling enough devices to even appear in IDC's top five vendors for the quarter. That's a pretty low bar considering that Asus brings up the rear with shipments of just 1 million units.

 

Without any real tablet competitor left to draw attention to—and Samsung has definitely failed in that regard, even when ignoring profits and only looking at unit shipments—IDC is again forced to pit Apple against the collective tablet shipments of the rest of the world, where "other" is a bunch of unnamed companies whose production is impossible to verify because none of these companies announce figures for how many tablets they are selling.

 

While Apple would obviously like to see its iPad sales grow, the fact that iPad sales are not slipping in the face of desperate, money losing competitors literally dumping their products in the market is not the only remarkable bit of data that market researchers are distracting attention away from.

 

iPad clearly achieved the "third platform" goal that Apple's Steve Jobs described for the new tablet almost five years ago. Rather than an unsustainable bubble of hyper-growth that Acer's netbooks achieved in 2009 at the painful expense of eating into conventional PC sales and profit margins, Apple's iPad has grown into a business larger in both units and revenues than the Mac.

 

And rather than cannibalizing its Mac sales to achieve this, iPads appear to have helped Apple to expand its Mac sales via a halo effect, attracting new customers to OS X via iOS, a practice Apple is doubling down on with new Continuity features in its upcoming OS releases. [...]

 

Apple's ability to make tons of money from its iPad sales—while outselling its next three competitors combined—is a daunting problem for research firms tasked with creating numbers that denigrate and marginalize the iPad. In the smartphone and conventional PC markets, Apple has always held minority market share in terms of units shipped but has consistently earned the lion's share of the profits in each industry.

 

In tablets, Apple is not only taking the profits but is leading in shipment figures so decisively that IDC can't point to any other specific company as a worthy competitor. Even when mentioning Samsung, Ubrani was forced to qualify the Korean conglomerate's participation in the tablet industry as being "to a lessor extent" than Apple because Samsung can't even give away tablets at a rate approaching Apple's iPad sales.

 

Further—as is the case with smartphones and conventional PCs—IDC's estimated "shipments" of tablets don't—by themselves—provide much information about what sort of devices are being counted. IDC's Ryan Reith noted to AppleInsider last year that the firm began counting devices that were really "kids tablets or toys" just to beef up the "other" numbers.

[ni-co]

I found this article disturbingly defensive. Yes, IDC may fudge the market share numbers, but even based on Apples own numbers there is no way around the fact that the last few quarters weren't good with regard to the iPad sales. I find it amazing that nobody seems to have a good explanation for this totally unexpected glass ceiling in the iPad sales growth curve.