Apple’s New iPad Pro Should Score Big With the 50+ Crowd
by Tim Bajarin, Contributing Editor
(Editor’s note – Apple is one of Tim Bajarin’s consulting clients)
Steve Jobs at iPad Launch 2010
When Steve Jobs introduced the original iPad in 2010, I was sitting in the third row of the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco and could really see the passion in Jobs’ countenance as he debuted his newest personal computer in the form of a tablet. This was Apple’s biggest new product launch since the iPhone in 2007 and Apple was confident that it could shake up the PC industry. Indeed, for many people the iPad turned out to be very useful as highly portable media player, game device and in some cases it could even be used for productivity, especially when paired with a Bluetooth keyboard.
The iPad did have an immediate impact on the growth of PCs and since it and other tablets have hit the market, demand for PC’s has been in negative territory.
However, as more and more tech companies created tablets in various shapes and sizes and flooded the market with these
various models, the demand for tablets has started to slow down too. Apple’s iPad sales are off as much as 20% this year and most other tablet makers are seeing less demand for their products as well. This does not mean the market for PC’s or tablets are going away. But both platforms have matured and their role’s are changing in both the business and consumer markets.
With the recent introduction of the iPad Pro, Apple does instill a sort of shot in the arm into the tablet market. With this product they did a couple of key things that I believe will have a dramatic impact on the overall PC market over the next three years. The first thing they did by introducing the iPad Pro is to validate the market for 2 in 1’s. These products are tablets that with a keyboard and can double as a laptop. Microsoft’s Surface Pro and similar models from Dell and Lenovo have been championing this design for some time. There is another product in this category called convertibles, which are traditional laptops with touch screens but the screen does not detach. Lenovo’s Yoga and Dell’s XPS 13 are good examples. This is important because Apple’s blessing this form factor gives real credence to Intel and their partners goal of making 2 in 1’s and convertibles 50% of all portables shipped by the end of 2018.
Tim Cook Launches iPad Pro
The second reason this is significant is that when Tim Cook introduced the iPad Pro, he stated that the iPad Pro is “the clearest expression of our vision of the future of personal computing.” This is an important directional statement by Apple and indeed I believe represents the fact that Apple will not only use the iPad Pro to entice professional business users such as graphics artists and engineers who can use its optional Pencil or stylus to use their new tablet for creative projects, but Apple will use the iPad Pro to push IOS9 into the mainstream business markets. It is not a coincidence that the partnership with IBM has been around Big Blue porting all of their mobile management apps and tools over to IOS and together they will be pushing this new iPad Pro to a broader business audience. But Cook’s comments are ery revealing. After years of selling desktops and traditional laptops, it seems that they want a 2 in 1 or tablet with keyboard with IOS to be their ultimate personal computing platform. I recently did a piece in Techpinions that suggests Apple could really be successful with this strategy as the millennial generation, who mostly use IOS devices, move into the business world and could drive products like the iPad Pro with IOS into the enterprise.
Interestingly, many analysts thought that Apple would eventually
merge IOS and OSX into a single OS. But I now don’t see that happening. I see the Mac becoming Apple’s powerful productivity platform and being used mostly by power users both in business and the home. But the iPad Pro and future iPads could end up being their biggest selling PC product for mainstream business and a broader consumer market. Smaller iPads will continue to be used as media, music and social media devices, while an iPad Pro adds the level of serious productivity to their line of mobile devices. And since Microsoft has Office on IOS and most developers of productivity tools have IOS versions too, I can see more and more users opting for the flexibility an iPad Pro even over a MacBook in many cases. Also, with Apple’s continuum software, much of the work done on an iPad Pro can be accessed on any Apple device and that content is always in sync across all IOS and Mac applications. Tim Cook pretty much stated this in a comment to BuzzFeed where he said that people can do as much as 80% of what they want to do on an iPad now. Adding the keyboard and Pencil, Apple makes the iPad Pro the flexible computer that he believes will meet the needs of the majority of their business and consumer customers in the future.
I see the iPad Pro being widely accepted by people of every generation as it offers all of them a new form factor that could impact their personal and business lifestyles. In particular Apple did the Tech 50+ crowd a real favor by creating a larger iPad. The iPad Pro with its 12.9-inch screen will make it much easier for us older folks with eyes that have many miles on them to use a tablet with out our reading glasses. I personally love the idea of having a large screen tablet to use for reading, Web browsing and consuming media. I am already used to this since I have a 12.9 inch Samsung tablet and this is the first tablet I have used without resorting to reading glasses, Using my Slingbox, this larger tablet has become my bedside TV and I normally end my day watching news or other programs on it before I nod off. In fact, for many people, the iPad Pro will serve as a portable TV even without a SlingBox connection as it plays all the movies, TV shows and other streaming services available on IOS. Many business travelers I know still carry both a laptop for productivity and an iPad for entertainment. If Apple is right, despite the iPad Pro’s hefty pricetag, in the end this can be the 0nly machine they carry, making it more economical (and less weighty) than having a large tablet and a laptop to boot. .
Tim Bajarin is recognized as one of the leading industry consultants, analysts and futurists, covering the field of personal computers and consumer technology. Mr. Bajarin has been with Creative Strategies since 1981 and has served as a consultant to most of the leading hardware and software vendors in the industry including IBM, Apple, Xerox, Hewlett Packard/Compaq, Dell, AT&T, Microsoft, Polaroid, Lotus, Epson, Toshiba and numerous others. His articles and/or analyses have appeared in USA Today, Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Time and Newsweek magazines, BusinessWeek and most of the leading business and trade publications. He has appeared as a business analyst commenting on the computer industry on all of the major television networks and was a frequent guest on PBS’ The Computer Chronicles. Mr. Bajarin has been a columnist for US computer industry publications such as PC Week and Computer Reseller News and wrote for ABCNEWS.COM for two years and Mobile Computing for 10 years. His columns currently appear online in PC Magazine, TIME and Techpinions.com. His various columns and analyses are syndicated in over 30 countries.
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