Well, that was quick. Less than 48 hours after details hinting at a 128GB iPad appeared, it's official. Apple announced the 128GB iPad today.
This 128Gb model isn't a model that many people will buy, but it does address a certain customer. Many people have made a concerted effort to replace their laptops with an iPad. This model will help. There are also many iPads being used in fields like medicine and design where the additional storage is necessary.
The iPad is growing up.
The Apple rumor mill is constantly swirling, and I avoid posting links to most stories, but 9to5Mac usually has good information. Mark Gurman, once again, has the details and photos in his story.
It's inevitable that the regular iPad will come to look more like the iPod touch and the iPad mini in any future redesign. The photos clearly show a narrower case. This design would lead to reduced side bezel, just like the iPad mini. This works fine on the mini, but I think it could pose some problems with handling the larger iPad.
Time will tell.
Tim Cook took an opportunity following Apple's latest quarterly earnings report to address Apple staff. 9to5Mac's Mark Gurman has a detailed recap of what Tim shared with his employees.
MacStories has done a great writeup on the iOS app Drafts. I've been using this app for a while now, but not nearly to it's capabilities. I'm going to be trying to use drafts more effectively.
Ben Bajarin has written a nice piece for Tech.pinions today about the long term health about technology companies. I find his argument about Apple's health particularly compelling.
Hat tip to the Loop
Benedict Evans has a great, short post today about a paradox facing Apple's investors.
Finally, Apple has got to the point where all news is bad news.
It's important to keep in mind, this is only true for investors. The current state of Apple's products has never been better. Apple needs to continue focusing on making the best products for their customers. As Steve Jobs said many times, if they do that, the financials will take care of themselves.
Apple posted record results for their first quarter of 2013 today. The press release is here. In quick summary:
Apple® today announced financial results for its 13-week fiscal 2013 first quarter ended December 29, 2012. The Company posted record quarterly revenue of $54.5 billion and record quarterly net profit of $13.1 billion, or $13.81 per diluted share.
These results have not impressed the analysts and AAPL shares are trading down 10% in aftermarket trading. Maybe Amazon has the right idea in avoiding profit at all costs.
If you pay any attention at all to Apple critics these days, and there are a million of them, you'd think Apple is on the verge of collapse. To hear them talk, the iPhone is no longer cool and has been replaced by people's desire to own the newest giant Android phone. This, despite recent actual numbers from Verizon showing the iPhone growing in percentage of sales. The iPhone already dominates AT&T sales and we'll learn shortly just how there share of sales is trending for the most recent quarter.
Still, the talkers talk. iMore's Rene Ritchie takes a very detailed look at many of the design decisions that Apple would address in the creation of a larger iPhone. The piece is certainly worth a read.
In the end, I'm sure we'll see additional models of iPhones at some point. While there is certainly a market for larger phones, I don't think that's where the pressing issue lies. The carrier numbers bear out the fact that consumers in large numbers are choosing smaller iPhones over lager Android phones. Where Android is 'winning' against the iPhone is in the markets where phone cost is not subsidized by the carriers. If Apple is to address anything, it should be finding a way to provide an Apple quality device at a lower price in these markets.
Don't expect Apple to produce a 'cheap' iPhone any time soon. No more than they produced a 'cheap' smaller tablet when they created the iPad mini or the iPod nano. Apple places design and quality above market share, much to the delight of their customers. It's how they maintain margin and profit even at the expense of market share.
Marco Arment wrote a great post about people's anger and hostility towards Apple for The Magazine, his by-weekly iOS only magazine. He's just published the piece on his blog. I'd recommend reading it, and if you're an iOS user, subscribing to The Magazine through Newsstand.
Ben Brooks has written an interesting piece about Siri. The post leads me to ponder just how much access I'd be willing to give Siri in order to simplify data entry.