on the other hand looking to buy an ipad I have a choice between 6 "iPad" models, 4 "iPad mini", 2 "iPad Air" models and 4 "iPad Pro" models. Confusing and difficult to research anything.
I guess the counter argument to that would be that those products are all clearly differentiated by their names and appearances. The iPad Mini 1-3 all look identical barring close inspection, and their names give no indication of what the differences are other than that one has a higher number.
http://www.apple.com/ipad/compare/ to compare current models. iPad Pro 9.7 has better processor, better screen, better camera, is slightly thinner and lighter and works with Apple Pencil and Keyboard accessories.
There are now just four options: big Pro, little Pro, iPad, and mini.
The difference between many of them is about the same as between 635, 636, 637, and 638
And who exactly is iPad aimed at?
Or can you tell me without looking into specs what exactly is the difference between iPad Pro and iPad Air? Or even looking at the specs: https://www.apple.com/ipad/compare/
Apart from the CPU bump they are so similar that you can't help but to think that they didn't include Thunderbolt in regular iPad just to have something to differentiate them.
Funnily enough, Air weighs more and is thicker than the Pro. A great sign of company completely losing all sight of their product lines.
You don't need 6 iPads. You need 3: iPad Mini, iPad Mid, iPad Max. Name them however you want to name them.
Hmm. iPad Mini, iPad Mini 2, iPad Mini 3, iPad Air, and iPad Air 2. Wasn't one of the key insights that Steve Jobs had when he returned to Apple that they had too many variations of their products with no obvious differentiation? As much as I love their products, it seems like they're rapidly slipping back down that slope...
Completely agree - I mean there has to be a good amount of people inside Apple who have brought this up already. Maybe they ran the numbers and decided all these options are better than fewer options?
I think counting cores (should be a band name) is a useful metric. By iPad class, I mean similar build quality, similar battery life, similar size, similar responsiveness.
There's been plenty of reports lately, that average people cannot tell the difference between an iPad 2 and 3. What do HN users who have both think about this? Are these true or exaggerated? If it's true, then what does the new iPad breaking sales records means? That apple can pretty much sell anything with the right marketing at this point, no matter how innovative its technology may or may not be?
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