Is Apple betting the farm on the new iPad (iPad3 or iPadHD or ?)?

[geenp]

Originally Posted by monkeyluis

Focus on a couple & make those insanely great, spend more time doing some R&D to make the most wicked tablet out there. & for god sakes make it with ICS.

I'm glad you've pointed that out. It's something I'd noticed a while ago and I'm surprised that more people aren't frustrated by it. It seems to me that no android phone has been "complete" just yet. They seem to think that they can't go after the iphone and so prefer to find every single niche and satisfy it. Samsung now has an android device at 4.2, 4.65, 5, 7, 7.7, 8.9 and 10.1 inches but each one has some important feature that the other doesn't. It's like they want you to collect them all.

[ScotiaBurrell]

Originally Posted by afv011

Right. Antennagate (iPhone 4), Battery issues (4S).

Consumers not see these as problems- sales increased.

Only vocal critics.

ipod stayed on top half a decade...just incremental changes until ipod touch: fm radio, walkometer, ipad is following same model. Expect nothing big changes for several years. Just lots of sales. But ONLY two years later this new ipad is a very big change from original. In two years.

[ScotiaBurrell]

Originally Posted by geenp

I'm glad you've pointed that out. It's something I'd noticed a while ago and I'm surprised that more people aren't frustrated by it. It seems to me that no android phone has been "complete" just yet. They seem to think that they can't go after the iphone and so prefer to find every single niche and satisfy it. Samsung now has an android device at 4.2, 4.65, 5, 7, 7.7, 8.9 and 10.1 inches but each one has some important feature that the other doesn't. It's like they want you to collect them all.

Samsung and others release new tech as arrives. Apple does not and looks like lagging behind.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ScotiaBurrell

Samsung and others release new tech as arrives.

And I'm not entirely convinced that this is a good business strategy. There's always the temptation with Samsung to say "I won't buy now; there'll be something better released next month". Having yearly (or whatever) releases as Apple do seems to me to make more sense, business-wise.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by HarryT

And I'm not entirely convinced that this is a good business strategy. There's always the temptation with Samsung to say "I won't buy now; there'll be something better released next month". Having yearly (or whatever) releases as Apple do seems to me to make more sense, business-wise.

Unfortunately true. Too frequent updates and folks are likely to play the waiting game. Alas, there's always something new just around the corner so they might just keep playing the waiting game or buy an Apple. At least Apple's product releases are fairly predictable and while a lot of techies might complain about the yearly incremental updates, to the average consumer, that would actually make them feel like they're getting their money's worth since they can skip a generation or two before upgrading.

[monkeyluis]

Originally Posted by afv011

Right. Antennagate (iPhone 4), Battery issues (4S).

Yes. Problems as I said. Also fixed & now a non issue. C'mon, I'm sure you can come with a list from any other hardware manufacturer.

[monkeyluis]

Originally Posted by HarryT

And I'm not entirely convinced that this is a good business strategy. There's always the temptation with Samsung to say "I won't buy now; there'll be something better released next month". Having yearly (or whatever) releases as Apple do seems to me to make more sense, business-wise.

This is exactly my point. I think they have some great devices & I have several (tv, surround sound). But when it comes to tablets, you're just thinking "ok, when is the next one, I'll just wait". That's a problem for them & the consumer. Like I said, make a couple of versions of the product, make it insanely great & market the hell out of it. Just like apple. Get people to love & invest in your product.

[Prestidigitweeze]

I don't think Samsung is in the position to be confined to annual updates. They aren't selling their business as a clique of designers sequestered from the world in fortresses of coolness. It doesn't operate that way because it wasn't conceived as a boutique to begin with.

Of course Apple is involved in collaborations, too, but Samsung's are simultaneous, active, and open, and involve customers and companies at near-live levels. If you're working with all those carriers in all those countries on a software platform, with carrier modifications, that aren't within your control, and you're also a company that researches and manufactures the parts from which the phones are built, including the screens, and that's only a tiny part of the kinds of consumer products you sell and support, you're going to end up making iterations of different kinds of hardware on an almost monthly basis.

Samsung could try to slow down, of course. But is that what third-party manufacturers and other interconnected companies want? Their task is to create, adapt and adopt newer tech on a schedule that would make you think they were reporters writing about it rather than people designing and building it.

Apple started by making only desktops and laptops. They've slowly added phones, media players, tablets and peripherals, all either based on the idea of personal computers or supporting their own exclusively.

Apple is a boutique hardware-software company that became a major corporation without having to create products designed only to support other people's products. Many other companies are compelled to tailor their products to Apple's.

Samsung makes products that have to support everything: Their own products and, seemingly, everyone else's. Even with the Galaxy S and S2, dedicated support by other companies seems to come down to cases, batteries, software modifications, and a small number of dedicated apps that have grown to include other manufacturers and hardware anyway. All of which puts Samsung in the position of having to tailor hardware to other people's constant software, manufacturing and release schedules.

There's a partial solution for consumers, you know (though it isn't future-proof): Buy the thing that works best in that moment -- and after careful research -- instead of being fixated on the newest. And don't succumb to envy or resentment.

I've had the same old Samsung phone for almost two years and will probably only update when Android implements the support of external DACs. This despite the fact new iterations are released constantly. And since my next phone might or might not be made by Samsung, that doesn't even include the hectic hardware releases of other phone manufacturers.

Apple sells quietude around product design and their release schedule's part of it. But that sense of quietude should be in the consumer's head no matter what product they're looking at.

[afv011]

Originally Posted by monkeyluis

Yes. Problems as I said. Also fixed & now a non issue. C'mon, I'm sure you can come with a list from any other hardware manufacturer.

Certainly. I'm just saying that, for a company that has only 1 phone in their portfolio, which gets updated every 12 or 18 months, they did a rather poor job at not noticing those two obvious issues.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by ScotiaBurrell

Samsung and others release new tech as arrives. Apple does not and looks like lagging behind.

?
So when the iPhone 4 was released, which phone had a higher resolution screen?
Now the iPad 3rd gen has been released, which tablet has a higher resolution?
It seems that, at least in screen tech, they are leading, not lagging.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

?
So when the iPhone 4 was released, which phone had a higher resolution screen?
Now the iPad 3rd gen has been released, which tablet has a higher resolution?
It seems that, at least in screen tech, they are leading, not lagging.

Yes to the iPhone, no to the iPad. Other tablet-makers had increased screen resolution prior to the iPad not-3, and I was just reading about an Asus tablet that will trump the not-3's current resolution.

If Apple's products have ultimate value, and I believe they often do, then it isn't ever simply a matter of which company incorporates what technology first. It has to be the whole package or the distinction doesn't hold.

[howyoudoin]

I'm not entirely sure about my facts, but Samsung seems to be focussing on contrast/richness with its AMOLED screens, while Apple seems to be focussing on resolution with the Retina display. It is purely a matter of preference in anointing one or the other as the leader.

[Prestidigitweeze]

It's a nice distinction when you consider that Samsung often makes Apple's screens.

However, reporting beginning on December 9 of last year suggests that Samsung is not simply concerned with contrast/richness now, as they seemed to be when I bought my Galaxy S. They've supposedly been on the verge of releasing an HD tablet with resolution comparable to or better than the iPad not-3. There might even be a legal or marketing reason Samsung hasn't done so yet.

The difference between ppi on the Galaxy Nexus and the iPhone 4 is exactly 11 in the iP4's favor (315 ppi vs. 326). And the GN is now long in the baby tooth by our ridiculous standards.

Edit: On the other hand, the GN's technical ppi count might be misleading.

Originally Posted by howyoudoin

I'm not entirely sure about my facts, but Samsung seems to be focussing on contrast/richness with its AMOLED screens, while Apple seems to be focussing on resolution with the Retina display. It is purely a matter of preference in anointing one or the other as the leader.

[jocampo]

I have an iPad 2 but I honestly don't like iPhones.

iPhone's are too small for my preference and the colors are no so vibrant.

My Galaxy S II has awesome colors, true black, and is big enough without being bulky. It is also really, really fast. Not to mention the battery, which is really good on the Galaxy. Samsung really did a good job!

When talking about smartphones, I don't really see what the "noise" is with Apple. Their phones are ok but for same money you can get something better.

But it's just my preference. Also a way to say or confirm, That I go for a product that fulfill my needs, not my ego.

[howyoudoin]

Thanks for the link, Prestidigitweeze.