COUNTER-POINT: Why Apple Upgraded Its iPad 3 Unexpectedly - Not What You Think It Is

Orestis Papanastassiou recently made a few good points on why Apple unexpectedly upgraded its iPad 3 line, however, I've got a different theory in mind that I would like to share - something that is almost entirely different from Orestis' point. So his first reason was actually pretty simple: Apple wanted all of its portable devices to support the Lighting port. It made sense. However, his second point was unfortunately both skewed and flawed. Unlike what Orestis had said, that Apple needs the iPad to be up to par or better than the iPhone, Apple in reality don't need this to happen. People who want the iPhone will buy the iPhone. People who want the iPad will buy the iPad. Why? Because their screen sizes are radically different. Let's say I want to watch movies - do I really need to care if the device has lots of RAM or processing power? No. All I need is a good, big screen and a decent processor that doesn't lag when playing the movie. 

So now it boils down simply to: Why did Apple upgraded its iPad 3 unexpectedly?

The answer is much more simpler than what Orestis made it out to be - unification. Here's the situation. Apple already have the iPad mini ready for production - they're already sorted out the name, the marketing materials and others - they were good to go. On the other hand, they've already got an iPad in the market that they've just released months ago - the iPad 3. Apple realizes its predicament - it has two very different products under the same product line (iPad). Should they release the iPad mini now (so that they could release the iPad mini 2 in time next year) and release the updated version of the iPad 3 in March or should they combine both releases? If they do separate the events, it would be one of the very few times in Apple's history that they've held two separate events to announce two different products from the same product line. Doing so would create a fragmented line of products and releases. It would mess up the simplicity in product lines that Apple has tried so hard to keep all these years. The idea behind the product releases are now really simple: if we announce one Mac update, we will do so for all the others. If we release one iPod update, we will do so for the others. If we release one iPad update, we wlll do so for the others too - no matter how minor.

And for the record, I actually disagree with Orestis' viewpoint that Apple will release an update for the iPads on March. I think the new iPad 5 and the iPad mini 2 will both be announced on October next year. Why? Because a March launch would mean that Apple will have to update the iPad mini too - something that will likely hurt their bottomline given that they're selling so many of them right now.

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Update on Dec 22, 2012 at 1:02 PM by Michael Andrew

Let's respond to a few comments.

DavidTech:): It DOES have a bad effect on the product line - it makes everything more fragmented. If Apple does this, how different would they be compared to the Android manufacturers who release hundreds of devices every year? Nothing at all. Apple time each product announcement perfectly - and there's no way they would let this happen. Oh, and unless you're directly from Apple, I don't think you can tell me that I'm wrong. And neither can I tell you that you're wrong, because it's just opinions, after all. 

Steve: Thanks for the constructive feedback - appreciate it!

George Q: I'm not - it's just an opinion. Read the last line of that comment.