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.

More YouTube Changes?

YouTube is an amazing place on the internet. It's where most of us content creators publish our videos to be shared with the world. In fact, there's so many of us that YouTube reports 24 hours of video being uploaded every minute! Updates to the site are often necessary, however we all know how they've been doing what seems like random and unneeded changes lately. They might be at it again...

Can you see the difference? In this image they've moved the "likes" information and made a couple other small changes. I found this image through MKBHD on Twitter and haven't seen this layout myself, but it could be coming. Why? Why do they need to change those things? Why do we need yet another unwanted and seemingly pointless update? It's bad enough that us content producers experienced decreased views from the homepage update, we don't need or want any more.

YouTube will always make changes that we don't like. They have no reason not to. It's not like there's any other video site with nearly the same exposure or community. We're not leaving YouTube - and they know it.

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What do you guys want to see next?

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XBLA Gets a New Interface

Following the major Dashboard update for the Xbox 360 that was released last year, it included many new features such as; a layout change, the addition of avatars for each GamerTag, plus many more. Now it’s the Xbox Live Arcade to get an update.

The update’s been given a name, “Destination Arcade” and the main goal for it is to make everything easy to use and easier to access content. Options will be available to sort content by price, rating and other criteria. You’ll also be able to see games that gamers in your friends list have played and recommend.

Major Nelson says the update will make it easier for you to find new content with the built-in browser. He also released some screenshots to show off what the XBLA will look like after the update:

Not much more has been announced about the update, except that it should be hitting your 360’s on the 14th of July in the USA and no release date has been confirmed for the United Kingdom. However we shouldn’t have to wait much longer.

"Where's my camera?"

After yesterday's event, the world has bombarded the Cupertino company with everything from questions to complaints regarding the absence of a camera added to the iPod touch line. While the iPod touch recieved a drastic price drop, new GPU, and updated OS, there still isn't a camera. To our surprise, Apple introduced a tiny little video camera on the Nano line. So what's up?

 Steve was prompted immediately after the event, when he told vlogger and columnist David Pogue that the iPod touch is in the "gaming" market, and lowering the price offered the most inexpensive route to the App Store.

 While we may not all agree with Apple's decision, I can say that I'm confident a camera will show up on the iPod touch in the near future. Stay tuned.

 -pwn247, fswmacguy