I lost my £1 bet, but no one guessed that the new iPad would have no name. It’s just the New iPad and it is a stunningly devious way for Apple to get one over on the rumour-mongers. There will be lots of discussion about this. No doubt Apple has good reasons but it is a curious decision, nevertheless.
What happens when the New New iPad is launched next year? Presumably today’s New iPad will become the Old New iPad. Or the Previous iPad. I suppose Apple could take a leaf out of the Book of Mormon and baptise it retrospectively as the iPad 3 after all.
This minor quibble apart, I am excited at the prospect of getting my hands on my new New iPad and I shall be placing my pre-order as soon as the store opens. The retina display was much leaked but it is good to have it confirmed. And the faster processor (no mention about extra RAM, by the way) should cope with the extra demands of the graphics. Good, too, that battery life will be identical to that of the iPad 2 despite the faster graphics and much faster 4G wireless: Speeds up to 73 Mbps with LTE.
British carriers have been unusually tardy in introducing faster networks so we are not expecting such massive speeds over here for the next year or two. I’m hoping, though, that British carriers will be able to boost the 3G HDSPA speeds above the current 7.2 Mbps limit.
This thing will sell in huge numbers. Not only the owner of 2-year-old iPads will flock to the tills; even iPad 2 buyers will not be able to resist the temptation of that retina display. But perhaps Apple’s big surprise over the next few months will be the sales of the existing iPad 2 at the low price of $399. Sure, it is still $200 more than the Kindle Fire, but then it is an iPad, it’s bigger and does a lot more a lot better. Sold.