What is an iPad…

On May 7, the new iPads dropped. Each one is slightly better. Each one is faster. Each one has longer battery life. But who needs that? Apple dropped the thinnest Apple product of all time in the new iPad 11 Pro. They also dropped the newest Apple Pencil Pro. But who is going to by the (at its cheapest) $1000 iPad for a slight spec bump and for a thinner experience?

The iPad has always been the ambiguous one in the middle. The Mac and the iPhone. These two legendary products have shaped what a smart device is. They are fast, capable, and well known. But most importantly, they have a specific use case. The iPad and the Apple Watch have always been the products that people buy, but they don’t have a super specific use case. The Apple Watch is for very specific people: people who want to always be connected or want a solid way to track their fitness. The Apple Watch has now become a flex, just a way to flex the money somebody has. The iPad has followed a similar path, being an expensive toy or expensive distraction for your kids. Apple wants to be a mini computer. They act like every body needs one for when they don’t want to use their computer or their phone. I only understand this in one case: for artists. It makes os much sense for artist to want to draw and have it automatically on the internet. Otherwise, I think the iPad is a poorly marketed product. The iPhone and the Macs are a dynamic duo, and it is simply unnecessary to get an iPad without being someone who needs that for their specific job.

Maybe at WWDC, Apple’s web developer conference, the new iPadOS will bring a whole new level of AI capabilities and use-cases for the iPad, but until then, the iPad will be in its own genre of Apple, in a bubble of insane computational and graphics capabilities, but nothing to do with it.