The New iPad

On March 7th, Apple introduced the newest iteration of the iPad, not the iPad 3, nor the iPad HD. There's been debate online over the nomenclature of the iPad series now. Some feel that this is a return to simplicity, the type Steve Jobs started since his return to the company in the late 1990s. As detailed here, before Jobs came on, the mac line included such colorful names as "PowerBook 2400c," "Power Macintosh 5500," and "Power Macintosh 8600/9600," among others. After he came on, this simplified to "PowerMac G3" and "PowerBook G3." This has continued with the mac line to this day, with only the "MacBook Air" and "MacBook Pro" among notebooks, and "Mac mini," "iMac," and "Mac Pro" among desktops. Even my computer, the unibody aluminium "MacBook" from late 2008, no longer exists.

Since the iPod, iPhone, and iPad, various "i" devices have had differing names. The iPod has taken significantly different forms, and thus has the most variety of names, including the shuffle, classic, touch, and nano. The iPhone has been oddly named as well, going from the iPhone, to the iPhone 3G (the 2nd generation model), then the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and iPhone 4S. It's gotten to where people were let down that the 2011 model was not the "iPhone 5." The iPad, newest to the game, had the original iPad, and the iPad 2. Apple surprised people last week, when the 2012, 3rd generation model was simply called "the new iPad." Some, as over here, feel that iPad should've gotten a brand new name, to help differentiate it from it's predecessors, and make accessory buying easier. Others, such as here, feel that it's a return to Jobs's style, with each product just called iPad, much as the iPod touch does. I'm somewhat in-between. I do like that we don't need names for each model; it makes everything seem more streamlined, and less show-off ("You only have the iPad 3? I got the iPad 3S+"). The only problem I really see is if Apple eventually decides to release multiple iPad models in a year. Now, it's easy, we just know it by the year it came out, or which generation it is. But once things get confusing, like with the mac lines, it will become more tedious to find the right accessories.

I was looking forward to buying the iPad for a long time, since last year. But I had a feeling that this year would bring us the retina display, and I held out. I wasn't disappointed; we got a retina display this year, and as a bonus, we even got 4G LTE! This wouldn't have mattered to me as much before, but since we don't have wifi in our apartment currently, having LTE will be a big advantage. And I won't have to use all my iPhone's data plan and then some.

I was at work when the iPad was announced (NSUH floors), and after noon conference, I kept refreshing the "Apple Insider" page on my iPhone for news. Finally, around 1:40pm, after presenting a patient on 8 Monti, I saw the headline, about the iPad with 4G, retina display, and voice dictation. Much of the next few hours was spent reading about it, and refreshing the apple store online page, both on my phone and online. After multiple attempts, the store finally came online, and I tried to place my iPad order. I saved up some money in paypal for the iPad, but it was going to cost more than expected, as I decided to go with the 4G LTE, and given how I'm not so spacey with space on the iPhone, up the capacity to 32GB. I ordered it multiple times, including engraving my phone and email on the back, but around the checkout phase, it wouldn't go through. When it finally did, on my phone, I had numerous iPad, smart cover, and apple care orders there, for a total of like 3 grand. And each deletion from the cart either slowed the process down, or shut down the app. So I finally went on a work desktop, and ordered it.

Can't wait for it to come in. I'm especially looking forward to getting into comics now, especially since marvel put a lot of older ones on. First up, I plan to read "Civil War," and then some of the other cross-overs. I also have a bunch of "New 52" DC comics to read. And, watching stuff will be much nicer at the apartment, instead of watching it on my phone. Still, the fact that I use the iPhone largely as a desktop replacement speaks to how varied its uses are, and how Apple may very well be right, in that we are entering the post-PC era.