If there's one thing we know as techies it is this; Apple products create serious hype and never was this more true than with yesterdays announcement of the 'third-generation' iPad. And those three words at the end of the last sentence are what I found hard to comprehend from yesterdays announcement; the whole time I was sitting there saying to myself, 'so we have a new iPad but what is it called?!?!'. Yes I was sitting there actually getting frustrated that they weren't telling me because I was hoping to liveblog it but I didn't have a name for the post, so instead I took the easy way out and gave up. Shame on me.
But back to what I'm meant to be considering... Apple have been clever, very clever in fact and I'm going to give you the pair of reasons why.
- They have removed all distinction between the iPad's. Apple's thinking is 'what does is matter what version you have as long as you have an iPad'. They did exactly the same with the iPod and it worked so well because you either have an iPad or you don't. Much to my frustration you will either go shopping for a new tablet OR an iPad, somehow they have created the iPad as it's own category and that is a testament to how successful and powerful Apple's branding really is.
- They have pre-empted the ridiculous situation that can occur when you add one number per version. The iPhone is already on 4S and when it starts nearing double figures it'll sound ridiculous, 'ohhh look at his iPhone 11, I've got the iPhone 12'. That's what Apple wants to avoid, it the reality is that it doesn't matter in their eyes, both parties have the iPhone and that fact will keep Apple's coffers ticking over.
There we have it Apple knows how to market a product and create an iconic and lust-inducing brand and they could have called this iPad anything and they would still have sold millions, but they've proved again that they're the most valuable company in the world for a reason.
