Yesterday's Apple announcement brought with it a wave of new products, including the widely-rumoured iPad Mini, a 13 inch Retina MacBook Pro, redesigned iMacs and a refresh of the Mac Mini lineup. There had been talk of a slightly modified iPad 3 being announced, complete with new 'Lightning connector' (Apple's proprietary alternative to the industry standard micro-USB port), but nobody was expecting a fourth generation iPad so soon after the last one.
On March 16th this year, Apple began selling its third generation iPad, which they lovingly referred to as 'The New iPad'. Just seven months later the 'new iPad' has been replaced with yet another new iPad.
The iPad 4 (my name for it, not theirs) is described by Apple as being just as stunning and twice as fast as its predecessor the iPad 3, thanks to Apple's new A6X chip. This is all well and good, but nobody was even concerned with the speed of the previous iPad. It is, or should I say was, incredibly fast. Nobody was complaining about poor performance, quite the opposite in fact.
So why did Apple choose to update it so soon after the last model? Perhaps it's because Microsoft are launching their Surface tablet. Maybe Google's rumoured Nexus 10 Android tablet has Apple worried. To be honest, nobody knows. The only thing I can tell you for certain is that iPad 3 owners everywhere are not at all happy.
As soon as the fourth generation iPad was announced, people took to the web to express their frustration with Apple. Customers have been contacting Apple stores to see about exchanging or returning their recently purchased 'new iPads'. A good friend of mine received one as a gift just three days ago, only to find out today that it's now obsolete. Apple are still selling it in stores, but at a reduced price until the iPad 4 hits shelves in about a weeks time. After that the iPad 3 will be dead and gone.
There have been reports that some Apple stores are extending the iPad 3 return period from 14 days to 30 days for all recent iPad 3 purchases, but this has not been confirmed by Apple directly. If you have recently purchased one and are thinking of returning it, then I would suggest contacting your local store directly to see if they are willing to accept returns outside of the standard 14 day window.
In my opinion, the fast paced innovation happening within the mobile industry is something that should be celebrated and encouraged, but at the same time, a seven month gap between iPad models seems excessive to say the least.
For a lot of people the iPad is an expensive device to invest in. To find that their state-of-the-art tablet is already obsolete within just a few short months will no doubt leave a sour taste in many customers' mouths. I think Apple are shortchanging their customers with such a fast product turnaround and I can understand why iPad 3 customers are so frustrated. Hopefully Apple will acknowledge this and compensate its customers accordingly.
Have you recently purchased an iPad 3? Do you feel shortchanged by Apple, and if so will you be demanding an exchange for the fourth generation?
Tagged in: Android, apple, google, iPad 3, iPad 4, iPad Mini, Macbook, microsoft, Nexus 10, Surface
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