Maybe part of the reason that there are so many iPad 2’s out there is that they are still selling them?
Their prior behavior leads me to believe eventually their OS refuses to be compatible with their older hardware. When the user plugs in their hardware all of their apps demand updates. The apps then update automatically and then refuse to work with the older OS.
The user is then forced to dig through their cache to find older versions of their apps and keep them in a secure place in case iTunes decides to update them again later. Eventually this battle against updates becomes worth the cost of the new device.
Forced obsolescence by software, it’s worked well for them in the past, no reason to see why it’s not going to keep working in the future.
Maybe someone should ask the big PC makers…oh wait.
A phone does have that flash appeal that Apple loves to leverage, but tablets/laptops/computers much less so. Of course this is Apple so every iteration of iOS that rolls out will make older hardware feel slower and slower (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but obviously you become stuck with old software and other issues.)
I dumped my iPhone 4 because I was pissed off that I was denied turn-by-turn navigation for no good reason when they added that functionality to iOS. I hadn’t even wanted it particularly, but it really, really narked me.
This is missing the “release a new version of the OS that runs sub-optimally on older devices” tactic.
Came here to say this. Apple has been good at this for a long, long time. I can still remember when AMAZING wouldn’t run under System 4. Also the time I couldn’t upgrade to OSX without a new machine, and everybody quit supporting System 9, all at once.
I’m not sure that the number of iPad 2’s still in use necessarily says anything about upgrade/new purchase behavior.
Unlike phones (which are usually traded in or at least deactivated), when a new iPad is purchased the older ones are still used and in my experience handed down to children or relegated to other uses around the house.
Also, as daneel said, iPad 2 is still a currently sold item.
Hey Apple, you know what I’d like to upgrade? My Mac Pro. How about you pay a little attention to making actual computers again. Thanks.
Did you miss today’s Mac Pro announcement or do you just find the new machines unimpressive?
Honestly Apple’s new obsession with Thunderbolt irritates me. An Intel Xeon crammed into a completely customized chassis with 256GB (upgradable to 1 TB) of storage… That way all your other storage has to be via thunderbolt. Nothing would please the inner geek in me more than if Apple sold OS X outright, even if it was twice what Microsoft was charging.
Apps in the app store, at least, now allow you to download the most recent compatible version of the app, so if you are running iOS 6 and want to install Facebook or whatever, you can even if the newest one requires iOS 7.
Obviously, this doesn’t apply to OS-level features.
My 1st Gen iPad has the crashing problem that a lot of people complain about but Apple refuses to even acknowledge.
It barely functions as a browsing platform anymore cause it chokes and crashes on any webpage that uses Javascript (which is basically all of them).
I guess I am the target market for the new one - frustrated owner willing to pay for latest version because it (hopefully) works.
Well, that’s a nice fix.
It comes after I stopped using Apple products as a result, but that’s nice to hear.
Er, so you’re frustrated with the lack of support by the manufacturer of your current device and your solution is to reward them with another sale so they can continue to ignore the problem?
You do know other manufacturers cost less for similar performance, right?
I think the idea behind updating the form factor of a desktop tower is long overdue. In an age of ever-shrinking processors and solid-state hard drives here’s no reason every creative professional should have to make room for a huge metal monolith that’s visually indistinguishable from the machines Apple was selling a decade ago.
The limited ability to upgrade does bug me though.
In fairness, the only issue I’ve ever had with my Ipad Mark 1 is … BB Disqus kept crashing out Safari; and some apps won’t load on it - the newer fangled ones.
It’s still a dang powerful little beastie, doing all the stuff I thought it would when I bought it very well indeed.
Eventually it’ll be obsolete, but the pace of change is so rapid that I’m ok with that now.
I’m not saying that I’m going to buy a new one - just that it appears to be a strategy of Apple’s to manipulate you into upgrading by refusing to acknowledge problems in existing models.
So here we have an actual consumer castigating Apple for failing to convince him to buy some shiny new crap he doesn’t need.
Irony is dead.
Disqus and most other website commenting systems seems to wreak havoc on my 1st Gen iPad.
I wish there was an Adblock extension for Safari I could enable as well.
