IPad 3 Expected to be Game Changer
When the first generation iPad hit the scene, the game changed. Sure there were tablets out there before (and there would be plenty new models since), but they weren’t iPads. Going the way of the Kleenex and the Xerox, the iPad is becoming one of those brands that goes on to describe a genre instead of just a single product.
Never satisfied with having ‘changed’ the game and wanting desperately to continue changing it, Apple has to up the ante somehow. I’m not sure what we were expecting but I think most people thought that this would come in the form of the iPhone 5 –but thanks to a statement made by Apple CEO Tim Cook it might just be that the next version of the iPad could do the trick.
According to Cook the new iPad should make happy the people wanting an ARM processor-based MacBook. I think most of us expected that this would be had in the MacBook Air but that seems less likely now. Instead the new best guess is that the next version of the iPad will have a keyboard dock not unlike what we have seen with the ASUS Transformer Prime.
Sure, there are wireless keyboard options out there for the iPad 2, but none can offer the sophistication (and appeal) of Apple branded hardware.
If I was able to make a wishlist for an accessory like this, I’d like a keyboard that feels just like my MacBook Pro with decent battery life (that recharges with a single cable that does both the iPad and keyboard if the tablet is docked) and I’d like it to also transform into a slim and light case that I can take with me wherever I am headed.
The addition of a keyboard by Apple would be an admission (or insistence) that the device can become a replacement for a laptop in many (most) cases.