Did You Pre-Order a New iPad 3?

What does a three-day wait really mean? In the long term not much, but in the short term Apple made a commitment to customers who pre-ordered that they would get their iPad first and then changed its mind.

I didn’t, I like my iPad 2 just fine, and since I am using a Wi-Fi-to-LTE portable access point, I already have 4GLTE available for my iPad as well as to my phone and notebook when I travel. The new screen would be nice but I don’t watch movies or videos on my iPad. I do read a lot of books on it, but then the existing screen is very good for that. I don’t play games on it, but I use it as my information access device when I am on the road. And yes, I still carry a laptop when I am traveling for more than a day or two so I can write articles when I am away from my desk.

I think Apple has a great new product but the way it is handling early deliveries was not well thought out. It seems that so many people pre-ordered a new iPad that Apple would not have been able to fill those orders and have any of the first batch available for the stores. So what did it do? You know by now that Apple decided to stiff those who pre-ordered and pre-paid in favor of stocking the stores with the new iPads so there would be news stories about the lines outside the stores and those who just have to be in the first wave of new iPad owners. If I had pre-ordered a new iPad I would not be very happy at the moment.

Granted, Apple stated that if I had pre-ordered the iPad it would have been delivered by March 19, but that is not the point. The point in pre-ordering is so you can be the first kid on the block to have and flaunt the newest iPad. Now the guy who lives next door and stands in line on March 16 will have those bragging rights. What does a three-day wait really mean? In the long term not much, but in the short term Apple made a commitment to customers who pre-ordered that they would get their iPad first and then changed its mind. Granted, the change was based on what Apple called overwhelming demand, but I still think that it is unfair to change the rules after the game has already begun.

iPad 2 Pricing

Meanwhile, Apple also dealt a blow to those who want to sell their iPad 2 in order to upgrade to a new iPad. It has lowered the price of the iPad 2 in an obvious attempt to move the balance of the inventory, but in doing so, the resale price has plummeted except at Amazon. On Amazon you can trade in your iPad 2 for a gift card. A 16 GB Wi-Fi-enabled iPad 2 will get you $320 while a 32 GB unit gets you $375 and so on. While a gift card is not real cash, it is still a smart move on Amazon’s part. On eBay there are thousands of iPad 2s available new, refurbished, and for resale. The price to buy one of the new or refurbished units is dropping quickly and individuals who are trying to sell theirs online are competing with stores and dealers selling hundreds of them for discounted prices.

If you have to have a new iPad the best bet is to hand down your iPad 2 to your kids, your mother or father, or even your grandmother. Have you ever seen a kid turned loose with an iPad? Elder adults who are computer phobic also tend to take quickly to an iPad. As all of us who have to be first to have the newest and latest electronic gadget knows that being first comes at a price!

The iPad and the host of tablets has certainly changed the way many of us work, and sometimes for the best. I still won’t give up my laptop, partly because I need to write articles while I am traveling and partly because it syncs with my desktop system every time I return to the office so it has all of my files and information on it. Some will say I should make use of the cloud but I am still not convinced that I will always be able to access my data, and sometimes I need something when I am out of wireless coverage. And I still don’t trust the “cloud” with my data. Too many cyber attacks are happening too often. I view a cloud that is storing not only my information but also that of many other people as a target in the sky. If I were a hacker I would not waste my time looking for small companies or individuals to hack. I would go after the mother lode of data that is stored in the cloud. Yes, you can tell me that clouds are secure and immune from being hacked but tell that to the CIA, FBI, and NSA, all of which were hacked last year. If hackers can get into these sites, how can a cloud service be truly secure?

Conclusions

The new iPad looks like a great evolution of the iPad family. Many people are buying it and the gaming and video communities are welcoming it as a great new platform because of its superior screen. All that is well and good. My iPad 2 does what I need it to do, I have a Wi-Fi-to-4GLTE hub so I already have 4G for my iPad and other devices, and while the new screen would be nice, I will sit out this evolution of the product.

4GLTE is a worldwide standard for wireless broadband and it should enable us to go anywhere in the world and be able to access 4G services. However, while we do now have a worldwide standard, it is a shame for Apple that it is being deployed on more than 42 different portions of the spectrum around the world. Thus there is no way that an iPad or any other device can be built to provide access to 4GLTE everywhere. Someday perhaps we will have a common wireless standard and some standardized wireless spectrum—but by the time that happens my grandkids will have grandkids.

Andrew M. Seybold