Randolph Apple has this week announced an “iPad with Retina display”, to replace the third-generation “the new iPad”, the latter being just seven months old.
I am on my fifth iPad so far. This is not bragging. It’s a combination of two cases of inheritance, one replacement device, and two purchases. I have owned all three of the generations before the fourth-generation iPad announced this week, and I will not upgrade.
I suspect, and the evidence confirmed it, that you’ll be able to buy a big iPad or a small iPad, any time of year, and the one you get will be the latest on offer. iMacs work the same way, which is why I don’t see why people got so upset.
Computers, no matter in which shape or form, are obsolete the second you buy them. There will always be something better, something faster, something thinner, as little as seven months after the last version was announced. Consider Nokia’s Windows Phone 8 upgrade debacle.
As Dave Caolo said on his blog this week:
Your iPad 3 is still a fantastic device, and will continue to work admirably for years. The new iPad with Retina display does not diminish your existing iPad’s usefulness. It can be disappointing not to have the very latest and greatest, but it’s not the least bit necessary. If you bought your iPad within the last 30 days, take it back to an Apple Store. They’ll replace it with a new one for free. If not, enjoy the fantastic little computer you hold in your hands. It’s a stellar device.
I love my third-generation iPad. I treat it like I treat all other expensive electronic equipment: so that it lasts as long as my 1st revision 60GB iPod photo has.
I will find a use for each of my computers, until bit rot sets in, or my better half throws them out or sells them.