If I could build the iPad 3

One of Apple's best selling product is the iPad. And I see myself as a power user and at the same time as normal consumer (but of course early adapter). Many rumors are on the web that a new iPad is coming end of this year or beginning of next year. Almost certain before April which is not typical for an Apple hardware release which is normally every 12 months. An iPad release before April would be similar to the iPhone 3GS a in between iPhone better as 3G but just not a full new iPhone generation.

Bottom line the next iPad is already on the way and might have many new things or just a few.

But if Apple is not yet done with the iPad design and specs, then I want to tell Apple how the next iPad should be.

We know Apple is never conducting a consumer research, but if they would read The Spiegel (a German magazine) then the iPad should have at least:

- Retina Display (twice resolution in both direction)
- Monitor connector not only HDMI as well Thunderbolt and DVI
- multiple accessories connection at the same time like keyboard, mouse and trackpad over Bluetooth
- iPad display should be usable as keyboard or trackpad when connected to an external screen.
- And of course full integrated cloud computing over icloud.

These are the requests Spiegel readers have and which I hear from many people who have a touchpad from Samsung or HP.

I agree with higher resolution and multiple accessories connected at the same time. I agree as well the ability to use the iPad as a keyboard only.

But I don't agree with all the connectors. My dream iPad is a litter thinner, lighter and has no connectors or open parts at all. The universal apple connector and headset hole have to go. The + and - switches are not needed.

The iPad 4 will have iOS 5 and therefore no need to connect to a computer. The sync with iTunes and OS update will go over the air. We should be able to lay the iPad on a pad or put it on a stand for charging (induction charging like some others are offering). the sound switches shall be build in touch screen on top left. The iPad has enough space to get them as touch and invisible on the front. Similar like Samsung TVs have.
The headset connector will be replaced with the existing Bluetooth. Every iPad will come with a Bluetooth headset (which can be charged same as the iPad) and a stand which works as a charger. The price of the iPad might be $40 more but I would pay for.

With iOS 5 the iPad is able to mirror it's display to a TV over wifi, if the user has an Apple TV.

The same would work with a monitor. We just connect an Apple TV to the monitor and we could get the IPad display on the monitor. No cable needed. Belkin could offer for users who have no Apple TV a $30 wifi mini box which connects via HDMI, thunderbolt or SVGA to the monitor.

When the iPad is connected with an external display, the user should be able to decide to mirror the display or to use the iPad as a keyboard, mouse or trackpad.

Therefore my developed iPad would have two A6 processors.

This would be my next iPad. It might sound futuristic but something like this will come. The iPad is lobile device. A real lobile (mobile but local) device, something notebooks would like to be, but never really were, because they are too heavy and it takes too long to boot up. Then the net books came, which were much smaller and faster in booting, but just not fast enough to be more than a toy.

The iPad is different and will (maybe not the iPad but a pad) eventually replace the notebook.

Let us have a look to commercial use of computers. Most companies are offering for their office people a desktop computer and for their sales or management a laptop. The desktops are there either because they are cheaper and therefore a good mass computer or much faster which is needed for the power users like developers or designers.
The laptops are distributed either because a person travels and needs to have their office with them or are bought as an incentive, because it is much cooler to have a laptop than a boring PC.
When I look in our company, we could easily replace 50% of the computers with iPads. There is basically nothing a sales person can do with a notebook but not with an iPad. They are mostly using, outlook, word, PDF, Excel, PowerPoint and CRM. In the iPad world it would be numbers, pages, keynote, PDF and salesforce or any other webpage based CRM. Most of the big CRM vendors have even iPad versions of their CRM or at least a 3rd party which is offering a CRM version for their iPad.

I travel a lot and the most annoying part is the TSA control at the airport. It is always a big act to carry a ten pound laptop bag with all accessories and then to take the laptop out of the bag for the screening. We would only carry 3 pounds with an iPad and accessories and it is not needed to take the iPad out of the bag. How much time would this save us?

My notebook is on the half way empty when I fly from Tampa, FL to Bentonville, AR. The iPad battery, on the other hand, survives the flight easily which can take up to 10 hours with layovers.

I have in the office a laptop and I barely take it home, because it is too heavy. But I bring everyday my iPad and take it home. It is just like holding a small book in your hand. If the iPad would be my laptop replacement, I would eventually work more, because I would have my office computer with me, at home or on travel. How much more money could a company make if each person could work 1 hour more a day?

A lot of people are arguing that a notebook has more memory. This is true, but we should not need more. We have an intranet and most of the documents should anyway be saved there for others to access. We really only need memory for apps, mail and some PDF or powerpoints we need on the road. But even this it is not necessary if we have an iPad with 3G. We could always have access to the cloud.

Maybe Apple is reading my blog and will build the iPad 4 as I imagine. No connectors, two processors, retina display, multiple bluetooth input devices at the same time and the ability to stream to two external monitors. I guess I ave to wait and see.


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Location:N Westshore Blvd,Tampa,United States