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Apple new iPad hands-on (update: video!)

Here she is — the [iPad HD]!  Er, new iPad.  Breaking away from the numerical tracking system used before (and still used in the iPhone range), Apple has decided to highlight the most major change in its newest slate by simply dubbing it “new.”

Engadget Darren Murph

Context & Ripple Effects

The run-up was dominated by a naming fight: Gizmodo's pre-launch speculation that the device would be called 'iPad HD' captured how confident the rumor mill was that Apple would brand the slate around its display. Firmware sleuthing had already primed the launch — an unreleased iPad variant surfaced in iOS 5.1 firmware back in November — so the hardware itself was no surprise when Tim Cook's team took the stage.

What actually landed was a branding decision: Apple dropped the numbered sequence and called it simply the 'new iPad,' keeping numerals only on the iPhone line. Syndicated coverage of the spec sheet — 264 PPI Retina display, A5X with quad-core graphics, 4G LTE, March 16 availability from $499 — traveled across The Next Web, The Verge, CNET and others, while some commentary argued the muddled naming revealed sloppiness in an otherwise famously consistent brand.

First-order effects

  • Buyers get a Retina-and-LTE iPad at the unchanged $499 entry price from March 16, with iOS 5.1 — including Japanese-language Siri — rolling out to existing devices the same week.
  • Apple's refreshed Apple TV ships alongside the tablet, though talk of a full television set remains just that: unconfirmed rumor, not an announced product.

Second-order effects

  • Rivals now face a spec bar set by a $499 device — The Verge's by-the-numbers comparison and CNET's framing that Apple 'competes with everyone' put Android tablet makers under pressure to answer both resolution and LTE at that price.
  • Heavier Retina-class apps push against cellular constraints, and App Advice reports Apple raising the over-the-air download cap to 50MB, easing friction for buyers who download large titles on the go.

Third-order effects

  • If the 'new iPad' naming holds, Apple's product identity shifts from version numbers to the category name itself — each year's model simply becomes 'the' iPad, resetting comparison shopping around specs rather than generational labels.
  • The LTE radio also pulls carriers deeper into Apple's upgrade cycle, making network partnerships a standing variable in every future tablet launch.

The trend: Apple is moving its flagship products from numbered iterations to annually refreshed category names, letting the brand — not a model number — carry each generation.

Related: Apple · iPad · iPhone · Is the New iPad Going To Be Called iPad HD? · Apple outs new iPad (iPad 2,4) in iOS 5.1 firmware

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