Apple’s long-rumored 7-inch iPad might be more than just a rumor, according to Barclays analyst Ben Reitzes.

Discussing the iPad in a research note yesterday, Reitzes said the investment firm is still holding out hope that Apple will add a 7-inch tablet to its lineup.

“Our global research team still sees some evidence of this product in the supply chain–and we wouldn’t be surprised if it wound up in the iPod touch category if it indeed sees daylight,” the analyst said. He did not provide any further details in the research note.

Given some uncertainty on the part of Barclays, an iPad mini doesn’t factor into its sales forecasts for the tablet. But either way, Apple is on track to have more bang-up quarters thanks to its current iPad lineup.

Reitzes estimates that 14.2 million iPads (compare features and prices) will ship in the second quarter, a 20 percent jump over last quarter. And another 15.9 million will ship in the third quarter.

Apple will be counting on strong sales from the iPad over the next couple of quarters as the company transitions to a new iPhone, according to the analyst.

Last year, iPhone sales fell to 17 million in the quarter ended in September from 20 million the previous quarter. Potential buyers held off purchases in anticipation of the new iPhone, which made its debut in October. Several reports have pegged this October as the launch month for the next-generation iPhone.

The iPad will also continue to cannibalize PC sales, Reitzes added. As such, he sees little need for Apple to create a “hybrid” Mac with a detachable screen, believing that iPad users will increasingly dock their iPads (compare features and prices) to keyboards.

Looking at the market among tablet makers, Apple stayed on top in the first quarter with a 68 percent share. Samsung took back the No. 2 spot, while Amazon dropped to No. 3 as Kindle Fire sales dropped. The analyst expects Apple to hang on to its top market share over the near term as the Android tablet landscape becomes even more fragmented.

Apple is also expected to do well with this year’s new lineup of MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs.

More rival ultrabooks will launch this year, but Apple should be able to retain its grip on the market with new Airs and a new OS.

“We are very upbeat about the prospects for new MacBook Pros and iMacs to be launched this June quarter–and even more optimistic about a new line of MacBook Airs to likely ship in the September quarter at more attractive price points,” Reitzes said. “With new software (OS X Mountain Lion) and new Airs, we believe that Apple will effectively counter any perceived ‘threat’ from Ultrabooks.”

Via CNET News

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Video advertising is most readily accepted when featured on mobile devices. 94 percent of tablet and smartphone users watch videos in their entirety, according to a study conducted by Adobe. Until now, however, the market of iPad and iPhone users remained untapped, as these devices would only play video ads in separate apps. Video ads incorporated into a website were not played by the browser on the Apple devices due to technical obstacles that block their transmission.

Automatic recognition of Apple devices VideoManager 6 is now making it possible for videos to also be monetised on Apple’s devices with HTML5 technology. The cloud solution automatically recognises the device being used and delivers video ads in the right format within the video stream in real time. In the case of the iPad and iPhone, this is in the HTML5 player.

New marketing opportunities for publishers “For a long time, iOS devices were an ad-free zone when it came to videos. With VideoManager 6, valuable video content can now also be easily marketed via Apple devices, which are very widely used. Publishers can therefore now get even more revenue out of their videos,” says Dr. Rainer Zugehoer, Managing Director of MovingIMAGE24.

Video ads on iPad and iPhone — Test videos here! The following link will provide an example of an online video featuring a pre-roll that also runs on iPad or iPhone: http://videoads.movingimage24.com/

The Online Channel Horizont TV already uses VideoManager 6 to incorporate video ads as pre-rolls into a number of its videos: http://www.horizont.net/video/webtv/

About MovingIMAGE24 MovingIMAGE24 GmbH specialises in online video and video cloud solutions. The company, with headquarters in Berlin, provides a cloud-based solution VideoManager 6 for the professional management, editing and publishing of online videos. An interface enables VideoManager to be integrated smoothly into existing Content Management Systems. The multiple award-winning solution is currently used by approximately 500 clients, among them well-known companies such as BMW, DekaBank or Stiftung Warentest.

        Company Contact
        MovingIMAGE24 GmbH
        Max Rudolph
         Tel +49 (0)30 / 330 9660 68
         Mail max.rudolph@movingimage24.de

http://www.movingimage24.de/

        Media Contact
        markengold PR
        Christian Schindler and Christof Wisniewski
        Tel +49 (0)30 / 21915960
        Mail movingimage24@markengold.de

www.markengold.de            

SOURCE: MovingIMAGE24 GmbH

        mailto:max.rudolph@movingimage24.de

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http://www.markengold.de/

Copyright 2012 Marketwire, Inc., All rights reserved.

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Of the more than 2600 consumers participating in the survey, only 22 percent already own a tablet.

From the survey results, the greatest attraction of an iPad Mini would be price, something Apple showed some sensitivity to when it decided to keep the iPad 2 in the market at $399 when it introduced the third generation iPad earlier this year. That move was seen by some as a concession to the market’s desire for lower priced tablets as evidenced by the runaway sales of Amazon’s Kindle Fire slate during the holiday season.

When asked about their reasons for buying an iPad Mini, almost two-thirds (64 percent) of the consumers cite a lower price point compared to the new iPad or iPad 2. What’s more, when the consumers in the survey were asked what features they’d like to see in an iPad Mini, their top choice is a lower price (84 percent).

Size, though, also seems to be important. More than half (54 percent) acknowledge that size matters to them and feel a smaller iPad would be more portable. On the “wish list” question, though, size (60 percent) trailed 3G connectivity (65 percent) as a desired feature.

Consumers in the survey also show enthusiasm for giving an iPad Mini as a gift, with one in two (51 percent) saying they’d consider buying a pint-sized iPad as a present for the upcoming holiday season.

Despite Apple’s protestations that it’s not working on an iPad with a smaller screen — seven or eight inches or so — the “mini” rumor is one that refuses to die. Floggers of the idea can’t see how Apple can resist the market pressure for a cheaper tablet, especially in light of the success of the Kindle Fire.

That success, though, was fleeting, as recent market numbers show. For example, IDC reports Amazon tablet shipments shriveled from 16.8 percent in last year’s holiday quarter to 4 percent in the quarter ending in March. Those declines coupled with the expected arrival later this year of 10-inch tablets based on Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and selling for $250 or less may put iPad Mini speculation to bed for good.

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In this edition of Ask Maggie I offer some advice to a reader who is considering replacing his iPhone with either the Samsung Galaxy S III or the HTC One X. I also offer some advice about waiting for the new BlackBerry 10 phones.

Which Ice Cream Sandwich is right for me?

Dear Maggie,
My contract with AT&T expires this summer, and I am torn between which new phone I should get next. I currently have an iPhone 3GS. So I am considering the iPhone 4S or even the iPhone 5 when it’s eventually announced. But the new Android Ice Cream Sandwich phones look really appealing to me, especially the Samsung Galaxy S III and the HTC One X. So which one do you think I should get? Should I ditch Apple for Android?

Thanks,
Tempted by Android

Dear Tempted by Android,
This is a tough question. For one, the Samsung Galaxy S III was only announced this week. It won’t go on sale in Europe until the end of the month. And it won’t be available in the U.S. until this summer. What’s more Samsung has not said exactly which carriers will get it first or even what the final specs will look like on the U.S. version of the device. And we still don’t know the pricing for the phone here in the U.S.

The Galaxy S III is Samsung’s latest smartphone volley.

(Credit: Samsung)

As for Apple, it’s also unclear when it will introduce the new iPhone. Some people speculate it could be announced in June, as Apple has done with previous iPhone launches. But since the iPhone 4S was only announced in October, many believe that Apple has shifted the cycle slightly and the new device will be available in the fall. Since that device hasn’t even been announced yet, there’s no way to even try comparing it to either of the new Google Android Ice Cream Sandwich devices.

So what should you do?

Well the good news is that you have a little bit of time. You said your contract with AT&T doesn’t expire until the summer. By that point, we should know where the Samsung Galaxy S III will be available in the U.S., and whether any of the specs have changed. We’ll also have pricing information.

Also by summer, we will have a better handle on when Apple will announce its next product. If you are willing to consider the iPhone 4S, which you said you were, you should check out CNET Reviews for more information. Reviewer Brian Bennett has put together comparison of the HTC One X, the Samsung Galaxy S III and the iPhone 4S.

Based on specs alone, it looks like the Samsung Galaxy III is the phone to beat. But choosing your next device should be about more than simply speeds and feeds.

The new HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy S III are loaded with some very cool features, including fast shutter-speed cameras and faster network connections, that may tempt some Apple fans. I’m a long time iPhone user, and I have to admit that iOS is looking a little long in the tooth compared to some of the features of the new Ice Cream Sandwich phones.

Even the hardware and software functionality of the iPhone 4S may not match up entirely to the latest Android phones on the market, there may still be advantages to buying it for someone already entrenched in Apple’s ecosystem.

For one, it’s just plain easier to get another iPhone. All your apps, music, videos and contacts will easily sync from your old device to a new iPhone 4S. So you will save yourself a lot of hassle by simply sticking with Apple. But since Apple may soon upgrade the iPhone 4S, as I mentioned above, you may want to wait a few months before buying a new phone if you want to stick with Apple.

But if you’re willing to make the switch to a different platform, then I’d definitely recommend one of these Google Android Ice Cream Sandwich smartphones. Of course, the question is which one is better? This is also tough to answer for a couple of reasons.

First, I want to be clear that I have not seen the Samsung Galaxy S III for myself. And as I mentioned, we don’t yet know the specs of the device for the U.S. market.

But I have seen the HTC One X. And I think it will be a hard device to top.

That said, based on spec sheets alone, the Samsung Galaxy S III and the HTC One X offer very similar features. They each offer an 8 megapixel camera with a very fast shutter so you don’t miss any important shots. These devices can take up to three frames per second. And they automatically offer you the option to select the best shot of the bunch and to delete the rest. They each offer 1080p HD video recording. They run the same Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS. And they are roughly the same size. What’s more, the U.S. version of the Samung Galaxy S III is expected to support 4G LTE, so the devices should be operating on the same fast network.

My advice to you is this. When the Samsung Galaxy S III comes to market, you should go to the store and compare the look and feel of it to the HTC One X. And also check out the added features on the device.

The Galaxy S III also offers some added voice recognition and facial recognition technology. The device knows when you are talking to it. And it knows when you’re looking at it so that it doesn’t go to sleep when you are reading a book or looking at the screen.

These features may sound really cool to some users. But they may seem frivolous to others. Remember that Samsung and HTC layer on their own software onto their Android devices, such as those voice and facial recognition technologies on the Galaxy S III. Some Android users have complained about one company’s version of extra software over another company’s version. This is why it’s important to check out the phones for yourself at a store. See if you like the added software features of the Samsung device. You can also see which new features of the HTC phone you like or dislike as well.

I hope this advice was helpful. Good luck!

BlackBerry 10?

Dear Maggie,
I’ve been using a BlackBerry for years. Recently, I’ve been considering switching to an iPhone. But I don’t want to give up my physical keyboard. I’m an attorney and I use my BlackBerry to send tons of emails. I heard this week that the new BlackBerrys won’t have real keyboards anymore. Please tell me this isn’t true! Also what’s your advice on waiting for the new BlackBerry 10 phones versus getting an iPhone?

Thanks,
Mike

Dear Mike,
I have some good news for you. RIM is not getting rid of its physical keyboard. The company demonstrated the new BlackBerry 10 software at its conference BlackBerry World earlier in the week. And it showed off a new intelligent virtual keypad. But RIM CEO Thorsten Heins said that doesn’t mean that the company is abandoning the physical keyboard. He promised the company would still offer devices with real keyboards once the new BlackBerry 10 devices hit the market later this year.

The keynote speech in Orlando, FL where BlackBerry 10 was announced.

(Credit: Brian Bennett/CNET)

So when will these device hit the market? And should you wait? Well, so far RIM has given no firm commitment on the timing of when the new BlackBerry 10 devices will be introduced. Some rumors suggest the phones could be ready as soon as August. But others say October. One thing is clear, RIM will be in big trouble if the company can’t deliver devices by the Christmas season.

But should you wait for the new BlackBerry 10 or buy an iPhone? If you are a heavy email user then BlackBerry is still the device for you. And the BlackBerry 10 devices will have a better browser and “super” apps that will allow you to run several apps at once.

I hope that advice was helpful. Good luck!

Ask Maggie is an advice column that answers readers’ wireless and broadband questions. The column now appears twice a week on CNET offering readers a double dosage of Ask Maggie’s advice. If you have a question, I’d love to hear from you. Please send me an e-mail at maggie dot reardon at cbs dot com. And please put “Ask Maggie” in the subject header. You can also follow me on Facebook on my Ask Maggie page.

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Apple knocked everyone’s socks off this week with its second quarter earnings report figures, the iPhone alone brings in more money for Apple than most other companies make, Proview may have a claim on the iPad name after all, and we may be seeing the beginning of the end for eBook copy protection. Mac OS Ken’s Ken Ray shoveled through all of the week’s news to find the parts that matter to you. And his arms are tired, too.

Show Me the Money
Apple’s second quarter, fiscal year 2012. In a word: nutty.

Best second quarter in the company’s history and second best quarter ever by some measures. I’ll draw our earnings info from AppleInsider, AllThingsD, Fortune, Apple’s own press release on the quarter, and Apple’s earnings call.

Before picking up the phone, Apple issued a press release proclaiming March 2012 its best second fiscal quarter so far reporting earnings of US$11.6 billion, or $12.30 a share, on revenue of $39.19 billion. That is a 94 percent increase in earnings over March 2011’s net profit of $6 billion, or $6.40 a share on revenue of $24.7 billion.

The numbers Apple reported beat the street’s estimates — 16th time out of the last 17 quarters they’ve done that — on strong sales of the iPhone, the iPad, the Mac, and even a little surprise help from the iPod.

All God’s children got a place in the choir.

Did I say strong sales for the iPhone, iPad, and Mac? I should have said record sales for a March quarter. Apple sold 35.1 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 88 percent growth year-over-year, and more than double the growth seen in the rest of the smartphone market, which IDC pegs at 42 percent.

Apple rang up 22.7 billion in iPhone revenue.

The Cupertino company sold 11.8 million iPads (compare features and prices) during the quarter, a 151 percent unit increase over the same quarter last year. The latest iPad is already in 40 countries, and boy is education getting interested. According to Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer, Apple sold iPads (compare features and prices) to education in the quarter at a rate of 2 to 1 versus Macs.

Apple rang up 6.6 billion in iPad revenue.

And get this: Apple sold 7.7 million iPods in the quarter, way less than it used to sell. Heck, way less than it sold in the March quarter of 2011, down 15 percent year-over-year. And yet they still beat the street’s expectations as well as Apple’s own internal expectations.

The iPod still controls over 70 percent of the MP3 player market.

Lump them together — the iPhone, the iPad, and the iPod touch — and Apple has over 365 million iOS devices out on the planet right now. Which is impressive.

As for the Mac, Apple sold 4 million of those during the quarter, a 7 percent unit increase year-over-year, handily beating wider PC growth of 2 percent, according to IDC.

Weird mix on the Macs, though, with desktop sales up 19 percent from the March quarter of 2011, while portable sales were only up 2 percent.

Suddenly people hate laptops? Mmmmm… more like people are waiting for something new in the laptop line. Citigroup analyst Richard Gartner asked about the mix in the Q&A portion of last night’s call, and was reminded by Apple CEO Tim Cook that Apple updated most of its laptop line in February of 2011, which led to loads of new laptops sold for this quarter last year. Then, too, there is the iPad which may have eaten some Apple laptop sales.

That’s not how he started his answer, though. He started his answer by pointing out that the March quarter was the 24th straight quarter that the Mac outgrew the broader PC market.

So nyah.

Let’s go to the store. Apple Retail took in $4.4 billion, up 38 percent year-over-year. March was the second best quarter for the stores so far, with the 2012 holiday quarter finishing first.

The stores played host to 85 million visitors, up 19 percent from the same quarter a year ago.

I have to say I don’t understand the intricacies of what financial analysts do, but it’s cool since I don’t think they do, either. Apple sold fewer iPads (compare features and prices) and Macs than the street had expected, yet managed to beat earnings per share by over two dollars. Two dollars.

Apple also took in about $2.5 billion more in revenue than the street expected. Apple ended the quarter with $110.2 billion in cash, up from $96 billion-and-change at end of the December quarter.

Looking ahead to the third fiscal quarter, Apple expects revenue of about $34 billion on earnings per share of $8.68.

As for the Q&A, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty had an interesting question about the coming quarter. Basically, June quarter guidance looks worse sequentially than March to June quarters in the past, so why?

CFO Oppenheimer says Apple’s buildout for iThings was huge, with the company filling orders earlier than in years past. That led to a lot of people buying stuff last quarter rather than having to wait until this quarter, hence the sequential softness.

Sequential Softness, by the way, easily the best synth-pop band of the 80s.

Sanford Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi wanted a little color on lower priced iPads (compare features and prices) and iPhones.

Looks good, but too soon to know what’s what was basically the answer from Apple CEO Tim Cook. He says Apple is thrilled with results of lower-cost iPad 2, though it was only lower-cost for two or three weeks of the second quarter, so who can say what the longterm effect will be? He would, however, guess that the $399 iPad 2 probably opens the device to more price sensitive consumers and it did seem to open the device to other, more price sensitive countries.

At the same time, there were new iPad constraints for the end of last quarter and there still are, so it’s not like people are skipping the new iPad for the less expensive old one. As for lower-cost iPhones, Apple’s happy with the free iPhone 3GS offering and the $99 iPhone 4 offering, both of which contributed to the second highest quarter of iPhone sales for Apple so far.

Toni Tony Tonee then asked a question that was perfect for a financial analyst with no sense of design: Wouldn’t it make sense to, more or less, merge the iPad and the MacBook Air into one device?

Tim Cook gave a beautiful answer: Anything can be forced to converge. You begin to make tradeoffs where what you end up with doesn’t please anyone. You can converge a toaster and a fridge, but those things are probably not going to be pleasing to the user.

That was the beautiful part.

While Apple does not talk about future products, Cook made it clear that was one hybrid we’ll not see coming off the line from Cupertino.

The financial world has been in a tizzy over the possibility of carriers trying to drive down or ditch iPhone subsidies. Goldman Sachs analyst Bill Shoppe wondered whether Apple was concerned that carriers might either try to stretch the refresh time for contracts, or that they might try to drive down the price they pay for iPhones.

CEO Cook says Apple wants to make the best smartphone in the world and carriers want to sell what people want to buy. He argues that the subsiy paid for an iPhone is not large compared to 24 months of payments from consumers. Plus execs at the carriers say iPhone has the lowest churn-rate of any smartphone out there, and carriers appreciate the engineering work that goes into iPhone data efficiency. Finally, Cook says iPhone is the best smartphone on the planet to entice a customer using a traditional phone to upgrade to a smartphone, which he sees as good for Apple, good for carriers, and good for consumers.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster wanted to know how this were going in China.

Tim Cook says Apple had a mind boggling quarter there, grabbing $7.9 billion of revenue in greater China for quarter. The iPhone 4S launched there last quarter, and while the new iPad is not there yet, the iPhone and the old iPads (compare features and prices) have both created a huge halo effect for the Mac.

JP Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz was curious about Apple’s current stance on litigation versus settling differences with companies out of court. To this Tim Cook said “We want people to build their own stuff.”

Cook says he’s always hated litigation and he still does. He would rather settle than litigate, but Apple doesn’t want to be the developers for the world. Apple wants people to invent their own stuff.

While Apple was quick to talk about iPad adoption in education in its prepared statements, it didn’t say as much about the enterprise. At least not until Credit Suisse analyst Kulbinder Garcha brought it up.

According to Cook, 94 percent of Fortune 500 and 75 percent of Global 500 companies are testing, piloting or deploying iPad. Hitting numbers like that had been Apple’s focus. Now its focus is on penetration.

Apple Likes it On Top
Last year, Apple and ExxonMobil spent a good bit of the summer battling for first as the most profitable company in the world. And we’ve pretty much been done with that for a while it’s Apple.

BusinessInsider says Apple is on track to generate between $45 billion and $50 billion of profit this year. And while they don’t say how much they expect ExxonMobil to generate, they do point out that the oil giant generated about $30 billion of profit last year. Even if they make more this year, they’re probably not gonna beat Apple.

All of that was already known.

But here’s what you might not have known:

Apple’s iPhone business alone is likely more profitable than any other company in the world.

Emphasis on likely.

According to the piece, Apple’s iPhone business is currently generating about $100 billion a year. Assuming a profit margin of 30- to 35-percent, “it seems likely that the iPhone business is generating about $35 billion of profit per year,” and that makes it more profitable than ExxonMobil.

And that is crazy.

Another nutty stat: “Apple’s Profit Is Now Bigger Than Google’s Revenue.” That’s the headline from a separate BusinessInsider piece.

Don’t believe it? Let’s go to the numbers: The March 2012 quarter revenue for Apple was $11.6 billion, and Google’s revenue was $10.7 billion.

And that is also crazy.

Proview’s iPad Win
AllThingsD has China’s vice minister of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce saying — in his view — the term “iPad” is owned by China’s Proview Technologies, not Apple. And his view is important since his organization enforces trade laws in China.

He says, “According to the provisions of China Trademark Law, currently Shenzhen Proview is the legal registrant of the iPad trademark.”

Ultimately it’s not up to him; it’s up to the court system in China, though AllThingsD figures if a government official is willing to go on the record, Apple’s chances in court might not be as good as some have thought.

Hey, remember that part where Tim Cook prefers settlements to litigation?

Set My eBooks Free
And finally this week, an interesting move in the eBook space. eBooks about space, actually.

CNET says Science-fiction & fantasy publisher Tor Books has announced that it will drop DRM from all of its eBooks starting in early July.

In a statement, Tom Doherty, president and publisher of Tor Books, said,

Our authors and readers have been asking for this for a long time … They’re a technically sophisticated bunch, and DRM is a constant annoyance to them. It prevents them from using legitimately purchased eBooks in perfectly legal ways, like moving them from one kind of ereader to another.

CNET says some think the Tor maneuver could start a wave of other publishers dropping DRM as well, which sounds crazy until one learns that Tor is actually a subsidiary of Macmillan USA, one of the largest publishers in the world. And, incidentally, one of the five being pursued worldwide for alleged eBook price fixing.

That aside, it does seem plausible that the major publisher could be sticking a toe in the DRM-free eBook water.

Ken Ray has been in and out of tech news since 1998, writing, producing and presenting for the magazine “Global Technology Business,” BusinessRadio 1220/KBPA in San Francisco, TechTV Radio, and “Rob Black and Your Money” on KRON 4 in San Francisco. He hosts a few podcasts on Apple news and news related to Apple news, including “Mac OS Ken” since 2006, and the call-in show “Mac OS Ken: Live” since 2010. He also used to make bread pudding, but hasn’t in quite a while.

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The Daily meal

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No, I’m not referring to the new iPad, the one with the ballyhooed Retina display. I’m referring to last year’s iPad 2, whose screen now looks grainy and pixelated when viewed alongside Apple’s latest tablet. The improvement in display quality smacks you in the face as soon as you compare the two iPad models, and it’s an upgrade that forces a nagging question: Where does Apple go from here?

The company now leads all competitors in tablet display quality, hands down. In fact, the display in the new iPad is so beautiful — so deft in rendering images, video and text — it’s unlikely Apple will update the screen in next year’s iPad model.

The new iPad serves as a warning that Apple could be running out of ways to significantly advance the tablet art form.

As for the new iPad’s other upgrades, they’re iterative, not revolutionary. But they also handily deliver all that we expect (let alone need) from a state-of-the-art tablet. If anything, the new iPad serves as a warning that Apple could be running out of ways to significantly advance the tablet art form. That’s a problem for a company that depends on revolutionary hardware design to move the manic masses.

Has the iPad line reached its natural conclusion? Is there nothing left to improve? I’ll answer those questions at the end of this review. But let’s first study the two key features — the new display and faster wireless connectivity — that make the new iPad a wise upgrade over iPad 2 for some users, if not also the best tablet available today.

Retina Display

The new iPad screen measures 9.7 diagonal inches, just like the previous model, but now boasts a 2048 x 1536 resolution. That’s good for 3.1 million pixels — four times the pixels of the iPad 2 and original iPad, which share the same 1024 x 768 screen.

But how does the new display actually look?

In a word: spectacular. When I first demoed the new iPad at Apple’s launch event, I was dismissive of its so-called Retina display because near-identical screen technology can be found in the iPhone 4 and 4S. I use my 4S roughly 30 to 40 times a day, and I thought I had become indifferent to a Retina display’s charms.

However, now that I can directly compare the screens of the iPad 2 and new iPad side-by-side, it’s clear the 9.7-inch Retina display is a huge improvement.

Individual text characters look like they’re stamped directly onto the screen with the world’s most exacting letter press — sharp and coherent with an almost molecular level of precision.

Text on the new iPad is vividly crisper and sharper, and this is a big advantage for any tablet, which, unlike a smartphone, must function as a platform for relatively long-form reading. On the new iPad, individual text characters look like they’re stamped directly onto the screen with the world’s most exacting letter press — sharp and coherent with an almost molecular level of precision. By comparison, text on the iPad 2 now looks outright crude — visibly pixelated, even blurry.

In fact, everything now looks sub-standard on the original iPad and iPad 2. On the older iPads, the curved corners of home screen icons reveal pixels, not perfectly crisp lines as on the new Retina display.

And on Apple’s new screen, high-resolution photos render in full glory, bearing the appearance of continuous-tone photo lab prints. Individual pixels are imperceptible, and the whole effect delivers a level of visual clarity that trumps not only other computing devices, but also any book or magazine produced via traditional off-set printing.

Apple says the new display bests its predecessor with 44 percent better color saturation, and anecdotal observation backs this up: Colors are noticeably richer and more brilliant relative to the reproduction mustered by the iPad 2. Colors also appear to render more accurately on the new display. Comparing control images I shot with the iPhone 4S, the new iPad beat the iPad 2 with a dynamic range that more closely matches the appearance of real-world objects.

Downsides? Well, like all iPads, the new one bears a screen with a 4:3 aspect ratio. Apple’s latest tablet supports native 1080p video, but all HD video content that isn’t letter-boxed will have significant black bands above and below the action, which isn’t the case with 16:10 aspect ratio Android tablets. The iPad’s aspect ratio reduces the wow factor of big-budget, Hollywood content, but if the Kindle Fire has taught us anything, it’s that most consumers find smaller video windows perfectly acceptable.

LTE Wireless Data

Until the release of this latest iPad, I never advocated paying extra for a tablet with built-in wireless data support. We already pay a lot of money for our smartphone data plans, so paying for a second data bill is difficult to resolve, both intellectually and emotionally. What’s more, our smartphones are always with us. So in those rare scenarios where we want to use a tablet but lack a Wi-Fi connection, we can always turn to our phones for that essential link to the outside world.

But the data game has changed.

For this review, I tested two new iPads. The black iPad in our photos is a 32GB Wi-Fi-only unit. The white one is a 64GB Wi-Fi+4G running on Verizon’s LTE network (a 4G AT&T version is also available). If I had to spend my own money, I’d buy the white one. Sure, across Apple’s entire iPad range, you pay a $130 premium when you opt for 4G support. But given the data speed and convenience that Verizon’s 4G offers, the higher price tag can be justified.

When you’re stuck on that tragically slow Wi-Fi network at the hotel or airport, you may be glad you opted for the new iPad with LTE support.

LTE speeds will vary from location to location, but when using the Speedtest.Net app as a benchmark, I saw Verizon network speeds as fast as 10Mbps/9.9Mbps (download/upload) in downtown San Francisco, and 10.4Mbps/20.3Mbps in my residential neighborhood in the San Francisco hills. By comparison, the fastest Wi-Fi network I tested on the iPad delivered 24Mbps/6.3Mbps. Those are killer Wi-Fi download speeds, but Verizon easily beat Wi-Fi in upload speeds (such is the upload cap on residential cable Internet service).

Verizon’s LTE network delivers a theoretical maximum download speed of 73Mbps. You’ll never see that bandwidth in the real world, but even downloading data at 10Mbps is a revelation compared to slower wireless bands. Indeed, on AT&T’s HSPA+ network, my iPhone 4S couldn’t exceed speeds better than 2.2Mbps/0.32Mbps in any San Francisco location I tested.

Bottom line: Verizon’s LTE is fast. Very fast. And it feels fast when you’re using it in the field. The company’s LTE service is offered in many key metropolitan areas, and when you’re stuck on that tragically slow Wi-Fi network at the hotel or airport, you may be glad you opted for the new iPad with LTE support.

For the iPad Verizon models, monthly data plans cost $20 for 1GB, $30 for 2GB, and $50 for 5GB. All plans are contract free, so you can buy a month’s worth of service only when you need connectivity.

And there’s another benefit to buying a Verizon-connected iPad: These tablets can be used as personal data hotspots, meaning you can tether internet service to as many as five other devices via a Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or USB connection. This feature alone could be a huge value-add, depending on your lifestyle or business needs. Verizon sells a contract-free LTE hotspot device, the Jetpack, for $270, yet the new iPad includes all this functionality for just a $130 premium.

How convenient is LTE hotspotting? Well, we ran the entire Gadget Lab news operation from the show floor of CES 2012 on two Verizon Jetpacks, updating our website (both words and images) with nary a hiccup. This operation involved as many as 10 LTE-connected writers and photographers at any given time. We would have used the wired Ethernet hook-up supplied to us by the Consumer Electronics Association, but it was markedly slower than Verizon’s LTE service at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Downsides? 4G LTE offers such a fat bandwidth pipe, you may become addicted to downloading large files and streaming 1080p videos, reaching your data caps sooner than you think. So if you opt for either the AT&T or Verizon iPad version, you’re committing to higher total costs of ownership, for both your initial hardware purchase and ongoing data consumption.

One important note about the new iPad and LTE: The AT&T version of the tablet doesn’t currently support personal hotspotting, but the feature is supposedly coming.

New Camera, New Processor and Voice Dictation

The new iPad includes other upgraded features and specs, but I don’t find them nearly as wowing as the Retina Display and LTE. They’re marginal updates, and serve as reminders that Apple has advanced its tablet art form quite far already, and is running out of fancy new tricks.

The Camera You’ll Rarely Ever Use
First, there’s the new rear-facing camera. It uses the same optics and imaging software as the camera in the iPhone 4S (an incredible smartphone camera by any measure), but employs a 5-megapixel sensor rather than the 8-megapixel technology found in the newest iPhone. The new iPad’s camera is a vast improvement over the universally scorned camera in the iPad 2, but it’s still a feature looking for a fan base.

Simply put, tablets are too unwieldy to effectively serve double duty as cameras. They’re too big to carry around 24/7 — I’ll refer to the maxim, “The best camera is the one you always have with you” — and they’re not easy to aim and steady when you’re actually shooting an image or video.

Nonetheless, the rear camera has been upgraded, and it’s a bit of forward progress that Apple can tick off on the new iPad’s spec sheet. Still images aren’t as boldly colorful as the output from the iPhone 4S, but they’re still quite competent.

Perhaps more significantly, the new camera shoots 1080p video with image stabilization support. Performance in low-light situations isn’t bad, and when lighting conditions are ideal, video quality is more than sufficient for home movies and similar low-ambition-level fare. This hooks perfectly into Apple’s updated version of iMovie for iOS. Novice video enthusiasts can use the tablet and iMovie together to create surprisingly finessed video projects and even campy theatrical trailers.

The Processor That Was Barely Upgraded, But Still Delivers
Apple’s latest tablet includes a new processor called the A5X. It runs the same 1GHz dual-core architecture as the A5 processor in the iPad 2, but adds a quad-core graphics engine to support the new Retina display, and bumps RAM from 512MB to 1GB.

The story here, folks, is that Apple didn’t make a dramatic processor upgrade, but rather made the right processor upgrade.

The new A5X is a big part of Apple’s marketing message. Manufacturers like to bandy about the term “quad-core” because quad-core CPU power is the new standard for smartphones and tablets, thanks to the Nvidia Tegra 3 chip, which appears in various Android devices. But let’s be clear: The A5X is a dual-core chip with quad-core graphics, and is far from a dramatic overhaul.

Should potential new iPad buyers be concerned? No. Throughout testing, I found performance in all applications to be uneventful — which is to say the A5X zips through web pages, games and applications with aplomb. I never experienced any video stutter. The virtual keyboard never lagged behind my physical keystrokes. Applications never hung, and the entire system performed with its traditional iOS zippiness.

The story here, folks, is that Apple didn’t make a dramatic processor upgrade, but rather made the right processor upgrade. Going for a quad-core main processing engine would have impressed a lot of hardware nerds, and such a chip would also likely improve performance in content creation and productivity apps, which are intrinsic to Apple’s message that we live in a “post PC” era where tablets handle duties once owned by notebooks and desktops.

But a quad-core processor like the Tegra 3 would also draw more of the iPad’s battery power, which is already heavily taxed by the LTE radio and Retina display, but nonetheless remains rated for 9 hours of continuous web surfing over the wireless radio. So Apple opted for prudence rather than overkill. The A5X allows Apple to place the term quad-core on the new iPad’s spec sheet, but also shows the world that balls-to-the-wall processing power may not be quite that important in even a high-end tablet.

Voice Dictation Finally Arrives on an Apple Tablet
Before the new iPad was unveiled, various pundits — including all but one Wired gadget expert — predicted the tablet would include Siri, Apple’s sassy, question-answering virtual digital assistant. I was the lone Wired holdout.

Well, I’m happy to report that voice dictation, the only Siri component I ever use with regularity, has made the jump from the iPhone 4S to the new iPad. When you spawn the new tablet’s virtual keyboard, you’ll find a microphone icon on the bottom row of keys. Hit it, and start dictating your words into whatever text entry field you may be in. Once you’re done, hit the mic icon again, and the iPad will convert spoken word to text quite quickly — in less than a second for, say, three sentences worth of speech.

I couldn’t discern any performance differences between voice dictation on the new iPad and the iPhone 4S. Apple’s dictation engine has a remarkable ability to keep pace with human speech, and dictation accuracy hovered around 90 percent. Google has a similar dictation function built into Android 4, and while Google’s engine converts text in real-time, rendering text on-screen while you speak, its interpretive accuracy falls short of Apple’s technology.

Should You Buy It?

The new iPad is the best tablet available today. Its screen technology is unmatched. Its industrial design, essentially identical to the iPad 2, oozes with high-quality fit and finish. And Apple’s app library offers a far greater number of polished titles than anything you’ll find in the Android Market or Amazon Appstore. In fact, because of software support alone, I would recommend first-time tablet buyers choose an iPad — either the new one or iPad 2 — over an Android tablet or the Kindle Fire at this time.

In March 2011, we gave the iPad 2 a 9 out of 10 verdict. The new model is even better. It may include only one revolutionary feature update — the new display — but the third-generation iPad still deserves a 9.

Should first- and second-generation iPad owners upgrade to the new model? It all depends on how they calibrate their finances to their emotional wants and hardware needs. The vast majority of iOS apps will run, in some form or another, on all three tablets, so a hardware upgrade isn’t absolutely essential.

First- and second-gen iPad owners need to ask themselves just how badly they want the best mobile display in the universe. And they have to ask themselves if the speed and convenience of LTE is worth the price of admission.

Are you a high-roller? Then take the plunge. The Retina display will remind you how much you love your new iPad every day. Are you a struggling 99 percenter? Then stick with the iPad you bought in 2010 or 2011. It still delivers nearly all the core functionality of the newest model. It just doesn’t do it as quickly, or with Apple’s new standards in display quality.

And herein lies the core problem for Apple: In terms of basic functionality, all three generations of iPad essentially do the same things. Sure, the iPad 2 delivered a much thinner chassis. And, sure, the third-gen iPad delivers a stunning new display. But what’s left to upgrade? Apple needs to show us something we’ve never seen before, not gussy up features and specs that have become old hat.

Indeed, aside from the Retina display, all of the new iPad updates are incremental component improvements — and if they were announced by a Samsung or an Asus, they wouldn’t have made any press.

Where Does Apple Go From Here?

Based on what we’ve learned from its latest tablet, Apple will be hard-pressed to wow fourth-generation iPad buyers in 2013. Let’s unpack this.

LTE support in the new iPad is indeed a killer feature, but it’s not anything that could have led Tim Cook’s keynote. Adding LTE was simple housekeeping, not revolutionary design, as Android competitors already offer LTE. Will the next iPad need a faster wireless data connection? Maybe, maybe not. But all iPads (compare features and prices) will need to keep pace with wireless industry standards. (The preceding sentence wasn’t very exciting, was it? My point exactly.)

The new camera? It helps Apple achieve parity with competing Android tablets, but it’s not a game-changing breakthrough. What’s more, the new camera is more than sufficient for a tablet feature that no one is very concerned with in the first place. Can a camera update wow the masses in 2013? I don’t think so.

There’s no point in upgrading the Retina display next year. It’s already all we need from a 9.7-inch screen.

What about a screaming-fast new processor? Can a heretofore unimaginable wonderchip be the lead story for next year’s iPad? No, it can’t. In the new iPad, Apple proves that tablet processor updates can progress incrementally without hobbling overall performance.

There’s no point in upgrading the Retina display next year. It’s already all we need from a 9.7-inch screen. Plus, I’m sure Apple would like to amortize the cost of its Retina display technology across two product generations.

Integrate Siri into the next tablet? The feature looks great in television commercials, but in real-world practice it’s not as useful or canny as Apple would have us believe — and it’s also much better-suited to go-everywhere smartphones. But, most importantly, Siri will be 18 months old when the next iPad release is likely to arrive. I don’t think Siri can be the linchpin of Tim Cook’s iPad keynote in 2013.

Obviously, Apple will not close up its iPad shop. The product line is wildly successful, and the company will inevitably find a way to finesse a grand tablet story next year. We could see a dramatic breakthrough in battery life — not particularly sexy, but it would address a legitimate consumer need. Or we could see a new iPad so thin and light, Tim Cook’s keynote audience gasps with surprise — a sexy advancement, indeed, but not game-changing in terms of real-world use.

Or we could see Apple capitulate to consumer sentiment, and deliver the diminutive “iPad mini” that rumor-mongers have been speculating ever since the Kindle Fire proved 7-inch tablets have legs. Apple’s tablet hardware development is clearly facing diminishing returns, and “going small” would be both easy to execute and make for a compelling narrative.

Whichever path it chooses, Apple has work to do. The new Retina display effectively punctuates the iPad lineage as we know it with an emphatic full-stop.

WIRED Breath-taking, stunning display — the best in all of mobile computing. Super-fast Verizon LTE allows hot-spot tethering. All key components have been prudently upgraded to their effective limits. Tablet hooks into the world’s best app store.

TIRED Aside from the Retina display, the latest iPad lacks mind-blowing new features that advance the state of the tablet art.

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If you want to believe mysterious pricing sheets posted to Chinese social-networking sites, Apple’s next
iPad could be $70 to $80 more per model than the iPad 2.

The much-expected extra pixels in the iPad 3′s display could add some more dollars to its price tag if a leaked price list is to be believed.

MacRumors points to a pricing sheet (registration required) that made its way to popular Chinese microblogging site Sina Weibo, offering a rundown of prices for both the iPad 2 and iPad 3. The big takeaway: the newer models come in at $80 and $70 more per model than their predecessors.

If the list is to be believed, Apple will keep the iPad 2 around at its existing prices, while offering the iPad 3 at a beginning price of $579. That’s for the Wi-Fi only models, which will keep the existing storage capacities of 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB at $579, $679, and $779 respectively. As for the models with “3G” (and not “4G” as iPad 3 debug data teases A6 chip, 4G data — Wednesday, Feb 1, 2012″ href=”http://news.google.com/8301-27076_3-57369822-248/supposed-ipad-3-debug-data-teases-a6-chip-4g-data/”> rumors have suggested), those run at $699, $799, and $899 for the 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB models.

Possible iPad 3 pricing, if you believe mysterious shipping lists posted to a Chinese social publishing site.

(Credit:

Sina Weibo/MacRumors)

To add to the handful of salt worth taking with this pricing sheet is the fact that Apple has a history of discounting its previous-generation models, with the iPad 2 outright replacing the first-generation version. Following the iPad 2′s introduction, first-generation models could be iPad 3G gets $100 price cut by AT&T — Friday, Mar 18, 2011″ href=”http://news.google.com/8301-13579_3-20044827-37.html”>had at hefty discounts, something that is expected to happen with this model too.

However, there have been rumors–specifically ones from Taiwanese tech news site Digitimes–claiming Apple would keep the iPad 2 around as part of the iPad line, much like it does with its mobile-phone business, selling the
iPhone 4S alongside the
iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS.

Part of that strategy, the reports suggested, would be to iPad model lineup could cut entry price to $299 — Tuesday, Jan 3, 2012″ href=”http://news.google.com/8301-27076_3-57351446-248/rumored-three-ipad-model-lineup-could-cut-entry-price-to-$299/”>sell the iPad 2 at a discounted price to better compete with the incoming crop of $200 and $300 tablets running Google’s Android operating system. Amazon in particular, has taken aim at Apple in a recent TV commercial, poking fun at the fact that customers can buy two of its e-Ink based Kindle readers, along with its 7-inch Kindle Fire tablet for the price of Apple’s entry-level iPad model.

Worth pointing out is that at $899, the top-of-the-line iPad 3 would come in $100 less than Apple’s entry-level MacBook, the 11-inch, 64GB MacBook Air, keeping the two lines from overlapping. Apple has said that the iPad does cannibalize on its Mac sales, but also that it’s not always a bad thing. Nonetheless, having the two lines reaching the same price points would likely cause a stir.

In its first two generations of the iPad, Apple did not increase prices. That said, it has offered higher-tier versions of its iOS products at a premium. Most recently, that can be seen with last October’s introduction of the 64GB iPhone 4S, which broke with Apple’s existing pricing system to sell for $399.

Apple is expected to hold a special event sometime next week to take the wraps off the next iPad, with an invite going out to press any day now. An alleged shipping document that cropped up over the weekend suggested that initial deliveries of the new device were already on their way to the U.S. from overseas factories.

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