Apple cancels plans for 12.9-inch iPad tablet?

Apple Store - Ginza, Tokyo, Japan

We saw a spate of rumours in late 2013 that suggested that Apple would launch a 12.9-inch iPad tablet later this year. Aimed primarily at the education market and scheduled for a late 2014 release, Apple was reportedly playing with a number of prototypes including one that sported an “almost UHD” (3840×2160 resolution) display. It now appears that Apple may have decided to abandon its 12.9-inch iPad plans at least for now.

A Digitimes research note reports that manufacturers are finding that larger tablets as a whole are facing a number of hurdles. Key among them appears to be a ” lack of support from related platform developers and ecosystems.” For example, it suggests (rightly?) that Android enterprise applications are inferior to similar ones on the Windows or Mac platforms. It’s likely that high prices are another reason.

The news does not appear to be much better for other manufacturers considering larger tablets. As we have already heard, the 13.3-inch ASUS Transformer Duet TD300 convertible tablet is facing indefinite delays likely due to its dual-OS nature. Second generation T100 devices apparently also face delays for unspecified reasons.

Meanwhile, Samsung has launched its 12.2-inch Galaxy NotePRO. Now available in Canada, it may be facing its own challenges. Between its high price, a lack of quality enterprise Android apps and an interface that has reportedly got Google more than a little upset, it may be a tough sell with customers. Digitimes expects that it may only ship about one million units in 2014.

The report once again reports that Google is considering replacing its Nexus 7 tablet with a larger 8.9-inch model this year (perhaps in July with Android 4.5).

Were you looking forward to the 12.9-inch iPad tablet? Let us know below.


Source : Digitimes

4 Comments

  1. Hi Scott,

    Wise move on your part – It’s too bad that the innovative form factors of these device look to be casualties of this reaction to dual-OS devices.

    Have you found all the Android apps you need for your work? Or have you had to make some compromises?

    Thanks for stopping by and giving us your feedback!

    1. Hi Jerome,

      From an apps standpoint, I’ve been able to locate almost everything I want, letting me perform about 90% of our workflow. The only buggy app of those I have been using is SolidWorks’ eDrawings Pro…in it’s current rev it seems to crash at the most inopportune time, but I’m reporting every crash and hoping the developers are keen to help fix the problems.

      From an admin/file management standpoint, Android has a ways to go…it just doesn’t want to give me enough control on where files go by default but I’ve been able to find workarounds. Of all the file moving apps we need, OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive) is having a hard time syncing between the web, our office PCs and the Note Pro, but we’re working to figure that out – must be some setting issues.

      Overall though, the primary reasons for trying the Note Pro are proving valid; a light, mobile device with a decently big screen, enough ram and processing power to keep up, multitasking capability and Wacom sketching tech (024 levels of sensitivity). Once we’ve developed an Android friendly interactive research doc, we’ll be humming along nicely!

      Thanks for keeping us informed of the latest and greatest stuff coming our way (Stateside, in my case)!

      -Scott
      Generator, inc.

      1. Thanks for the feedback! Always interesting to see and hear how (un)successful people are at replacing PCs with tablets.

        Thanks also for the regular stops here!

  2. Hi Jerome,

    I’ve written in before asking if you knew anything about the fate of the Samsung ATIV Q (of course we all later found out it was Google and maybe also Microsoft putting the brakes on the dual OS efforts) so I bought a Samsung Note Pro 12.2 and have been giving it a good test as a business tablet – my workflow consists of admin and office app work, but also field research & documentation, CAD reviews and serious sketching/rendering. So far my only gripes are a lack of customization for where files go and a need to occasionally force-on the virtual keyboard. Other than that, it is rockin’ and all is good.

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