Apple finally found a way to boost iPad sales — and it's going to make a lot of people angry
(REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque) Will the president have to upgrade his iPad to use the best new feature? There’s good news and bad news for the millions of iPad owners around the world.
The good news is that the iPad is getting a bunch of great new features that finally allow you to multitask.
So if you want to use two
different apps at the same time, like taking notes while looking at
photos, or watching a video while responding to a text message, you
don't have to switch between apps.
But the bad news is that the new features may not work on your iPad unless it's one of the newest models.
And Split View, which allows you
to use two apps at the same time, and is one of the best new features,
only works on the iPad Air 2, Apple's latest iPad, which starts at $499
and was released last fall.(Apple) Craig
Federighi, the executive in charge of software at Apple, unveiled the
new features on stage at the company's annual developer's conference on
Monday.
The cynic would say the
fact that the new features, which are part of a software update coming
later this year, only working on the latest and greatest iPads is a ploy
to get you to upgrade your iPad. Apple has struggled with relatively
sluggish iPad sales — the company still sells millions each quarter,
more tablets than any other single company — but sales continue to fall.
iPad sales were down 23% in the first quarter of this year compared to the same time last year.
It's a stark contrast to the incredible iPhone sales the company has reported over the past year.
And one of the reasons iPad
sales are down is that people don’t upgrade their tablets as frequently
as they update their phones, because they simply don't need to.
A four-year-old iPad, which you
may keep at home and use occasionally to watch Netflix or read news at
home, is a lot more useful than a four-year-old iPhone, which would feel
sluggish and outdated for everyday use.Of course using two apps at the same time, or watching a video in the
background while doing something else on your iPad, certainly requires
more processing power than just using one app, so it may be that the
features only work well enough for Apple to include it on its latest and
most powerful iPad.
