Apple sprang a surprise on its fans on January 29 with the announcement of a 128 GB iteration of its fourth generation iPad. The doubling of the iPad’s storage capacity has been doing the rounds in online forums in recent weeks but no one foresaw the announcement by Apple.
A company press release quoted Philip Schiller, senior vice-president of worldwide marketing as saying, “With twice the storage capacity and an unparalleled selection of over 300,000 native iPad Apps, enterprises, educators and artists have many more reasons to use the iPad for their business and personal needs.”
The new iPad has been priced at Rs. 49,900 for the Wi-Fi model and Rs.56,900 for the Wi-Fi-plus-cellular model. The 128 GB iPad is expected to be available from February 5.
This seems to be a move towards consolidating Apple’s uber successful tablet PC in the global market. According to the Apple PR machine, the iPad continues to have a significant impact on business with virtually all of the Fortune 500 and over 85 per cent of the Global 500 currently deploying or testing it. Companies regularly using large amounts of data such as 3D CAD files, X-rays, film edits, music tracks, project blueprints, training videos and service manuals all benefit from having a greater choice of storage options for the iPad.
The press note also quoted Amy Bunszel, vice-president of AutoCAD products, as saying: “Our AutoCAD WS app for iOS was designed to give customers seamless access to their designs anywhere, anytime. These files are often large and highly detailed, so having the thin and light iPad with its multi-touch display, integrated camera and all-day battery life, is a real advantage for users to view, edit and share their AutoCAD data.”
The biggest advantage for iPad is its Apps ecosystem. It runs over 800,000 apps available on the App Store, including more than 300,000 apps designed specifically for iPad.
