Originally Posted by Assa2:
“10 years ago Microsoft was the worlds largest company with no-one predicting it would relinquish that position any time soon. Things change. Apple had the Ipod, the Iphone and now the Ipad. Each was the cutting edge leader of it's sector before competitors woke up and developed products equal to or better than Apple's. The Ipad3 is good, maybe the best tablet on the market today but that won't be true for very long. If Apple wants to retain its position at the top of the tree it needs something new. The question is how important SJ was in driving the inovation within the company. Apple is riding high on the stock market right now for all sorts of reasons, its product line only being one of those. I expected the next Ipad to be a bigger advance just like I expected the 4S to be a bigger advance. It feels like Apple are relying on incremental evolution of products and relying on people having to have the latest version rather than true revolutionary products which only a few years ago was what they were known for. I persoanlly feel that the new Ipad has some significant weaknesses which the competition can easily exploit. If the next Samsung tablet for instance has as good a screen, as fast a processor but without the weight and includes a memory slot it would be the one I would choose.”
It is said part of Apple's strength is in deciding what the leave off their products rather than what to add. Every design decision is a compromise. And Apple often compromises in different ways to other competing manufacturers.
The iPad for instance, it doesn't have a quad core processor. It only runs at 1GHz. It only has 1gb RAM. It's not bristling with interfaces. But it does have a epicly good screen, unrivalled quality feel and 10 hours of battery life.
However, there will inevitably be others who will play the spec game, bolting everything but the kitchen sink to their 'iPad killer', regardless of whether that thing is of much tangible benefit or not. The main compromises they'll have to make is either pisspoor battery life, a flimsy-light build quality, or make it the size and weight of a paving slab. That might be okay with a few nerds who only really look at spec numbers and price, but probably won't be such a big hit with ordinary folk.
You say you'd like a higher spec, lower weight tablet. But would you still want it if it only had a 3 hour battery?