back to article No, really, that 12.9-inch MaxiPad is totally on the way now

Rumors of the much-fabled 12.9-inch iPad have surfaced once again, via a new analyst report. Supply chain specialists IHS now say they believe the Reg-deemed "MaxiPad" is set to enter production in the latter part of 2015. "This product has been in the planning stage for several years but looks to now be solid for a 2015 …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Much like fusion power

    The 12.9" iPad is always six months from release.

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: Much like fusion power

      Practical, commercial nuclear fusion power is 50 years and always will be.

      This will be the year of the Linux desktop.

      The paperless office is nearly here.

      It's 2015 and where's my hoverboard, Mattel? At least Nike are promising Marty McFly's Hyperdunk trainers with Power Laces before the year's end.

      1. MCG

        Re: Much like fusion power

        The paperless toilet is already here :(

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Much like fusion power

      The new Surface Pro 4 is likely to give it a run for it's money.

      For instance, since the FAA approved Microsoft devices for cockpit use late last year in what used to be a solely Apple domain, practically every contract has gone to Wintel - and primarily to Microsoft Surface based solutions. For instance Lufthansa, BA, Delta, Austrian , etc.

      1. Frank Bough

        Re: Much like fusion power

        Pilots relying on malware ridden Windows slabs, great.

        1. cambsukguy

          Re: Much like fusion power

          That's a bit rich considering what OS (iOS) was running on what machines (iPads) in the recent grounding of lotsa aircraft.

          1. Dave 126 Silver badge

            Re: Much like fusion power

            >That's a bit rich considering what OS (iOS) was running on what machines (iPads) in the recent grounding of lotsa aircraft.

            Seriously? Logically: we know that it was either the OS or the app. Devices running the same OS but without the app did not exhibit this issue. Devices with the app did exhibit the issue. From this we conclude that it was probably the app that was responsible.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Much like fusion power

          "Pilots relying on malware ridden Windows slabs, great."

          And how many versions of IOS bar the latest havn't been completed rooted via vulnerabilities? Oh, that would be zero...

      2. fishman

        Re: Much like fusion power

        "For instance, since the FAA approved Microsoft devices for cockpit use late last year in what used to be a solely Apple domain, practically every contract has gone to Wintel - and primarily to Microsoft Surface based solutions. For instance Lufthansa, BA, Delta, Austrian , etc."

        Microsoft likes to have its products used in high profile areas. As an example, Microsoft paid the NFL $400M for Surface to be the official tablet of the NFL. So I wouldn't be surprised if they sold them to the airlines at a substantial discount.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Much like fusion power

          They paid Fox News (or was it CNN) to use Surface tablets during last fall's election coverage, so the Surface tablets with their kickstand were featured prominently on their desks. One shot taken from a side angle revealed they were using the Surface tablets as kickstands to hold up their iPads :)

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Much like fusion power

          "So I wouldn't be surprised if they sold them to the airlines at a substantial discount."

          Quite possibly. Exactly as Apple do then...

          For something as critical as in flight use I'm guessing price wasn't the first consideration though...

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This gives flashbacks...

    to a classic MadTV sketch

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsjU0K8QPhs

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    I don't foresee a second hand market for these.

    1. Desidero

      It's Apple's entry into planned obsolescence/disposable technology.

      Like a hockey puck & perhaps its namesake, you throw away after 3 periods.

      Not sure where the author got Apple's success lines, but iPad, iPod and probably Mac desktop have all taken a dive of late (we don't see desktop figures broken out anymore, but certainly the server is gone and desktop upgrades are far between - MacPro?). What about Mac mini? AppleTV?

      More hype please.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Colour Options

    Will it come in red??

    (Possibly with a hint of brown)

    1. Teiwaz
      Coat

      Re: Colour Options

      It'll always be advertised in blue though.

      (Getting my My coat, 'cause this whole thread is doomed to single-entendre, the really funny stuff is immature, and I'm bored already).

  5. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
    Joke

    Can I do no 1's or is strictly for No 2's?

    That's what maxipads are for aren't they?

  6. Dana W

    This joke was old the first five times. Its dead Jim. Give it up.

  7. h4rm0ny

    This format makes sense with a stylus. A digital clipboard, a tool for rapid diagramming, a presentational tool for meetings / lectures (tablet and stylus with projector or large screen are far better than a digital whiteboard for a number of reasons not least of which that everyone at the table can write on it by either just handing the tablet round or each having their own). All these uses make a large format tablet pretty useful if it's light.

    Such a tablet without stylus - no.

    1. Christian Berger

      Yes but evil Steve has declared...

      ...that pens are evil. That's why he got rid of the Newton even though a huge order from the educational market was under way.

      1. Dave 126 Silver badge

        Re: Yes but evil Steve has declared...

        Indeed, Cintiq already make big tablets with digitisers, and charge even more than Apple do. From this we can assume there is a market for such devices.

        1. Frank Bough

          Re: Yes but evil Steve has declared...

          Yep, a small market.

          1. Dave 126 Silver badge

            Re: Yes but evil Steve has declared...

            Absolutely a small market - that is why they currently pay a lot of money to anyone catering to them, and why Apple haven't bothered selling 'artist's tablets' to them. It is a smaller subset of the small market that kept Apple alive during the '90s.

            Adobe are actively working in this area, though, promoting a stylus and ruler combination for vanilla iPads.

            Still, SoC and screen prices fall year on year - even if digitiser tech doesn't - so it might get to the point where a digitiser becomes a good way of differentiating a product for not too much extra cost.

      2. Dave 126 Silver badge

        Re: Yes but evil Steve has declared...

        Jobs also once said that the next iPod will also make toast, when asked if it would play video. Jobs would say what he needed to say at the time. Don't think of it as any more than that.

        A stylus on a phone is unnecessary for phone and text functions. Tablets and phablets - which people often use with two hands - change things. Apparently the Galaxy Note stylus is good for entering mathematical notation. Cintiq and Modbook make big digitiser tablets for artists. The decline in tablet sales suggests the low hanging fruit of the mass market has already been plucked.

        A lot of time will have been spent by Apple, and by Microsoft and others, filming and analysing focus groups using prototype devices in different ways. The potential returns are too high to be amateurish and and unscientific about it.

  8. Daniel von Asmuth
    Gimp

    Tinypad

    When will the 40 inch iPad be available in stores?

    1. Jonski
      Trollface

      Re: Tinypad

      Soon, I believe it will be called the Microsoft Surface Hub.

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