More Supposed Details on October’s iPad Event

Everything every day is “iPhone 6 this,” and “iOS 8 that,” but what about the iPad? Rumor has it that Apple will be refreshing its flagship tablet line at an event that’s said to be scheduled for October 21, though Apple has yet to confirm the event, the date, the anything. Yet more reports have surfaced that lend credence to that event being the real deal, along with a few more details about what we may – or may not – see once it arrives.

A post on CNET points the way back to a report from the Commercial Times out of China, which says that Tim Cook and company will only be showing off the new version of the iPad Air on October 21. The new iPad Mini, on the other hand, won’t make an appearance until sometime in early 2015. Moreover, the second quarter of 2015 will bring yet another flavor of Apple tablet into the mix: the iPad Pro.

That’s right, the iPad Pro, a more powerful version of the iPad tablet that might blur the line between the tablet and the Mac, and a device that our own Jeff Weisbein predicted, well, last October when Apple first revealed the iPad Air. That, of course, was on October 22, which would be almost exactly a year before this upcoming October 21 event – but I digress.

The iPad Pro could very well be an interesting device that cuts Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3 off at the knees – or at least, that’s how I envision it. The Macbook line of computers suffers due to its lack of a touchscreen, not to mention the inability to separate it from its keyboard. The iPad, likewise, is tough to use for much besides consumption of media and entertainment. This year’s Office for iPad release helped make the device more useful for work and productivity, but it still can’t hold a candle to PCs…or even Android tablets, which give users the ability to use a file manager.

An iPad Pro, however, could conceivably do many of the things that a Mac could do, but with the lower power of an iPad. Apple could easily release a keyboard stand/case combo dealy that gives users the ability to switch between consumption and productivity with ease – just like the Surface Pro 3. Personally, I hope that the Commercial Times is wrong, and that we hear about the iPad Pro in October rather than next year.

Would you be interested in an iPad Pro? Or are you happy keeping your iPad and Mac separate?

[Sources: CNET, Commercial Times]