“Resolutionary.”
That’s how Apple describes the new iteration of its highly successful iPad.
Apple is notorious for using lame buzz words like “magical,” “revolutionary” and “it just works” when marketing its newest products. This time, though, whoever came up with “resolutionary” should be fired.
I bet Steve Jobs is turning in his grave.
Speaking of horrible terms, the new version of the iPad, unveiled Wednesday at Apple’s conference in San Francisco, is called simply that — the new iPad.
Not to steal one of Apple’s keywords, but without its late CEO, the company seems less “magical.”
Sure, it’s still raking in the dough — new CEO Tim Cook said the iPad 2 sold more than 15 million units last quarter — but the company’s past two keynotes have been a bore.
The reason Apple exploded with success in the last decade was thanks to the enthusiastic, hyperbolized keynotes from Steve Jobs. He truly loved his company and got everyone excited to buy its products.
Jobs’ persona was what made Apple products the cool thing to own.
After Jobs’ death, Cook has led the last two major keynotes — for the iPhone 4S and now the new iPad — yet they’ve been nothing but snooze fests.
It probably doesn’t help that Apple’s latest products haven’t been those most “revolutionary” products.
The iPhone 4S added Siri — “your best friend who gets things done just by asking,” Cook brags — and a major overhaul to the phone’s camera.
Now, we have the new iPad, which lacks the “wow” factor of previous Apple products.
The biggest change is to the screen. The new iPad finally boasts a retina display, similar to the one introduced in 2010 for the iPhone 4.
This screen has a resolution of 2048 by 1536, “the most ever in a mobile device,” according to Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller.
Truly resolutionary.
I won’t lie, the first time I saw the iPhone 4’s screen I was amazed at how much better it looked compared to the 3G. And while I’m sure the new iPad screen will look just as impressive, people have seen it before.
Other hardware improvements include, again, a boosted camera known as “iSight” and a dual-core A5X processor promising twice the speeds as its predecessor.
The new iPad can also support 1080p video recording and playback, which is now a staple of modern tablets and smartphones.
While I don’t want to disregard all of this amazing tech crammed into a single, mobile device, it is simply filled with things we’ve already seen.
It’s still too early to make a call one way or the other, but this could be a sign of the times for the once-great tech giant.
The company’s sales may not fall anytime soon, but it seems as if it’s going into the defender business strategy — play things safe, don’t make too big of moves and just rest on the foundation you’ve made with your customer base so far.
There’s nothing bad about that business model. But that’s a best-case scenario.
It also could be that Steve Jobs truly was the vision of this company and without him, every Apple product from now on will be bland and uninspired.
We’ve been bored to tears watching the previous two major Apple announcements, and, if nothing changes soon, the rest of the population will become bored with its products as well.
If this keeps up, the once-great Apple died last year along with Steve Jobs.
Adam Arinder is a 22-year-old communication studies senior from Baton Rouge. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_aarinder.
 
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Contact Adam Arinder at [email protected]