Looks like the exciting new iPad Pros will not get the standard spring Apple event treatment, and will instead be introduced via press release and prerecorded video. I’m of two minds about this, if true.

On one hand, Apple has seemingly stopped doing live keynotes all together, so basically all product announcements these days come via a pre-recorded video. And there’s certainly something to be said for Apple’s standard keynote format being past its prime. The product introduction videos they’ve been releasing on YouTube lately have been really good. Maybe not Jony Ive’s white room good, but still pretty well produced.

YouTube will periodically recommend this video of the 2018 iPad Pro to me, and its still as good as it was back in the day. I think these type of product introductions may speak more to the more modern demographic than the Steve Jobs keynotes of yore.

On the other hand, I can’t help but feel that the new iPad Pros getting the press release treatment is representative of the lack for focus Apple has been putting on the iPad product line the last few years. I mean, the M3 MacBook Pros got a keynote, and they ended up being boring spec bumps. We are beyond Apple’s “iPad is our vision of the future of computing” days, so I’m really curious how Apple intends to market these new machines. Lately, Apple has talked about how iPads are their most versatile machines, as they are the only Apple products to support touch, keyboard, pointer, and stylus inputs. Their WWDC videos have also shown more of younger, college age people using iPads, which makes me wonder if maybe they’ll reposition iPad as a computer for young adults?

Either way, I hope Apple doesn’t lose focus on the fact that whatever market segment they chose to target, the iPad platform still needs more pro apps. The M2 iPad Pro video came with the announcement of three new Pro Apps, Octane X, Affinity Publisher, and DaVinci Resolve. Hopefully this is something they can repeat with the M3 announcement. I’d also expect at least one game related mention, since Apple seems to be trying to really push the gaming prowess of the M3 generation of chips.

None of these concerns detract from my excitement for the new iPad Pros. I am ready to buy the second the press release drops 😁.