Vigilantes Have Renamed "The new iPad"

"we’ve come to expect precise and sequential product naming from Apple - the iPhone, followed by the iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4, and 4S."<p>I think Apple is correcting a mistake that they made. Most Apple laptop owners have no idea what generation product they have. I own a MacBook Air. Before that I owned some Macbooks, MacBook Pros, and Powerbooks. The same with iPods, though there was differentiation based on features (remember the iPod Photo?).<p>I suspect that the next iPhone will just be "the new iPhone" as well. There will be another "new iPad" released and then another "new iPhone". When you want an iPad or an iPhone, go buy one. It will be new unless it is used.<p>"Because of this precise naming, it’s easy to identify and buy them used on secondary markets like eBay and Craigslist. However, if you’re looking to buy the latest iPad, are you really just supposed to type “the new iPad” into a search box and reliably get results for the 3rd generation model?"<p>Yes, if buying a new iPad you should just be able to go to Apple.com or BestBuy.com and type in iPad to buy the newest one. As for buying them used or from unauthorized dealers, I can imagine Apple caring about that problem anytime soon.

I just glanced at an iPad 2 and the box it came in, and interestingly I don't see "2" anywhere except for in the small print on the label on the back, by the model number. The back of the iPad just says "iPad" as does the side of the box. So once you actually bought the thing, the branding on the iPod 2 wasn't very 2-centric at all either.

I have an iPhone 3G and an iPhone 4 here-- they both say "iPhone" on the back. I have an iPad 2 and an iPad 3-- they both say "iPad". I have a MacBook labeled "MacBook", a MacBook Pro labeled "MacBook Pro", and a MacBook Air labeled "MacBook Air".<p>I don't think I've ever owned an Apple product that had a number in the name, not that you'd know from looking at it. Some people just need something to complain about, I guess.<p>It should also be pointed out that Apple consistently does not use the definite article with product names in order to personalize the branding, going back to the first Macintosh. It's not the iPad, just... <i>iPad</i>.

Apple is trying to move the iPad in the same direction as the Macbook and iMac. You don't buy a <i>MacBook Air 14e</i>. You buy a MacBook Air. When you sell it, you sell a <i>2011 MacBook Air</i>. When you say you bought a new Ford Mustang, people know what you are (generally) talking about (with the occasional "new to me" confusion for good measure).<p>And, yes, it is confusing, especially since Apple is the one who started it with the iPad 2. Ford also differentiates its models with "2012".

They should just give them year numbers. This is the 2012 iPad. Older models are the 2011 iPad and the 2010 iPad. The system is perfectly simple to understand and has planned obsolescence.

You are supposed to call it "iPad". Done.<p>If you need to be more specific, the model numbers are as follows:<p>MC705ZP/A – iPad 3 Wi-Fi only 16GB – Black<p>MC706ZP/A – iPad 3 Wi-Fi only 32GB – Black<p>MC707ZP/A – iPad 3 Wi-Fi only 64GB – Black<p>MD366ZP/A – iPad 3 Wi-Fi + 4G 16GB – Black<p>MD367ZP/A – iPad 3 Wi-Fi + 4G 32GB – Black<p>MD368ZP/A – iPad 3 Wi-Fi + 4G 64GB – Black<p>MD328ZP/A – iPad 3 Wi-Fi only 16GB – White<p>MD329ZP/A – iPad 3 Wi-Fi only 32GB – White<p>MD330ZP/A – iPad 3 Wi-Fi only 64GB – White<p>MD369ZP/A – iPad 3 Wi-Fi + 4G 16GB – White<p>MD370ZP/A – iPad 3 Wi-Fi + 4G 32GB – White<p>MD371ZP/A – iPad 3 Wi-Fi + 4G 64GB – White<p>They have unique identifiers. The product you walk in to the store and buy is "iPad".<p>What is the question?

The article misses the obvious comparison to the Mac line. Over time people will naturally refer to them by the year they were released.

I'm guessing apple just doesn't care that much about the secondary market for their products since they make all their money off selling new products. It'd be nice if they did though!

To people saying it makes sense, because Macbooks don't have numbers:<p>It's different, because Macbooks have specs instead. A certain amount of GHz, memory, disk space, HD or SSD, particular ports... the relevant information is in the specifications, which are generally included in advertisements. The model itself doesn't matter so much -- especially because people can upgrade specific aspects of individual models.<p>But iPads/iPhones don't "have" specs, which is a conscious decision on Apple's part. Who knows how much RAM it has, or what its processor speed is? And they're not upgradeable. You can't choose more RAM. So you need some kind of identifier to figure out what the performance is like. Hence, iPhone 3GS or 4 or 4S.<p>"New iPad" is just stupid, as proven by the point that everyone has wound up calling it the iPad 3 anyways. It's as stupid as if Microsoft called Windows 8 "new Windows" or Toyota stopped giving year names to their cars. Just ask: what comes after "new iPad"? I can't even guess.

In the keynote Apple referred to it as "iPad", as a proper noun.

Interestingly, Amazon bypasses the problem by just using the serial number as part of the name: "Apple iPad MD328LL/A (16GB, Wi-Fi, White) NEWEST MODEL by Apple"<p>So, regardless of intent, people will find a way to use precise labels, especially on secondary markets.

The term "iPad (3rd generation)" is not "vigilante", it is simply dis-preferred. That name actually came from Apple: it is how they describe the product on their support website (where it is, of course, necessary to be exact).<p><a href="http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5176" rel="nofollow">http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5176</a><p>(Although I might even argue that it is dis-preferred: when you go to a dealer to get a new car, you get the "2012 Chevy Cruze LT", but when you advertise it as Chevrolet you might simply say "the new Cruze is the most powerful yet". I do not know if Apple actually provides specific guidance to not use the "3rd generation" terminology.)

I call mine iPad (Early 2012), which is also how you refer to MacBooks (e.g. MacBook Pro 17 (Mid 2010)). There's also the model identifier like "Model Identifier: MacBookAir4,2" but other than developers, no one uses that.

It makes me curious, what will the next iPad after "The New iPad" will be called?<p>And how will Apple refer to "The New iPad" after it is, uh, old.<p>It reminds me of the eighties. "Star Trek, the Next Generation" is now many generations behind...

Is it me, or are the stories making it to the top of this list getting worse and worse? "Some people have invented an informal name for Apple's latest toy." Great. Which part of this "hacker news" ?

If you can't name your product, your consumers will name it for you.

&#62; Long live the iPad 3, The new iPad is dead!<p>Uh, shouldn't that be: "The new iPad is dead. Long live the iPad3!"? If they were not attempting to riff off of: "The King is dead. Long live the King." then the sentence really makes no sense.<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_is_dead._Long_live_the_King" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_is_dead._Long_live_the...</a>.

I'm surprised "retina iPad" isn't in the poll... That's what I've been calling it, matching the "retina MacBook pro" convention.

It's listed as "iPad 3rd generation" under the compatibility section for accessories on the apple store.

I find it fascinating how little attention this huge branding mistake has gotten. It was extraordinarily amateurish on the part of Apple, the kind of mistake I would have expected from Microsoft a few years ago. Except had Microsoft made that mistake, they would have been properly ridiculed for it.

I was just marveling this morning at how much mental energy is expended on this very thing. Let's just call it the iPad 3 and not worry too much about how closely we match Apple's marketing copy.