[Segmentation]

I wasn't planning on buying an iPad Air, as I'm still happy with my iPad 2, but that comparison chart on the first page really sold me that the iPad Air is the first real upgrade to the iPad 2.

My only complaint is I want high capacity, and I find it so ridiculous that to go from 16GB to 64GB I have to pay $200 extra. Two hundred dollars for 48GB. I think the last time I paid that much for 48GB was ten years ago.

Edit:

I wish Apple would put a microSD reader on the iPad. Purely for storage expansion. I realize they don't do this because it would basically kill their storage upgrade options and they'd probably lose money. No one would feel compelled to upgrade beyond 16GB.

microSD readers exist on the smallest devices nowadays, so form factor or weight is certainly no excuse.

[qq66]

I think the main reason that Apple doesn't include MicroSD is that they want to control the entire product experience, including data ingress and egress. Not only to protect lucrative margins, but also because they know that if the user screws something up by deleting files off the SD card etc, they'll blame Apple whether that's fair or not.

That assertion of control makes iOS unsuitable for many users, but Apple has consciously chosen a market segment and its proven itself a large one.

[Glide]

I wonder what the genius bar lines would be like if Apple products were a lot more open and allowed for that kind of customizability.

There's probably some correlation between simple(r) products and good customer service.

[barista]

Also because they can charge $100 for 16 GB of storage. The same microsd card would cost you $10 or less.

[interpol_p]

They do sell an SD card reader for iPad, don't they? A lot of people use it to offload their large photos and videos from the device.

I agree that Apple's memory upgrades are expensive (and probably account for a fair chunk of their margin). Supporting an SD card would necessitate a huge re-thinking of many parts of iOS, and create another point of failure and support. I dislike the way Android handles SD cards and prefer just to have more internal memory, it's a nicer experience not to explicitly manage that.

I think Apple should just charge less for memory instead.

[cubicle67]

I'd love to be able to expand my wifes iPad, but I think Apple don't offer it (the ability to expand the capacity) for two reasons, the first of which is price - the retail difference between 16Gb and 128Gb is almost pure profit.

The second resaon though, is that it introduces a level of complexity Apple are unlikely to be comfortable with[1]. Users now have to be aware of where stuff is being saved (flash or sd card), and the OS UI needs to be updated to provide this option.

[1] unfortunately, iCloud seems to wildly disprove my point ...

[j_s]

I was so happy to find a free program to transfer off videos and what-not, but it's still a hassle to have to do so manually ever time it fills up. I wind up using the iPad to capture video so often just because it is what is at hand.

http://www.digidna.net/diskaid/features/iphone-photos-transf...

[csomar]

I have to agree that 16GB is not enough (big mistake when I bought my iPad). But 32GB should do just fine.

Otherwise, I have an iPad 3 and played with the iPad 2. The difference in the retina display is enough for me.

[mcculley]

It's not just storage upgrade options that keep Apple from adding external storage, I think. With the way the sandbox works, how would apps be allowed to read/write to an external device? That would allow them to escape the sandbox and do IPC, wouldn't it?