New iPads unveiled
October 16, 2014
Apple's newest tablet, the iPad Air 2, is thinner, more powerful and boasts fingerprint ID sensors. At 6.1 millimeters thick, the new iPad is the world's thinnest tablet, CEO Tim Cook said at an event at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., on Thursday.
The iPad Air - as well as the newly released iPad Mini 3 - will also support Apple Pay, a mobile payments system that Cook said will be ready by next Monday, blasting expectations that the service would not be ready for another month.
Apple Pay allows users to make in-app purchases with their fingerprints rather than entering their credit card data. Apple Pay on the iPhone - but not the iPad - also allows customers to pay for merchandise at physical retail stores by waving their smartphone at card readers.
Cook added that he had signed up 500 more banks in support of an Apple Pay feature similar to that of PayPal and other online money-transferring services.
Tablet sales are dropping worldwide
Apple is hoping the iPad Air and iPad Mini will help counteract slackening global demand for tablet computers. IPad sales have fallen 9.3 percent compared to a year ago.
Research firms attribute lower iPad demand to high prices (an iPad Air costs $499 in the US, or 489 euros in Europe), market saturation (half of all US households already own at least one tablet), and the popular view that while a smartphone may be an essential investment, an iPad is an indulgence.
While still the most popular tablet computer, Apple's competitors Amazon, Samsung and Lenovo are gaining ground. The iPad has a market share of 26.9 percent, while devices from Samsung represent 17.2 percent of the market and ones from Lenovo 4.9 percent.
cjc/uhe (Reuters, dpa)