At the beginning of last week, Apple added a ‘Why iPhone’ page to its website listing reasons why the tech giant thinks its handset is so special. On Thursday, it followed up with a Why iPad page featuring both iPads – the 9.7-inch version and the Mini.
The new page is in the same format as the Why iPhone page, requiring you to do a substantial amount of scrolling to get a look at all the reasons (there are 11 in all) why the iPad is, in Apple’s considered opinion, the best tablet on the market today.
As with its Why iPhone page, the iPad version kicks off by mentioning research from 2012 conducted by J.D. Power and Associates that found “Apple ranked highest in customer satisfaction among tablets.”
Apple is also keen to push the fact that there now more than 300,000 iPad apps available in the iTunes store, which “aren’t merely scaled-up versions of phone apps that lack features designed for a larger screen.”
The page also mentions the screens of the two iPads, though of course, only the larger iPad has the high-definition Retina display. Still, Apple does its best to put a positive spin on the situation, saying that each of the two iPads has “a display that’s beautiful in its own right” and that the iPad Mini’s screen is “bright and vivid, and a perfect canvas for all the apps made for the iPad.”
Battery power, the iSight camera, iCloud and “real people” who can help you with any Apple-related issues also get a mention on the new webpage.
When Apple launched its iPhone page, some observers commented that the Cupertino company looked like it was on the defensive as it came just days after Samsung launched its flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone to great fanfare. And a few days before that Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller laid into Android handsets, saying they were “often given as a free replacement for a feature phone and the experience isn’t as good as an iPhone.”
It’s less obvious why Apple has decided to add the iPad page now, though in recent months the company’s marketing arm has certainly been busier than usual pushing out ads for its iDevices, a move which may have come as a response to news that last year rival Samsung spent a hefty $401 million on ads in the US in 2012, $68 million more than Apple.