David McManus on why Apple has decided to go Pro

This coming week will see Apple start to sell its latest product line in the inflated shape – and price – of the iPad Pro.

The new tablet sports a screen almost 13 inches across and comes with optional extras in the form of a stylus and keyboard.

The Pro suffix has been added primarily to mark it out as a usable tool for productivity in the workplace and it is going to be primarily professionals who will be able to justify the £900 asking price.

Apple has opened itself to mockery with the iPad Pro, keyboard and stylus (or Apple Pencil to give it its official name). The company had previously insisted that users don’t want to interact via a stylus and that finger touch is the way of the future.

Others have pointed out the similarity between the form and function of the new flexible, fabric keyboard and that of the existing Microsoft Surface.

So why would Apple seemingly be doing an about turn on its one-time philosophy?

It is simply that the company needs to keep innovating its own product range in order to encourage new sales.

Despite how it may seem with the almost constant stream of new smartphones coming on the market, global sales of computer gadgetry in general is in a steady state of decline, even in the relatively young area of tablets.

It would seem that the purchasing of desktops and laptops, e-book readers, games consoles and MP3 players has reached its peak and is now on a downward trajectory that will only continue.

There are two fundamental reasons for this trend.

The first is a problem that the computer industry has now faced for at least a decade; by and large our devices remain perfectly good enough for their purpose.

It used to be that the desktop in the corner of the room would end up being frustratingly slow. Over time we grew impatient at waiting for files to open or documents to update and so when a new model with a faster processor hit the market, we would upgrade.

That simply doesn’t happen any longer.

Then everyone started to buy laptops and the regular cycle of faster, thinner models began again until it, too, plateaued and we were all happy with our two-pound, inch-thick portable powerhouses.

This regular desire for new models due to their increased performance and good looks should sound familiar because it is still happening, only today it is the smartphone that leads the innovation race.

And therein lies the second reason for the decline in sales of all those other products. The smartphone is steadily consuming them, one by one.

E-book reader? I have a smartphone. MP3 player? Games console? Smartphone. Not to mention cameras, personal organisers, magazines, sat navs and televisions.

Tech convergence down to the smartphone (which, by the way, is the only product whose sales are on a steep incline) will see electronics companies go to the wall for a long time to come.