Apple Partners: iPad Pro Uptake Depends On Apps

Partners are keeping a close eye on customer demand for Apple's new monster 12.9-inch iPad Pro as it becomes available through Apple Authorized Resellers and Apple's Retail Store at an unspecified day later this week.

The tablet, which became available for purchase online Wednesday, departs from Apple's traditional iPad lineup, flaunting an amped-up 12.9-inch Retina display, a detachable separately-sold Smart Keyboard as well as an Apple Pencil stylus.

The iPad Pro could help turn around Apple's struggling tablet line, which has seen seven consecutive quarters of decline, but partners stress that the new device needs the appropriate applications to generate customer interest.

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"From the standpoint of partners who have to create solutions that work best for business customers, it comes down to whether the iPad Pro has something unique to bring," said Michael Oh, chief technology officer and founder of Boston-based TSP LLC. "Right now, [iPad Pro] tablets are just another general tablet computing device that VARs are selling based on customer preference. But as apps develop in the architecture or video editing space, in my mind those will make the iPad Pro a success."

Stephen Monteros, vice president of business development and strategic initiatives at Sigmanet, an Ontario, Calif.-based Apple partner, agreed that apps are important for the iPad Pro. "We're doing some testing on it… it was necessary for Apple to launch this product with a new form factor, and I see it as a niche-specific product," he said.

The iPad Pro touts new enterprise-targeted features, such as iOS 9's split-view screen and picture-in-picture screen viewing capabilities, as well as the $99 Apple Pencil, which Oh stressed that customers in design and architecture would be particularly interested in. The Apple Pencil can be recharged using a Lightning connector that plugs directly into the tablet and contains sensors for writing and drawing.

These productivity features are seen as critical for Apple to go head to head with Microsoft's new trademark 2-in-1, the Surface Pro 4, in the competitive tablet market.

The tablet runs on a 64-bit, third-generation A9X chip, a processor that is 1.8 times faster than Apple's A8 processor, and has a 10-hour battery life as well as Touch ID for additional privacy.

"Initially every new Apple product has done well on the outset… the true test will be over the next three to five years as people are choosing how they do their work differently," said Patrick Moorhead, president and principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, a tech analyst firm based in Austin, Texas. "I think people will be attracted to an iPad Pro and it will be big in the channel space."

According to Apple, the iPad Pro is faster than 80 percent of the portable PCs shipped in the past 12 months, and faster in graphics tasks than 90 percent of the portable PC base shipped in the past 12 months.

The iPad Pro will run from $799 for the 32-GB version up to $1,079 on the high end for the 128-GB version.