Apple’s Highly Anticipated iPad Pro Has Launched with a Peculiar Ad Strategy

Apple has debuted its first ad for the iPad Pro, offering users the universe if they decide to shell out the cash for the new device.

The ad, called “Great Big Universe,” certainly offers some pretty impressive imagery, basically targeting the new device at astronomers. Or at least aspiring astronomers who don’t have an actual telescope to use.

At the start of the video we’re shown a series of beautiful space images. How are these images being viewed? Through the iPad Pro, of course. The user of the iPad is then shown tilting the device down from the space-viewing area that they were already in and we’re then shown that user drawing some assumingly complicated equations, but not before Apple slips in a look at the new split-screen feature.

The ad itself is accompanied by a description by Apple on YouTube, who says that the new ultra-large iPad “takes your creativity and productivity to an epic scale.” As epic as space? Well, that remains to be seen. It certainly depends what your definition of epic is.

Of course, there’s little argument against the fact that the new ad really is blowing everything out of proportion. The iPad Pro really isn’t more than a large tablet. Sure, the Apple Pencil and the keyboard are nice, but they hardly catapult the new device into the heights of space. The ad is visually stunning, but is unlikely to really sell the new device on an “epic” scale.

What will sell the new device, however, is seeing the device being used in real life. Apple’s products are known as being able to sell themselves. They generally have a beautiful design, and run very smoothly, and this is what will cause people to want to buy the new iPad. The first time someone sees the iPad Pro, their reaction will either be that they want it, or that it’s a little too big for them, or they will be reaffirmed in their hate for tablets in general.

What is essentially another ad for the iPad Pro has been uploaded to the Adobe Creative Cloud YouTube channel. This is much closer to what those interested in the iPad Pro will want to see – it shows the iPad Pro being used by people. Specifically, it shows people interested in graphic design using the iPad Pro and using the Apple Pencil with the iPad Pro. This ad also highlights the fact that Adobe is releasing versions of its Creative Cloud software for use on the iPad Pro, making it even more interesting for graphic designers.

While there is plenty of skepticism surrounding the iPad Pro, experts suggest that it could help kick start Apple’s beginning-to-nosedive tablet business. Of course, that’s not something that’s unique to Apple – tablets have been on the fall for around a year now, with market leaders Samsung and Apple both experiencing falls of between 17% and 20% for their shipments. One of the main issues with the tablet market is that smartphones are getting bigger, meaning that users aren’t finding as much use for tablets that are only slightly larger than their phones. Not only that, but users generally hold onto their tablets a lot longer than their smartphones, meaning that the market is a lot slower-paced than the smartphone market, with users upgrading every two years on general.

With tablets being only a little larger than phablet-sized smartphones like the iPhone 6s Plus, larger tablets like the iPad Pro might be the key to revitalizing the tablet industry. Not only that, but these larger tablets are generally billed as being a replacement for laptops, with the line being blurred between what a tablet and what a laptop can do.

In fact, the line is becoming so blurred that it can be hard to tell what constitutes a laptop and what constitutes a tablet. For example, a 2-in-1 is what the name suggests – both. It can be used as a laptop, with a hardware keyboard, and the display can be detached from the keyboard, turning the device into a tablet. The iPad Pro is the closest that Apple has come to releasing a 2-in-1, enabling users to purchase a keyboard cover along with the device.

The iPad Pro ad can be seen below. It’s certainly an interesting video, but if you’ve already decided against the iPad Pro, it probably won’t change your mind.