Why is there no airdrop for iPad 3??

Yes, insult people here who are trying to help. That always works well.

You can throw around all the technical jargon, whether it's true or invented, and it doesn't change the fact that it doesn't work on the iPad 3. We here are not Apple employees, we do not know what choices were made, and there are substantial differences in everything from chipsets to design between iPad 3 and 4.

This place is not meant to be a location for ranting and whining. Go to

http://www.apple.com/feedback/

You can register your complaint, and I'm sure it will be read with all of the care it so deserves. Oh, and go with the nasty ad hominems. I'm sure that will convince them.

My guess is that Apple ran into some minor asymmetry and used it as an excuse to not support the Airdrop feature despite the fact the workaround would have been trivial. I don't consider pointing that out as whining. We are talking about a pretty serious breach of trust here with Apple's customer base if its true, and they should come clean and provide the feature in the next drop of the iOS. Otherwise, Apple is bullying their customer base into a position of buying new hardware. That is deplorable and definitely something they should be called on at the very least. If chip companies did something like that (say Intel), thereby requiring OS guys to basically suffer backward incompatibilities at the drop of a hat, they would go out of business in no time. Naked greed is not something that Apple should condone as a company value and it's customer base should call them on it when its pretty obvious like this.

OrangeMarlin do you think the feedback forumn is read by Apple because I do think this issue deserve a complaint be filed? Something isn't right, especially with respect to the iPad 3 not supporting this feature.

Apple dump old tech often and they adopt new technology just as quickly.

No floppy drive on my ipad, is this a bad thing?

P.s. There is no such thing as an iPad 3!

I call it the iPad 3; you can call it the “new” iPad if you still want, but that’s kind of weird given there is a newer iPad. What I think happened—and this is just speculation--is that there is a hardware bug with the wi-fi chip that prevents reliable ad-hoc network from being established, a necessary feature for AirDrop. If you do a quick search on ad-hoc networks and the iPad 3, you’ll find hundreds of messages complaining of problems with it. By the time the hardware was fixed—assuming it has been—there were too many older iPads shipped that cannot use it, so they do not support AirDrop on the iPad 3 since otherwise it could expose the hardware bug, via AirDrop, in potentially millions of units (fortunately most people never use ad-hoc networks otherwise).

I feel the same way. I was very disappointed with the announce of the iPad 4 when it came out just over half a year after the 3, which I had purchased. I didn't have an iPhone at the time and just got my 5 when the price dropped at Verizon. Now, this feature, which is perfect for me because I prefer editing photos on my iPad than phone, isn't available. This means that I need to either hotspot it (iPad) and use data to transfer it to dropbox or photostream when it could just be an AirDrop tansfer over bluetooth.

This coupled with the fact that I need to have two different chargers on my wall/desk/bag is very annoying.

Oh did you found the user's comment offensive? I tell you what why don't we all go at the same time to request this feature on the iPad 3?

You're going to the extreme. iPad 3 was barely 7 months when the iPad 4 came out. Floppy disks are at least 20 years old.

Oh and instead of Apple making a recall of iPads or at least made aware, they just asked users to buy a newer iPad.

I honestly do not remember Apple ever promising to have Airdrop for iPad 3rd gen nor the iPad 4th gen when those devices came out, let alone ever once said anything about Airdrop until just recently, well when iOS 7 was announced. I also do not remember Apple calling me and telling me I need to purchase a 4th gen iPad in order to have this feature. There is some sort of difference in the hardware between the 3rd and 4th gen iPads, be it implementation of Bluetooth 4.0 or even the chipset in the device. There were some pretty big changes in the 4th gen iPad, e.g. The newer A6x vs the A5X, upgraded WiFi and Bluetooth antennae, and I believe an update on the RAM also. So something in there could be what has caused AirDrop to not be a feature of the 3rd gen, or maybe Apple plans on turning it for 3rd gen owners as soon as they work out the kinks with our hardware set?!? There really is a lot of work that goes in to making software of this magnitude, and sometimes the older hardware isn't compatible for whatever reason, or it isn't as efficient as Apple would like.

But before we all complain about a missing feature we should stop to consider why it was left out, and ask if we could have designed it better than Apple did, and if that is the case, why aren't we working for Apple instead of being consumers of their products?

I for one do not work for Apple, nor am I affiliated with them in anyway, but if you can do it better, get hired by them, or create a better product. Or since we are consumers, flip to Android, or Windows phone if you don't like what Apple offers, you may find something on the other side that you like better. It's a great thing to have choices, don't you think?

Now I was a little sad to think I can't test Airdrop, but what do I know about Apples thinking for certain features, and just moved on.

My iPhone 4S supports ad-hoc networking, but Apple did not provide AirDrop on my 4S.

Any Apple supporters want to answer this.

Gail from Main.... No need to answer with "no help" sarcasm (I know you will)

@Orangemartin - it is simply not true that this is a hardware limitation! The Phototransfer app has enabled direct, Bluetooth only, photo transfer for ages, as well as wifi based, on older generations of iPhone and ipad. And it works just fine with iOS 7 - I was doing that only moments ago!

It is purely down to Apple consciously "slugging" what the device allows you to do in the software they put in it. They have chosen, for commercial reasons, ie to get the technically ill informed to buy an expensive new device on the claim that it does something "new". What it does is not new, has been in other non Apple devices for years, and can be done, better, in older iOS devices with an app.

Apple are about making money from fashion driven buyers.

Connectivity is substantially different. Both lines support Bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, but the iPad 4th Gen models support dual band/dual stream 802.11n on both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequencies.

The chip set really is different. It is not a bug or an attempt to punish 3rd generation owners. The dual band/dual stream capability is what allows Airdrop to move files back and forth quickly. The 3rd generation model can't create a connection that is any faster than what you can do on iMessage regardless of whether you use Airdrop or a 3rd party app. So you aren't missing anything that would be useful and there is no reason Apple should have dumbed down iOS 7 so that the system worked just as well for older generation users. Would Samsung do that?

I own Apple and Android devices and I promise you the Apple walled garden handles new hardware and backward compatability much more elegantly. Sometimes on Android NEW systems stop supporting things that worked on old systems.

The conspiracy theories and personal afronts are childish. Just do some research. Even your 3rd generation iPad reaches Google search.

If there is a will, there is a way.

No offense, Wally, but I don't Apple had a good justification to completely drop the AirDrop feature in the iPad 3 or iPhone 4S. You talk about speed, but I think most people would rather a slow transfer than no option at all. So it is true that they may have not been able to implement AirDrop exactly same speed as in other models, but they could have done something.

I am shocked at the level of flagrant negativity in these forums, like this thread for example. People act like the feature missing is the end of the world OR they stick up for Apple as if anyone who complains of the feature lacking is somehow being a traitor and deserves to be insulted. Neither is appropriate nor helpful.

I love Apple because they are good at making products that are not only technically top class but also put it all together elegantly in a way that no other company can or does, but Apple is not perfect because they are run by humans, not a supernatural force beyond human shortcomings. Further Apple stands to benefit from negative feedback, and this forum is part of that process. For that reason people so passionate about the products that they take time to write some complaint or question shouldn't feel attacked here. On the contrary, these are the exact peope that Apple should listen to becaue they are taking their time to give valuable feedback, be that negative or otherwise.