RJ, I have the same problem, and have resorted to exactly the procedure you describe. It is even more than tedious if you haven't used the device for a few days, and there are 20+ updates.
After failing, then working properly for 2 days, the problem is back again. You can tell if you will have the problem when you have no updates pending. In App Store, check for updates. You should see pending updates or, if none, "all apps are up to date". If there's just a blank screen there's a problem.
I have tried this too and have been able to update most everything but the Updates tab still shows a few. So this didn't cover everything. Like other's I've also rebooted, reset, etc., etc. All to no avail. I'm looking forward to the OS update that fixes this!
I have had no app update issues at all on my iPad Mini running 6.1.3. Just updated this app a few minutes ago after the badge showed up telling me there was an update available.
You are lucky IR. this is what the my iPad2 update page shows - blank.
I see what you mean, and still don't understand why the updates are working for some but not all. If it was a software related issue, I would think this issue would occur on all iPads running iOS 6.1.3. However, this isn't the case based on both of our screenshots.
Still not working on my iPad 3. I was able to do the "Purchased" work around and get the count down to 1 from 3 but the Updates screen still shows up blank.
Sent from my iPhone 5 from a galaxy far far away (in the USA ) using Tapatalk !
Unfortunately that doesn't help & neither does rebooting.
Not as annoying now as it was before I discovered updating from the Purchased screen. But still annoying.
Good Luck
As of this morning, the AppStore updates are working for me again. I didn't do anything special. I saw in forums on the apple website that it had started working for others again so I tried mine and sure enough it was. I hope it stays this way.
I think another workaround option might be to have iTunes get updates for you on your desktop computer then do a sync with it. Might be better than hunting for all your apps that need updating in the purchased section. I did this but after my iPad starting working. It had been a very long time since I updated on my desktop and I had 451 apps needing to be updated there which took a couple of hours but now that its caught up it takes no time.