What's the point again? Ok, it's bigger but if there is any advantage of a 7 inch tablet it is the form factor (being small and light). So if Apple won't/can't adress the problems mentioned above the only reason I see anyone buying the iPad mini would the the eco-system. A huge plus, no question, but enough?
When people ask me why i buy a mac i usuallly answer "because of the magsafe adapter".
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/07/divine-intervention-g...
There is no more lag in Android 4.1, which adds triple buffering and runs at a constant 60 fps.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/12/06/27/project_butter...
I think the price point will play a big role too. $200 is hard to beat and Apple will have to decide whether they want to continue serving the high end with more expensive products and big margins, or whether they want to keep their platform mainstream for years to come. For that they need more market share which the Kindle, Nook and now the Nexus are aggressively attacking on the low end.
I am the inverse - I've 'bought in to' the Android eco-system so much so that to set up an iOS device with all the apps/features I love on Android would set me back a fair whack - plus I know what works for me - I'd have to research the best apps etc. for iOS - and I'm just too lazy now.
A plethora of already existing quality apps (iff the stupid rumors that it has a 1024x768 screen is true).
(I personally don't believe in this rumors one bit. Apple releasing an iPad mini is the most stupid move I can imagine. Just sell iPad 4 for 100-150 dollars less and you're still the king and will sell 100 million of them in 2013)
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't believe that Apple is going to release a product that is inferior in some main aspects (eg screen resolution) and trying to compete on price.
I have an iPad 2 and absolutely love it. There isn't another tablet I'd trade it in for (other than an iPad 3). I surely wouldn't trade it in for an iPad mini.
Paul Buchheit once said: "If your product is great, it doesn't need to be good."
To me, the iPad is a great product. Focus on making it better.
As Steve Jobs has said: "It's what you don't do that matters most." (Paraphrased.)
eBook reading is definitely one thing it is not especially good at in many cases. For the past 2 years I've been reading ebooks, and for the past 6 months I've been using an iPad for reading ebooks, and I've found it just too cumbersome in many cases -- you essentially need 2 hands to hold it, the screen size is unnecessarily large for 99% of books I read, and it's almost too large for using on-the-go.
(Regardless of whether you read electronic books, the simple fact is that very many people prefer ebooks to physical books, myself included, and have many very reasonable reasons why. There are also many reasons why it would seem that reading eBooks is one very reasonable use for the iPad.)
What about the alternatives?
The iPhone screen I find too small for many books (ie. if they have diagrams/pictures/graphs especially).
The Kindle (and other eInk eBook readers) I've found to be a pain to navigate to take notes/highlights on and are poor at displaying diagrams/pictures/graphs.
So from my experiences, I think a 7-8 inch one could be the sweet spot as long as:
1. I can use it with one hand (e.g. it's not too large or heavy).
2. Can be used to easily take notes and highlight.
3. Performs great (can flip pages quickly). (The Kindle Fire is excluded because of this point)
If you're reading literature, yes. But for full size pdf docs, you generally want more than 7". (I've heard people claim they regularly read A4 documents on 7", but never seen it...)
Also, my iPad 1 IPS screen blew me away. My new iPad screen is much better.
(I'd prefer an eInk A4 screen, when they get better page turns.)
Obviously an iPod was amazing, but they captured a huge chunk of the market when they came out with the lesser Nano.
I think tablets are hitting the phase where it is less about the features and more about true mass market adoption. The key to this is grabbing the huge chunk of the more price sensitive buyers - who appear to be quickly running to the Nexus 7.
Apple and Google are fighting to make money on the backend from each tablet sold. Content distribution tax will likely propel one or both of them to new heights in revenue.
Why haven't we seen an iPhone Nano yet? Do you think we will? If so, why?
>I think tablets are hitting the phase where it is less about the features and more about true mass market adoption. The key to this is grabbing the huge chunk of the more price sensitive buyers - who appear to be quickly running to the Nexus 7.
Hm, you may be right about that. But my question then is what will the iPad Mini not have that the iPad does have, other than a smaller screen and less storage space?
Not based on what we're seeing from Apple so far. Right now Apple make the vast majority of their money from hardware, relatively little from content. Google may have a different model (they're certainly not making anything if much from the Nexus 7 hardware) but the competition in the content market at the moment means that there's not a huge profit to be made there.
Citation please? Has it even started shipping yet? Google is still talking orders, right?
Kids. The regular iPad is not only too large for them it is too expensive too. The apps are very good, the price and insurance on it are not. Face it, kids will break things. Some will say, don't let them play with it. Well to them I ask, then what is the point?
I have the iPad2, Kindle Fire, and a Kindle Touch. The Touch really spoils you on weight. Can't wait for the day a fully functional table appears at that size and weight. Fully functional means the screen works inside or outside.
The iPhone is small enough to use every day, but it compromises in its smallness. The iPad is great- probably the best web browsing experience anywhere, and with apps like Flipboard and iBooks, etc, I just love it.
But the iPad is too big. I use it a lot less because it is too cumbersome.
An iPad mini might give me the greatness of the iPad in a smaller package. I don't know if it will be small enough to go with me all the time or not.
I can say one thing for certain: If it is under $400, I will buy one, no question.
Why and how is it cumbersome for you?
I agree that reading a book on it isn't the best experience. But I personally just don't read many books anymore. I'm very selective as to the books I read now, as oppose to even 3 - 5 years earlier. And the ones I choose to read, I still prefer them in a physical copy. And I think, generally, people will continue reading (and buying) less books going forward, so trying to create an ebook reader would be a mistake.
>I don't know if it will be small enough to go with me all the time or not.
For me, the thing that'll always go with me (in addition to an iPhone) is a MacBook Air.
>I can say one thing for certain: If it is under $400, I will buy one, no question.
But will you buy a second and third one at some point? Or will you mostly be buying it for novelty reasons? I just don't see an iPad mini being a hit product that generates repeat customers.
[1] http://senseg.com/technology/senseg-technology [2] http://tech-reviews.co.uk/news/apple-ipad-3-could-feature-ha...
Unfortunately, I think you need to think about this from a manufacturing standpoint. They are unlikely to put a new tech like that in a product that needs to be price competitive at the lower end of their product line. They need things that have been clearly demonstrated to be easily mass produced in sufficient quantity. Therefore, I think it's more likely to be something "safe" like a new physical design, software they completely control, colors, or perhaps a new display that someone else is already using in larger quantities.
They have actually been fairly predictable with this stuff in the past: iPhone serves as the testbed for new tech. The small form factor means you need less of the really expensive materials and the US carrier subsidy prevents the initial price from being eye-popping. Once they get the manufacturing kinks worked out and the volume up, the tech can trickle down (over? up?) to the iPad and Mac lines.
They did it before with the iPod, from $99, add $50 for more storage, add $50 for a different form factor, and so on, for every price point between $100 and $400.
Right now, the iPod touch is at $200, the iPad at 400, and 500-800. Phones are 400-700 w/o subsidies. Pushing the iPad down into the $200 range fills out that array of devices so that there's something for everyone who has a little bit of money to spend.
I hope Apple releases a headless iOS box (some kind of AppleTV descendant?) at some point so that arbitrary touch surfaces can be powered by iOS. (I doubt Apple will release a software only iOS to compete with Windows, so this is the best I can reasonably hope for).
1. iPhone/iPod 640×960 at 326ppi
2. iPad dimensions 1024x768 at 132PPI
3. Retina iPad 2048×1536 at 264PPI
4. iPad mini at 1024x768, but smaller pixels and yet expected same physical size controls, so interface has to be redone again specific for this one.
5. Whatever is after that.
That's a lot of design variations and things to support for one program that for most developers is going to sell for between 99 cents and $2.99.
There is no expectation that controls will be the same physical size on the rumored iPad mini; what happens is that scaled down they already have the same hit area as an iPhone, so you don't need separate graphics for it.
It all fits beautifully, and one has to wonder if this was all planned from the start or just luck + sensible decisions.
So, you still have two layouts: iPhone/iPod and iPad. You have four graphics resolutions: two for each.
Of course, as he said, we'll have to see how this plays out in reality. Maybe a smaller iPad will turn out to suck, and developers who want their apps to be usable on the thing will have to redesign them. It's hard to say without actually testing apps at that size.
Nothing stopping you doing your graphics at a higher resolution and working in that then scalling down.
Also the harder it gets then the less competition, which for you a developer has to be good if people are put of by having to design/do work.
Also, the rumor (according to Gruber again) is that the next iPhone will get longer, so newer iPhones will have more pixels in one dimension, so you'll need to make your portrait layout grow taller and your landscape layout grow wider.
You want to make normal and 2X graphics of course, but for all of them this just means making 2X graphics and downsizing for a normal version as well.
The iPad mini will use a screen with the dimensions of the original iPad and the touch targets will be of sufficient size (people did the math on this months ago, it works out fine.... the touch targets are closer to the iPhone size but plenty big.)
Reminds me of the "Android is fragmented" cliche.
iOS has two screen sizes, with a third rumored. Apps on that second size are usually designed differently anyway, to take advantage of the larger screen on the iPad.
Such fragmentation! And this is over how many years?
Android fragmentation is a cliche because it's true.
I have a friend who says he won't buy a tablet until they come out in full A4 size. I think he'll be waiting for years to come, and if one does come out it'll be from a company that made a tablet that size because it's a good size for paper, not because it's a good size for a tablet computer. I don't think that company will be Apple.
This brings us to an aspect ratio of sqrt(2) with a 14.4" screen. Not going to happen anytime soon, sadly.
It doesn't matter what the resolution screen your finger touches that size is always the same. So Apple defined that no touch interaction should be less than 44x44 points. And then points map to pixels in different ratios depending on dpi etc.
Jobs was saying that on a smaller screen you either have a smaller number of touchable areas or you get small fingers and reduce the 44x44 points number.
I really don't get all of the comments applauding (or rather, excusing) the idea that we just keep developing iOS apps to support iPhone vs iPad resolution, when there are a myriad of devices that operate at different resolutions. It feels lazy and it feels like an easy excuse of out not having a different UI mindset from the get-go.
