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Phil Schiller's iPad mini pitch was all wrong

Rogifan

Rogifan

macrumors Penryn
Original poster
Nov 14, 2011
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I'm still scratching my head over the way Schiller pitched this product. I think it would've been better to ignore the competition and perhaps pitch this is filling a gap in Apple's product line (iPod touch-->iPad). Focus on how thin and light it is, focus on the great build quality (the Verge said the Fire and Nexus feel like toys compared to the mini), focus on the ecosystem, focus on all the things that make iPad great. And then highlight some great apps or textbooks (rumor was this would have an education focus). To me the pitch was all wrong. And by comparing it to the 7" cheaper tablets the focus automatically shifts to price. Obviously with the $329 price tag Apple isn't looking to compete in a race to the bottom so why even mention the competition? If anything Apple should have tried to move the media focus away from the Fire and Nexus comparisons. But it's hard to do that when Schiller focuses on the Nexus in the keynote. :rolleyes:
 
Scrub175

Scrub175

macrumors 6502
Apr 25, 2012
487
13
Port St Lucie FL
I agree. Two things struck me as odd with that part of the keynote.

- Apple choosing to display a competitor model against their offering in a segment of the market they don't already have a major share. I mean it pointed out the key differences but it also showed me what apple was afraid of too. Sort of like saying oh yeah well look what we did...

- major reveals like that should be made from the face of the company not a vice president. I think this was a missed opportunity for Mr. Cook to really step up and start become the showman like CEOs of the past. Mr. Cook's energy seemed real high and very contagious but he didn't really drive the keynote with that energy. That could have been a very magical moment.
 
C

CapnJackGig

macrumors 6502a
Jul 17, 2011
572
0
He can't afford to ignore the competition because he knows they're going to point out the drastic difference in screen quality, processor speed, and price. Apple is charging 130 dollars more for a far inferior product. Apple needs to do everything it can to distract customers from that fact. When your main selling point is that your bezel is smaller, you've made a bad product.
 
Rogifan

Rogifan

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Original poster
Nov 14, 2011
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CapnJackGig said:
He can't afford to ignore the competition because he knows they're going to point out the drastic difference in screen quality, processor speed, and price. Apple is charging 130 dollars more for a far inferior product. Apple needs to do everything it can to distract customers from that fact. When your main selling point is that your bezel is smaller, you've made a bad product.
Click to expand...

Thing is its not far inferior unless you're just comparing numbers on a spec sheet. We need real reviews of the device to be able to compare not just my number is better than yours. The Verge said the mini made the Nexus and Fire feel like toys. Yet Schiller didn't focus much on build quality. He spent most of his time focusing on web browsing. WTF?
 
D

darngooddesign

macrumors P6
Jul 4, 2007
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Atlanta, GA
I disagree. I think it was important to focus on why their choice of 4:3 was superior. And remember thant he same logic applies to the full size iPad compared to the full size 16:9 competition.
 
cambookpro

cambookpro

macrumors 604
Feb 3, 2010
7,189
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I know everyone goes on about Steve and everything, but I sincerely miss his presentations. He made you want the product, even if he was pitching a pair of socks.

Tim Cook seems very boring, although I'm sure very intelligent, he's not cut out to present these things. Phil is better, cracks the odd joke, but I still didn't get the feeling this was a product he loved. It was just a product that needed selling.
 
R

Red05

macrumors newbie
Oct 23, 2012
17
0
I don't think the pitch is wrong, I just think the product is. The mini is a significant downgrade for any of us with the iPad3.
 
M

mac jones

macrumors 68040
Apr 6, 2006
3,257
2
cambookpro said:
I know everyone goes on about Steve and everything, but I sincerely miss his presentations. He made you want the product, even if he was pitching a pair of socks.

Tim Cook seems very boring, although I'm sure very intelligent, he's not cut out to present these things. Phil is better, cracks the odd joke, but I still didn't get the feeling this was a product he loved. It was just a product that needed selling.
Click to expand...

Steve is dead. Move on.

Steve was pretty boring also. It's a business. The products, on the other hand

Are not boring :D
 
cambookpro

cambookpro

macrumors 604
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mac jones said:
Steve is dead. Move on.

Steve was pretty boring also. It's a business. The products, on the other hand

Are not boring :D
Click to expand...

Steve wasn't boring :p
I mean, we all marvelled over things like buttons! That is how you angle the product, make people love it. Don't just make people hate the competition.
 
D

darngooddesign

macrumors P6
Jul 4, 2007
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Atlanta, GA
cambookpro said:
...Don't just make people hate the competition.
Click to expand...

I take it you never watched any of his keynotes. When the original iPhone came out he made it pretty clear how pathetic he thought phones with keyboards were. Schiller made us see how much better the 4:3 screen and tablet apps were compared to a 16:9 Android tablet.
 
ixodes

ixodes

macrumors 601
Jan 11, 2012
4,429
3
Pacific Coast, USA
Schiller did a very good job.

It's time to get into acceptance that Apple is changing and the "old" style has been replaced.

The new way will work every bit as good, the sales numbers prove it.

Nothing to be concerned with. :)
 
Rogifan

Rogifan

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Original poster
Nov 14, 2011
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Red05 said:
I don't think the pitch is wrong, I just think the product is. The mini is a significant downgrade for any of us with the iPad3.
Click to expand...

If you have an iPad 3 what do you need the mini for?
 
Rogifan

Rogifan

macrumors Penryn
Original poster
Nov 14, 2011
24,135
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ixodes said:
Schiller did a very good job.

It's time to get into acceptance that Apple is changing and the "old" style has been replaced.

The new way will work every bit as good, the sales numbers prove it.

Nothing to be concerned with. :)
Click to expand...

He was fine but I think he should have pitched the product differently. When he was asked about the price after the keynote he said Apple's previous cheapest iPad was $399 and now they're dropping it to $329. So pitch it that way and don't mention the cheaper Android tablets. There's a reason Microsoft's Surface RT tablet starts at $499 without the cover. They're not interested in a race to the bottom either.

----------
darngooddesign said:
Probably would prefer a smaller ipad.
Click to expand...
But a shrunken iPad 3 or iPad 4 would never meet a $329 price point.
 
N

Noisemaker

Guest
Mar 13, 2009
498
0
CapnJackGig said:
He can't afford to ignore the competition because he knows they're going to point out the drastic difference in screen quality, processor speed, and price. Apple is charging 130 dollars more for a far inferior product. Apple needs to do everything it can to distract customers from that fact. When your main selling point is that your bezel is smaller, you've made a bad product.
Click to expand...

How is it inferior? Better materials, better build quality, better design, better cameras, and better compatibility.
As for the whole "ERMAHGERD IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN RETINA!!!" argument, it's bollocks. Retina, in that size and at that price point, is ridiculous to expect.
 
H

h00ligan

macrumors 68040
Apr 10, 2003
3,028
136
London
Apparently I'm not joined en masse in my assertion that watching this media event was equivalent to watching a train wreck in slow motion. The ipad pitch was not only bad.....it was flat out spinster.

The rest of it...well...this is the first time I've truly noticed the absence of the jobs reality distortion field. If any product day needed it..today was that day
 
DougFNJ

DougFNJ

macrumors 65816
Jan 22, 2008
1,449
1,133
NJ
mac jones said:
Steve is dead. Move on.

Steve was pretty boring also. It's a business. The products, on the other hand

Are not boring :D
Click to expand...

It's a year and only 2 keynotes removed. Comparisons will be made, people care....you move on.

Can you please name a CEO who matches his legacy? What other CEO got the kind of attention Steve Jobs commanded? Who else has created the amount of buzz about his products, keynotes, events....his biography book, and at this point 2 movies currently being made about his life? Boring? Really?
 
J

jedivulcan

macrumors 6502
May 15, 2007
424
60
Scrub175 said:
I agree. Two things struck me as odd with that part of the keynote.

- Apple choosing to display a competitor model against their offering in a segment of the market they don't already have a major share. I mean it pointed out the key differences but it also showed me what apple was afraid of too. Sort of like saying oh yeah well look what we did...

- major reveals like that should be made from the face of the company not a vice president. I think this was a missed opportunity for Mr. Cook to really step up and start become the showman like CEOs of the past. Mr. Cook's energy seemed real high and very contagious but he didn't really drive the keynote with that energy. That could have been a very magical moment.
Click to expand...

I got the feeling that Phil Schiller is the Dick Cheney of Apple.
 
M

mzd

macrumors 6502a
Jul 25, 2005
951
41
Wisconsin
Scrub175 said:
...

- major reveals like that should be made from the face of the company not a vice president. I think this was a missed opportunity for Mr. Cook to really step up and start become the showman like CEOs of the past. Mr. Cook's energy seemed real high and very contagious but he didn't really drive the keynote with that energy. That could have been a very magical moment.
Click to expand...

sorry, but tim has no charisma. he is uninspiring to listen to and, quite frankly, boring. don't get me wrong, he seems like a very nice, smart guy and someone who would be great to work for, but he just doesn't have that sense of the grandiose needed for an Apple keynote.
"i would encourage you to get it, it's really fantastic..." i mean, come on, no passion, no fire.
plus he often refers to us simply as "customers" - he isn't talking to us directly but rather to a very impersonal business/customer type relationship. he is just too soft spoken.
 
D

darngooddesign

macrumors P6
Jul 4, 2007
17,985
9,555
Atlanta, GA
I like Tim Cook. He strikes me as someone who genuinely loves his company but is a little awkward with publicly speaking. All it will take is a little practice. Some of the really early Steve Jobs keynotes and speeches have a similar awkward but ernest feel.
 
craftytony

craftytony

macrumors regular
Oct 3, 2012
226
0
Sycamore, IL
I loved that he pointed out the flaws of another product. He showed how their screen sizes are so much smaller after you remove the navigation and title bars on the android tablet. He stated how Apple doesn't use the cheap plastic materials like the opposition. I think Apple may too often take the high road, it's nice to see them throwing some jabs :)
 
Hammie

Hammie

macrumors 68000
Mar 17, 2009
1,549
72
Wash, DC Metro
Noisemaker said:
... Retina, in that size and at that price point, is ridiculous to expect.
Click to expand...

I don't totally agree. For a company moving towards the retina display marketing path, I would have thought a retina display would have been in the mini. However, a smaller screen with the same resolution offers more pixels per inch (ppi). The iPad 2 with its 1024x768 screen at 9.7" is ~132ppi. The iPad mini with the same resolution but on a 7.9" screen offers ~162ppi. Not a huge difference, but it should offer a better "picture" than the iPad 2.

I guess they needed something to upgrade to next year. I predict the next iPad mini will have a Retina Display with a resolution around 1536x1152.
 
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