Apple Removes Original iPad Mini From Apple Online Store

[MacRumors]

Apple has quietly pulled the original iPad mini from the Apple Online Store this week and removed other references of the tablet from its website, as noted by 9to5Mac. The nearly three-year-old iPad mini was announced in October 2012 as a smaller 7.9-inch version of the iPad, but the tablet has since been succeeded by the iPad mini 2 and iPad mini 3, the latter featuring a Retina display, Touch ID and 64-bit A7 processor.

Apple dropped the price of the first-gen A5-based iPad mini to $299 in October 2013 and further discounted the tablet to $249 in October 2014, but the device was a hard sell given the iPad mini 2 starts at $299 with newer features. The original iPad mini remains available in the refurbished section of the Apple Online Store for between $209 and $409 depending on the specific model and storage capacity.

The original iPad mini remains available in limited quantities through authorized third-party resellers such as Amazon, although likely only until leftover stock is depleted. Apple's remaining tablet lineup for sale includes the iPad Air 2, iPad Air, iPad mini 3 and iPad mini 2, and the company is widely rumored to introduce a larger 12.9-inch "iPad Pro" targeted at professional users later this year.

Article Link: Apple Removes Original iPad Mini From Apple Online Store

 

[jmh600cbr]

it was a sad attempt to sell overstock. they will wholesale them as they should have over year ago.

 

[PowerBook-G5]

It's about time. They need to clear out the iPad Mini 2 as well, seeing as it is basically the same thing as the Mini 3, but without Touch ID and a gold color option.

 

[Andres Cantu]

I wonder why they waited until today to drop it and not in October to be replaced by newer iPads. The iPod touch is still being sold, so it can't be for the same reason.

 

[FSMBP]

They should have removed it when they took away the iPad 2. It is basically the same device (except it has a better microphone for Siri).

 

[hanser]

They should have removed it when they took away the iPad 2. It is basically the same device (except it has a better microphone for Siri).

and a better camera

 

[profets]

You know it was around too long when it ran slow out of the box with iOS 8. Same with the iPod touch.

 

[Joe Rossignol]

I wonder why they waited until today to drop it and not in October to be replaced by newer iPads. The iPod touch is still being sold, so it can't be for the same reason.

There would be no other iPod touch though. There are several newer iPads.

 

[The Mercurian]

It's about time. They need to clear out the iPad Mini 2 as well, seeing as it is basically the same thing as the Mini 3, but without Touch ID and a gold color option.

Are you nuts ? Have you seen the price differential between the mini2 and mini3 without only the TouchID different. Scrap the mini3 if you ask me and keep the mini2. In fact my mum bought a mini2 last week because why would you pay over €100 extra simply for a touch ID. Passcodes work fine.

 

[CIA]

Education market. Pretty much the only reason it was still around.

 

[oneMadRssn]

I think they should make a 4GB version of this without the camera on the back, and sell it for $100 to enterprise. For use in point of sale systems, restaurant menus, showcases, and other such single-app uses. For those simple apps, where all resources can be dedicated to that one app and no multitasking, it is plenty fast enough, 16GB is overkill.

 

[Andres Cantu]

It's about time. They need to clear out the iPad Mini 2 as well, seeing as it is basically the same thing as the Mini 3, but without Touch ID and a gold color option.

They can't clear out the iPad Mini 2 because then they would have to sell the iPad Mini 3 for $299, so they would lose out on the $100 for the people that are willing to pay extra for Touch ID.

 

[n-cholas]

My 1st gen mini has been no better than a drink coaster since the release of iOS 8, when it became an unusably slow, only one year after purchase!

 

[TMRJIJ]

Yep . . (Sips Tea from coffee mug) . . About time.
Guess it won't support iOS 10 either.

 

[kmj2318]

A5 is finally gone

 

[0815]

Education market. Pretty much the only reason it was still around.

My sons high school is giving iPad Air's to all the freshmen (they give since years always the latest available model to the freshmen). Guess they know if they would give a model that is already several years old it might be problematic once they are seniors, since it is theirs to keep and has to last until the end of high school. Giving an old one might seem like saving money, but in the long run it is more expensive.

 

[nostaws]

Education market. Pretty much the only reason it was still around.

A year or so ago A school I worked at said they were getting me a new iPad. I said great. The third gen iPad was out and maybe even fourth. They gave me the version two (new in a generic/bulk cardboard box). No retina display for me. Lol

 

[syndalis]

This is a good start, but their next step needs to be removing the iPad 2nd and 3rd generation devices from the upgrade cycle, including the original iPad Mini.

Their continued presence in iOS9 is making it really hard for developers to properly gate their apps based on capabilities.

 

[Andres Cantu]

There would be no other iPod touch though. There are several newer iPads.

Yeah, I'm guessing they didn't want any more people buying the iPad Mini because they know it won't be able to run iOS 10, so they wouldn't want customers who would have potentially bought one in October (right before it would have been discontinued) to be upset about less than a year of support. It's funny though, because it doesn't seem like they think the same way about iPod touch users, as they'll probably continue selling this generation until next May and discontinue support for it right away, just like the previous generation.

 

[PowerBook-G5]

Yep . . (Sips Tea from coffee mug) . . About time.
Guess it won't support iOS 10 either.

My thought is that with iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan, Apple is trying to make "Snow Leopard-like" releases for devices at the lower-end of their product ranges before they get dropped from iOS 10/OS X 10.12.

 

[i5pro]

So, what's left with an A5, the apple tv......fantastic. Perhaps, now they can put "extra" A7/8s into a new Apple TV that supports 4k+

 

[c0ppo]

Apple has destroyed iPad Mini 1st gen with updates. I use mine for some serious stuff like fighting off flies, beer coaster and my favorite - support stand for my rMBP. Gj Apple.

 

[mdridwan47]

How come iPad Mini 2 and iPad mini 3 still exist together? $100 bump just for touch ID. That's a massive rip-off to your customer.

 

[0815]

Are you nuts ? Have you seen the price differential between the mini2 and mini3 without only the TouchID different. Scrap the mini3 if you ask me and keep the mini2. In fact my mum bought a mini2 last week because why would you pay over €100 extra simply for a touch ID. Passcodes work fine.

Everyone is different - for me touch ID is worth the extra money.

I have the iPhone 6+ with touch ID and I use it for everything, so many apps are supporting it now to login/authenticate. For websites that don't have a corresponding app, I have 1password app (which supports touchID) to quickly copy my super long random passwords. I recently swapped phones with a friend (who wanted to try out the 6+) and I had to use a 5c without touchID. Boy did I miss that touchID, I had no idea how much I depend in the mean time on it and how much easer it makes my live. Again, this is not about logging into the phone (pin code is fine for that), but it is about all the apps that support it (and webpages in combination with 1password) so I no longer have to remember my long random passwords that are a pain to type on the mobile keyboard with all the special characters.

 

[Narcaz]

A5 is finally gone

Sadly it is still being used in the iPod Touch and the Apple TV 3.

This is a good start, but their next step needs to be removing the iPad 2nd and 3rd generation devices from the upgrade cycle, including the original iPad Mini.

Their continued presence in iOS9 is making it really hard for developers to properly gate their apps based on capabilities.

It looks like a shortsighted profit oriented decision to sell outdated devices for such a long time. I don't know how this will work out for future iOS versions. They will get iOS9. But after that? A5 iPads/iPhones/iPods have a huge marketshare that can't be easily cut off.