Apple Reportedly Looking to Launch ‘iPad Mini’ Priced at $249-$299 in Q3

[Drag'nGT]

These will sell so easily it won't be funny. From a gaming perspective I bet this fits in the hand very nicely.

iOS devices are the hot ticket for Apple. They need to meet the needs (price point helps) of as many customers as possible. If they gap is too large they're loosing sales and market share in the gaps.

Now let's see how much better iOS 6 is for this next year. I still say we email them a list of what's needed.

 

[lathrop4]

Education market

One target of the smaller version would have to be education. Price being a big factor for schools in tight budget times. If Apple if serious about fulfilling Jobs' desire to reshape our schools through technology (in particular e-text books) a less expense version of an iPad is a must.

 

[andyjam]

When will people realise that this is Apple TV? You take a set top box, remove the cables and add a touchscreen. You then partner with a major TV manufacturer (say, Sharp) to develop a system of built in wireless communications, and develop a small wireless device that plugs into other TVs via HDMI (ie the existing Apple TV).

You then create software that allows the TV (or the HDMI box) to take all the inputs (cable, DVD, computers, wireless media drives etc) and route them through the wireless device. This then sorts them, and presents 3-4 different devices through a single AV input and a slick GUI.

Voila! A fully integrated media hub, with a breakthrough interface and incredible simplicity. The thing would be compatible with virtually any cable company and any media input device with HDMI or RGB etc.

You also get past the barrier in terms of pricing. Customers might not be willing to send $2k a year updating their TV, but they sure as hell will spend $200-300 updating the thing that recreates their TV into an Apple media centre.

 

[macse30]

Regarding memory, why not do entry level at 8GB and then charge their big markups for more memory? Isn't that their way to increase overall product line profit?

 

[ericinboston]

Apple should simply lower the price of the iPad...the only reason to create an iPad "mini" is to offer a rendition of the iPad at a cheaper price than the iPad. Um, we already have 2 of those renditions...the iPhone for $199-$399 and the iPod Touch for the same $199-$399. Sure, they're not the same physical size as the iPad Mini but you see my point. Adding a 4th iPad-type-device is just going to cofuse people and second guess the $50-$100 price differences in all the comparison charts.

The iPods sold at lower prices as the years went on, and I believe the iPads will too. Generation 4 of the iPad should start at $399...sure, profits may dip per unit, but if Apple sells 3x or more units, overall profit increases.

I still feel the iPad is overpriced...regardless of this article/post.

 

[redmac]

I am at work and didn't have time to read all the comments. Sorry if someone else mentioned earlier.

If Apple believes iPad is their main post-PC device, they will certainly look for variation in screen sizes. They can't expect to continue dominating a huge new market forever with only one screen size. They will eventually need bigger and smaller screens, pro and cheap hardware variations.

I believe they will soon release a cheap, 7.85" iPad that will target the student market. Remember Apple's big plans for education. In order to make it widespread among schools, they will need a cheap version that schools or families can afford. If that happens, it will come around late summer before the schools start. Soon after that, probably after seeing the market's response, they may release a retina version that will go for $100 more than the standard version. That will kill the hopes of the competition and secure the market leadership for a couple of years.

 

[Menel]

iPad displays are the usual lit up ones like all regular monitors, yes?

If so, it must suck to read books from. Perhaps they should make the display turn into e-ink when you want to read a book, if it doesn't do that already.

Been under a rock? Yes, iPad has always had an IPS type LCD.

 

[macse30]

When will people realise that this is Apple TV? You take a set top box, remove the cables and add a touchscreen.

Here's the other thing you do for Apple TV. You transmit the digital audio signal playing on the TV back to the iPad remote via wifi and use it as reference for your noise cancellation digital signal processing. That filters out the TV sound that Siri would otherwise hear. You don't need to speak louder than the TV because it has already been filtered out from the mic input. Siri problem cracked...

 

[Xero910]

Or.. we can wait until next year when the iPad 2 is priced at $299

 

[bsolar]

iPad displays are the usual lit up ones like all regular monitors, yes?

If so, it must suck to read books from. Perhaps they should make the display turn into e-ink when you want to read a book, if it doesn't do that already.

Many find a lot more straining to read from the iPad (or any LCD screen for that matter) than from an e-ink display. That's nothing new, and I would be very interested in some display technology able to offer the best of both worlds but as far as I know it won't happen in the near future.

 

[coolspot18]

HYou transmit the digital audio signal playing on the TV back to the iPad remote via wifi and use it as reference for your noise cancellation digital signal processing.

Lots of latency; if it's for background noise, there's no need to transmit as the ipad/ipod or whatever has a mic on it and it can pick it up in the first place.

 

[firemedicmark]

I really hope this is true. I'd really like a smaller ipad

 

[fredf]

Apple should simply lower the price of the iPad...the only reason to create an iPad "mini" is to offer a rendition of the iPad at a cheaper price than the iPad. .

That's exactly what is wrong. This 'mini' should not simply be a lower price point iPad. There are people who want a powerful and useful full fledged tablet with iOS but at 7" and not 10".

 

[nuckinfutz]

Or.. we can wait until next year when the iPad 2 is priced at $299

Not going to happen. There is a limit to how cheap something can get. Pricing is supply and demand and the older a product gets the less supply it's use of outdate parts offers.

 

[Fandongo]

Make it a DSLR monitor.
Make it a DSLR monitor.
Make it a DSLR monitor.
Make it a DSLR monitor.
Make it a DSLR monitor.
Make it a DSLR monitor.
Make it a DSLR monitor.
Make it a DSLR monitor.
Make it a DSLR monitor.
Make it a DSLR monitor.

Fools.

 

[fertilized-egg]

Wouldn't that be a little disrespectful to Steve Jobs?
He said he didn't like 7 inch tablets... (Didnt he? Or am I imagining it? :s)

That's exactly what is wrong. This 'mini' should not simply be a lower price point iPad. There are people who want a powerful and useful full fledged tablet with iOS but at 7" and not 10".

People, people, we're looking at a 7.85" iPad which is roughly equivalent to a 8.2" Android tablet in display surface, not a 7" one.

As proven over and over again, people don't consider the aspect ratio when they see the diagonal length. If an Android tablet was said to be 8.2", it'll feel different from a 7" tablet because it starts with the number 8. This is significantly bigger than a 7" Android tablet with nearly 40% boost in the screen real estate.

 

[marksman]

dont know about you, but personally i still dont see much point in a smaller ipad.

A mini iPad makes more sense then an iPhone with a 5" screen. Keep the iPhone at 3.5" and offer a smaller iPad insted.

----------

New iPad hardware wouldn't target people who want Windows 8 tablets: iOS 6 would.

I'm pretty sure if people are going to choose Windows 8 tablets, it's because they're running Windows 8, not because they have smaller screens.

Also, loving the fact they put the picture of the iPad at two different sizes. Ace photoshopping there.

Um what? Windows sells no tablets at a larger size. Yes windows might sell tablets at a smaller size but not because of windows. Simply because an iOS option does not exist.

 

[wolfpackfan]

Dejavu ... Groundhog day ... Soap re-runs ... Why do the same Rumors keep popping up on MR?

Because there might be some truth to them?

 

[iSee]

Why do people keep saying that because the resolution would be the same as the iPad 1 it wouldn't cause fragmentation??

If you keep the same resolution and reduce the screen size, you get smaller buttons and targets, while your fingers don't get smaller.

Apple's HIG defines the minimum size of a button target based on the pixel densities of existing iOS devices, relative to the size of the average human finger.

If you take existing iPad apps and put them on a smaller screen, many button targets will fall below the minimum size.

That means that apps would have to be redesigned for this iPad mini, creating yet another transition period where developers will have to make an iPad mini version of their app.

It wouldn't be as bad as what's happening on Android, and many apps wouldn't need that much work to be optimized for the iPad mini, but it would still be fragmentation as developers will have to target yet another screen format when building their apps.

And unlike what Google would like you to believe, there's no way of "automagically" rearange interfaces depending on the screen size and resolution without sacrificing a great deal of UI design efficiency. Just look at all these ugly Android tablet apps that have a lot of wasted blank space.

Like I said, I'm skeptical and until try it myself, I'm inclined to think you're right.

But the argument goes something like this (sorry, I don't have the link, if you're interested, I think it was linked to on daringfireball.net someplace):

(NOTE: don't quote me on the specific numbers -- this is just to illustrate)
Apple HID for iOS specifies the minimum clickable area is 44x44 normal density pixels. On the original iPhone this was .27" x 27". On the current iPad it is somewhat bigger. On a 7.85" 1024x768 device, it would be .27" x .27", just like the iPhone. Therefore, iPad UI's should work well on a 1024x768 device.

To some degree I buy this: if you uniformly shrink a UI down, the user will adapt: this is a hand-held device, so the user will simply tend to hold the device closer and poke a little more precisely. (I guess this device would not be meant for the far-sighted nor those with poor dexterity.) But there are limits to how far that will work. My intuition says 9.7 --> 7.85 is too far.

 

[wolfpackfan]

i really hope this is true. I'd really like a smaller ipad

+1

 

[fertilized-egg]

A mini iPad makes more sense then an iPhone with a 5" screen. Keep the iPhone at 3.5" and offer a smaller iPad insted.

More importantly, you can use all the "real" tablet apps that are optimized for large screens instead of stretched out phone apps.

My question is the actual size of the device and how thin the bezel will be. A Kindle Fire is 7.5" x 4.7". The theoretical iPad Mini display is 6.28" × 4.71" thus if the bezel can be kept minimum, they can have something that's very similar to Kindle Fire in size, theoretically speaking. There have been rumors that LG is aggressively moving toward supplying new type of displays for that very purpose for both iPad Mini and the upcoming iPhone, so it'll be very interesting to see.

To some degree I buy this: if you uniformly shrink a UI down, the user will adapt: this is a hand-held device, so the user will simply tend to hold the device closer and poke a little more precisely. (I guess this device would not be meant for the far-sighted nor those with poor dexterity.) But there are limits to how far that will work. My intuition says 9.7 --> 7.85 is too far.

I also think it might be stretching things a bit. It does make a lot of sense that they are going to 7.85" since then the UI elements will match exactly what iPhone had before Retina. However it seems there are already elements such as Safari buttons that are placed too close to each other. I'm not sure how well they'll work when they are shrunken down. It's just not the size of the buttons but how close those buttons are.

 

[ckurt25]

Or.. we can wait until next year when the iPad 2 is priced at $299

I'd rather have a 7.85" iPad for $299 than an iPad 2 for the same price. It's about size for me and I'm sure it would be for others. Also, the market may not be too receptive to buy a 2 year old product. They want the latest and greatest.

 

[wolfpackfan]

These will sell so easily it won't be funny. From a gaming perspective I bet this fits in the hand very nicely.

iOS devices are the hot ticket for Apple. They need to meet the needs (price point helps) of as many customers as possible. If they gap is too large they're loosing sales and market share in the gaps.

Exactly. Apple needs something to really make a big splash for this Christmas. Their last two big releases - iPhone 4S and new iPad seem so boring. I have an iPad 1 and had planned on getting the new iPad but took my 1 in to do a side by side comparison and just saw no reason to do the upgrade. Yes it has the much better resolution but how good a screen do you need? But if an iPad mini is released I will be at the head of the line to buy one.

 

[Yebubbleman]

This particular post has brought out some legitimately funny jokes. I like that.

In the meantime, I could only see this happening if the iPod touch were discontinued; it's not like it isn't already an iPad mini of sorts as it stands now anyway.

 

[fertilized-egg]

Their last two big releases - iPhone 4S and new iPad seem so boring. ... Yes it has the much better resolution but how good a screen do you need?

Funny thing is, I actually thought the Retina display on iPad was one of biggest improvement I've seen from any mobile device in recent years. The screen is friggin' amazing because iPad is actually big enough to replace real print publication and it greatly improves the text legibility.