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Apple to Ramp Up 7.85″ iPad Mini Production in September?
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I think Apple can walk and chew gum at the same time. The iPod line is dying down. How is a smaller iPad any different than the iPod Nano or Shuffle?
I'd love to see Apple release a smaller iPad before the Windows RT tablets ship. That would be sweet.
iPhone 5... No, display's too big.
iPad Mini... Heck Yes! Perfect companion to my iPads 2 & 3.
It might compete on price... but not on application. You wouldn't buy an iPod Touch instead of an iPad Mini. They are for two different things.
But guess what... if you buy either of them... Apple still gets paid. At that point Apple shouldn't really care.
I don't know what to think of the iPod Touch, honestly.
Last quarter Apple sold 26 million iPhones and 17 million iPads.
But only 4 million iPod Touches.
The iPod Touch is great for what it is... but it's not good for e-books or textbooks... not a good magazine reader... not a good movie player. These are all things tablets excel at.
I'm afraid the iPod Touch is moving into niche territory. Apple will still sell the iPod Touch... but Apple sold 4 times as many other mobile devices.
A good leader is someone who puts together a great team. He doesn't necessarily have to come up with everything himself.
Steve did have great vision and impeccable taste. Those are cornerstones of Apple's success.
We know Steve liked to say "NO" a lot... so if these other guys came up with a bad idea... he squashed it. That's an important part right there.
On another note... if a company goes bad you tend to blame the guy in charge.
So when a company does good... why wouldn't you give credit to the guy in charge?
Steve Jobs was a free thinker. He was strong know enough to contradict when he didn't agree. He was also strong enough to accept someone else's ideas.
Wouldn't it be pathetic if his "sons" (his fans and Apple colleagues) were too weak to follow him blindly. It would mean they didn't learn anything from him.
That's just pathetic. A free thinker has blind followers!
So sorry, man. Left my ruler back at school. Several years ago. I think you received my point despite my lack of precise measurement.
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Apple can do better than $200 for a 7 inch tablet? Apple doesn't go after the low market. I know we all wish for our own wallets that Apple will make a $200 tablet but it's just not gonna happen. Apple makes at least a 30% profit of of hardware, and it's always beautifully well-designed hardware at that. They even said when making the Air that they couldn't put out a subpar product just for the sake of price. I think everyone is setting themselves up for disappointment if they put out a 7.85 inch tablet for higher than $200. But we are on macrumors after all.
I never suggested it would cost $200. I suggested that if Apple got the price point down it would be able to compete with a $200 tablet (the nexus 7, kindle fire, etc). I don't expect it to be that low.
I'd say $275 at the lowest, only one configuration, no cellular. The current iPad becomes the "pro" version since you can buy a model with more storage and/or 3G, 4G service.
I prefer my iPad, but I did get a nexus 7, and it is a great buy, and a great way to experiment with Android contract free. Apple can kill the nexus market if they get their ducks in a row.
I would not be surprised if the price of the touch gets dropped. In fact I think that may be the only logical solution.
Yeah, that's roughly my take on it too. Steve was an excellent editor. The rest of the team created a wild diversity of ideas and Steve whittled them down to something crisp and marketable. It remains to be seen if Tim has this gift.
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Another term for "USELESS"
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Im sure Steve Jobs would have disagreed with this idea......
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Im sure Steve Jobs would have disagreed with this idea......
Agreed. Is this an iPad mini or an iPod touch jumbo? I'm sure someone will want it though.
I have no problem giving credit to Steve, I have a problem giving him all the credit which is what a lot of people do. You say Steve squashed bad ideas. Well isn't it possible that he, himself had bad ideas too sometimes? At the Company tribute to Steve Jony Ive joked that Steve had some "dopey ideas" and that some of them were "truly dreadful". Of course we never hear about those things. We don't hear that the design of the original iMac basically existed before Steve came back (there's obviously a reason he didn't fire the ID team and bring in his own designers). No we head that Steve commanded someone to go build the iMac. Just like the G4 iMac - the press reports at the time were that Steve commanded Jony Ive to his garden and told him it needed to look like a sunflower. Yet if you read Walter Isaacson's book Steve's wife paints a different picture and claims it was Ive who came up with that idea.
I have no doubt that Apple wouldn't be where it is today without Steve. I don't doubt that Steve was the driving force behind making Apple the premier company in terms of great products, design, marketing, brand, etc. (how many companies have designers reporting directly to the CEO?). But I think at times he gets more credit than he deserves. He wasn't a designer, he wasn't an engineer yet quite often the way he's worshiped you'd think he designed and engineered this stuff himself. And how often have we heard stories about him ripping an idea to shreds only to claim it as his own later on. The whole Steve would/wouldn't have done xxx is getting quite ridiculous.
It might compete on price... but not on application. You wouldn't buy an iPod Touch instead of an iPad Mini. They are for two different things.
But guess what... if you buy either of them... Apple still gets paid. At that point Apple shouldn't really care.
I don't know what to think of the iPod Touch, honestly.
Last quarter Apple sold 26 million iPhones and 17 million iPads.
But only 4 million iPod Touches.
The iPod Touch is great for what it is... but it's not good for e-books or textbooks... not a good magazine reader... not a good movie player. These are all things tablets excel at.
I'm afraid the iPod Touch is moving into niche territory. Apple will still sell the iPod Touch... but Apple sold 4 times as many other mobile devices.
I totally agree with the comment that it's a niche product.
The iPod touch was an introduction to the Apple ecosystem for a lot of kids and tweens for games, apps, media consumption at a (somewhat) reasonable price. An iPad mini does all of those things a lot better. Parents are going to snap those up in a heartbeat.
Additionally the iPad mini size is appealing to a lot of adults who want something smaller tablet - and the price point is perfect for people who want to buy a second, third, device for their household to supplement their full size iPad.
It would be a problem if the mini were to sell for $200, but it won't. It's been widely reported that both the Fire and Nexus 7 are sold at or below cost. Apple isn't going to sell any major hardware product at or below cost. Amazon and Google have different business models than Apple, which is why those two are willing to not make $ off the hardware.
So if you expect a 7" Mini to be $200 you are going to be disappointed. The price points will more likely be $299 for a 16GB and $399 for a 32GB. Also, with the rumor that the new 9 pin connector is going to ship all iOS devices starting next month I wouldn't be surprised to see the 16GB 10" iPad get EOLed and the 32 and 64s get a $100 price cut and possibly see a new top of the line to take the 64s place. That's how Apple "solves" is pricing.
Do you know how many times that theory has been brough forward over the years and never been true at all? they aren't going to radically change anything. The last few key notes from Apple have all been lackluster.
I would never say anything bad about Steve but this iPad mini will sell like crazy and I cant wait to own one!
It may have been necessary to launch the iPad in its current form factor but now that everyone knows the iPad, they will love the option of a smaller version. IMHO of course.
Except that he did come around to the idea. The iPad was more successful than any ever thought it would be. That lends itself to success in other sizes as well. Steve did the same thing with the iPod.
Where I'm from 7.85" rounds up to 8" and not down to 7", so this is an 8" tablet.
/I know you were being sarcastic/facetious.
Yeah, me. iPad is too big for my normal commute, this would be perfect. Coworker has the Nexus 7, and it's the perfect size.
Prediction
If the miniPad is true:
Some of you will (may already) abandon your iPhone 4S, and iPod Touch.
Some of you will use Google Voice to make call on the miniPad.
And nobody is going to laugh at Samsung Note users anymore.......
If the miniPad is true:
Some of you will (may already) abandon your iPhone 4S, and iPod Touch.
Some of you will use Google Voice to make call on the miniPad.
And nobody is going to laugh at Samsung Note users anymore.......