Mini iPad- Apple stumble?

[marc55]

OK, I like the idea of the Mini iPad; however, I think Apple may have made a slight mis-step here.

Why no HD screen? I was completely surprised that it did not have an HD screen, especially at this price point. I expected Apple to do better than lets say the Nexus 7, and Kindle Fire HD.

Price: A little high compared to the competition, and it may be difficult to win over converts with the higher pricing, especially in this economy.

I will go take a look at it on November 2nd, but not sure I will buy.

IMHO, I appears like Apple rushed this one out just to get a foothold in the mini market.

 

[ReallyBigFeet]

The iPad Mini is the intended successor for the iPad2, at least from a sales and product market share perspective.

Read the fine print yesterday....

-K-12 schools buying more iPads than computers....meaning Macs
-enterprise business insatiable appetite for iPads (goodbye Rim)
-Apple fully recognizes that a market exists for small tablets, and Amazon, Google and Samsung control that market

People that wanted a cheap tablet weren't buying iPad 2's. But now, they will buy a Mini. Super cheap consumers still may not but they aren't desireable to anyone, especially Apple, given focus on selling the ecosystem.

Apple just defined their own competition. With their own baseline entry price. When you own 94% of the market, your goal is keep that market intact while slowly whittling away at the last few percent, but do it in a manner that doesn't lower your value prop.

Brilliant and masterful strategy. If you don't understand it, it's because you are thinking tactics vs strategy. The Mini is strategic.

 

[the8thark]

I agree. But it is vastly superior to the iPad 2. But it just complicated the choice. Almost too many iOS devices now Apple have. Hard for choose the one you want.

 

[jabingla2810]

People pay premium for premium products.

The iPad mini is made from preimium materials, with a level of fit and finish far beyond any competition.

It includes a great camera on the back and a HD front facing camera.

It comes ready to run ALL off the 275,000 apps that already exist BECAUSE its not a HD screen.

It's about the only compromise Apple made, buts its a sensible one.

Sure the Nexus is a competitor, but Apple have always put out the premium devices, no the cheapest.

Apple could have taken out the camera's and given it a palstic back, sold it for $199 and dominated the Nexus and even the Kindle

But they didn't. They've gone for a premium device.

The sort of device, that when people pick it up, they will instantly be aware of the quality they are holding, and will be the reason they come back and buy more Apple products in the future.

You get what you pay for.

 

[SR45]

Or, OP, Apple withheld the HD screen, and better CPU until early next year at the same price point as a strategy to gauge the response of the customer or its just their way of doing business of withholding some nice upgrades for later. I wished Apple would have given at least the A5X cpu and the Hd screen, but that is now water under the bridge.

 

[maflynn]

I wonder about the HD screen as well and I'm disappointed at this price point we don't see that. I can see the if why they went with the A5 because its not retina so I'm not bothered by that.

I'm about 80% sure I'll buy one so the lack of retina is not bothering me terribly.

 

[ixodes]

iPad Mini is a excellent example of Tim Cooks strong leadership & savy business sense. This new model will be a market leader by every metric.

 

[the8thark]

Apple could have taken out the camera's and given it a palstic back, sold it for $199 and dominated the Nexus and even the Kindle

Agreed they could have. But then they would have killed their own iPod Touch market too.

 

[Compile 'em all]

OK, I like the idea of the Mini iPad; however, I think Apple may have made a slight mis-step here.

Why no HD screen? I was completely surprised that it did not have an HD screen

1- It is more expensive.
2- It needs more power.

 

[mwulf67]

It's hard to say if Apple has stumbled or not...despite my similar misgivings about the Mini, let's be honest, at this point, anything with a Apple logo is probably going sell well, very well...Apple has a very, very good thing going right now...they are riding a lot of inertia in the tablet market, with good reason; it will take a lot more than just one potential stumbled to screw things up...Apple may have missed the mark with me personally with the Mini, but overall, I have to think they know what they are doing...

 

[AlexBass]

Considering how well they did with the rMBP in terms of power and difference between it and its predecessor, I expected a bit more innovation from it. I'm considering getting one above any other apple product at the moment, mainly because it's most affordable.

 

[zhandri]

1400*1050 would have been perfect for the ipad mini. but with the specs it has now it should have been 279 or 299 max. i know it's 30 bucks but still that's 10% of the price. but i don't understand how people can really think the ipad mini needs an A6 chip 1 gb of ram and a retina display. that would be sooooooo expensive! look at the ipod... even the ipod just has an A5 chip and the small retina display and it's 299. a large retina screen is much more expensive they would have to take atleast 429-449 if it had the retina and the A6. nobody would pay that for a small ipad if you can get the big one for 499

 

[knucklehead]

OK, I like the idea of the Mini iPad; however, I think Apple may have made a slight mis-step here.

Why no HD screen? I was completely surprised that it did not have an HD screen, especially at this price point. I expected Apple to do better than lets say the Nexus 7, and Kindle Fire HD.

Price: A little high compared to the competition, and it may be difficult to win over converts with the higher pricing, especially in this economy.

I will go take a look at it on November 2nd, but not sure I will buy.

IMHO, I appears like Apple rushed this one out just to get a foothold in the mini market.

It came out pretty much exactly as many had speculated it would -- even the price is about where at least I thought it would be. I guess one thing that changed is the recent flood low cost, high resolution displays in this category. It seems that Apple dragged their heels a bit too much on releasing this, and it does make it look a bit less impressive than it would have.

Still, it looks like they did a typical good Apple execution on the design and construction. Can't wait to get one in hand, even though I suspect I'll be sticking with my iPad 3, Nexus 7, Kindle Touch combo for a generation or two until the mini does get a retina display, a bit more processing power, and hopefully somewhat trimmer dimensions --- One really good mini would replace 3 devices for me.

 

[AJAAY]

OK, I like the idea of the Mini iPad; however, I think Apple may have made a slight mis-step here.

Why no HD screen? I was completely surprised that it did not have an HD screen, especially at this price point. I expected Apple to do better than lets say the Nexus 7, and Kindle Fire HD.

Price: A little high compared to the competition, and it may be difficult to win over converts with the higher pricing, especially in this economy.

I will go take a look at it on November 2nd, but not sure I will buy.

IMHO, I appears like Apple rushed this one out just to get a foothold in the mini market.

They didn't want to harm iPad 4 sales. In regards to that, they made a genius move. They will sell tons of Mini's and still sell tons of 4's.

*They didn't price the mini to compete with Kindle Fire, Nexus 7 etc, because that would also harm the iPad 4 sales. Mini is priced high enough to please the niche market, but not make it irrelevant (and people just buy the iPad 4). And it's priced low enough so people who may buy an iPad 4 wouldn't be tempted to just get a Mini (harming iPad 4 sales). Priced just right I think.

 

[ebelp]

Or, OP, Apple withheld the HD screen, and better CPU until early next year at the same price point as a strategy to gauge the response of the customer or its just their way of doing business of withholding some nice upgrades for later. I wished Apple would have given at least the A5X cpu and the Hd screen, but that is now water under the bridge.

This is exactly right. Next year a retina-display, A5X-powered iPad Mini will be released and deemed the most ground-breaking device ever. That said, I can't wait to pre-order my iPad Mini. LOL.