Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Rumors of a 7.85-Inch 'iPad Mini' Revived (Again) for Late 2012
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
So you would rather live in a world, where there was one dress/suit to wear in just two colours.
There were two card to buy a black one and a white one.
When you went shopping someone had already decided what food you could eat.
Like in a zoo again really. Just sit there and have others decide what's right for you in your life.
I sure as hell hope not. I've got an iPad 2 and I've used some of the other 7" tablets out there, and have come away thoroughly unimpressed. They were too small to be useful for either web-surfing or email. Sure, I use my iPhone 4S for those functions, but only as a backup for when I'm not around my iPad or my (*shudder*) Windows 7 laptop.
----------
But that's the thing: Nobody is forcing you to buy Apple stuff. If you don't like the choices they give you, go visit another zoo. One where the animals run free and give you viruses.
----------
If they actually release a 7-inch iPad within the next few months, it had to have been on the drawing board and likely in the mock-up phase while Jobs was still alive.
Apple has never been reactionary, even to a fault. So to rush a small tablet together would be completely against their business model.
----------
Because market studies are the same as what actually happens.
Also note: all Android tablet makers count and report numbers shipped, while Apple tends to report on the number of tablets actually sold. That's a big difference.
I've seen plenty of iPads in the wild, but the only place I've seen any Android (or BlackBerry or WebOS) tablet is on the shelf at a store. That too isn't a scientific way to tell who's buying what, but it gives me an indication that people just don't want Android tablets.
----------
But that's the thing: Nobody is forcing you to buy Apple stuff. If you don't like the choices they give you, go visit another zoo. One where the animals run free and give you viruses.
----------
If they actually release a 7-inch iPad within the next few months, it had to have been on the drawing board and likely in the mock-up phase while Jobs was still alive.
Apple has never been reactionary, even to a fault. So to rush a small tablet together would be completely against their business model.
----------
Because market studies are the same as what actually happens.
Also note: all Android tablet makers count and report numbers shipped, while Apple tends to report on the number of tablets actually sold. That's a big difference.
I've seen plenty of iPads in the wild, but the only place I've seen any Android (or BlackBerry or WebOS) tablet is on the shelf at a store. That too isn't a scientific way to tell who's buying what, but it gives me an indication that people just don't want Android tablets.
Oh brother.
Well, first you say it's wrong to have choices and there should only be one choice and yet now you are saying it's wrong to not have choices.
Can't have it both ways.
Respectfully, that's only _your_opinion, the world is full of people who would truly enjoy and only buy a 7" form factor.
You are quite correct.
However I submit that it would have _stayed_ on the drawing board, blocked by Steves incessant need to feed his ego and refusal to introduce anything _he didn't like_ despite market demands.
Not true.
IF this somewhat bizarre analogy was true, then not one car dealer in the USA would have new models in stock for people to test drive and buy.
You must have an amazingly small breakfast table.
----------
RIDICULOUS !
You're talking about 2 less inches !!!
Oh my lord, yeah , it will all of a sudden be unusable
Most apps are scaled from iPhone to iPad very easily.
You have no argument....Just go home
Clearly you don't understand what screen sizes mean, but here would be the difference between a regular iPad and 7" iPad in relative size:
iPad is 4:3 so the difference is somewhat less pronounced.
Still don't see any reason why they would need to do a smaller tablet. The magazine states "competition" but Apple have the market - there is no competition.
Attachments
I think the smaller iPad will sell well, not the numbers of the iPad 2, but still a lot. Even if it's a hundred or so cheaper, it will attract a different group of buyers in addition to those who want something smaller to carry. I hope they produce it. And I can't wait to see how many people flip sides on the issue and it will suddenly go from being stupid to a great idea. There's room for Apple to make more than one size iPad.
Since going to Intel chips, at the very least.
----------
Same is true of capacitive multi-touch phones and tablets, despite the fervent belief of many here.
----------
That's how their lawsuits sound to non-Apple-fans, yes.
Thanks to the exemplary business acumen of Tim Cook, this new smaller iPad will add millions of dollars to Apples gross profit.
Free of personal hangups, adjendas & the super ego of his predecessor, we are witnessing the beginning of the new even more progressive Apple.
A company that will be less closed minded. Less dictatorial, and even more wildly successful.
Oh sure, he's no Steve Jobs, and thats the good news. He will not be able to pull off some of the intimidation, and leveraged threats.
But in the end he is one man, who may shock many at just what he _does_accomplish.
Free of personal hangups, adjendas & the super ego of his predecessor, we are witnessing the beginning of the new even more progressive Apple.
A company that will be less closed minded. Less dictatorial, and even more wildly successful.
Oh sure, he's no Steve Jobs, and thats the good news. He will not be able to pull off some of the intimidation, and leveraged threats.
But in the end he is one man, who may shock many at just what he _does_accomplish.
My first tablet experience was with a $200 Nook Color which I've totally loved owning, rooted it & played with many custom roms. I liked having an e-reader, loved watching Netflix in bed. That $200 investment proved to me that tablets are useful in my life.
A 7.85 inch ipad at a lower price point would bring a lot of folks who are tablet curious into the Apple eco-system & might also sell well with current ipad owners who want a second,smaller device for travel.
A 7.85 inch ipad at a lower price point would bring a lot of folks who are tablet curious into the Apple eco-system & might also sell well with current ipad owners who want a second,smaller device for travel.
Typing this from my Nook Tablet via Tapatalk (sideloaded). Love it and definitely believe there's a place for both sizes in the market, depending on one's needs and usage.
It's very refreshing to read an intelligent response from the voice of reason & common sense. You're perspective is ever so accurate.
Instead of thinking small as so many do, I feel the same way you do. There's a market for a variety of tablets. A market comprised of choices. One which provides competition, the very heart of free enterprise.
Apple's not going to do this because the market for people who want this smaller 7.8 inch slate instead of 9.7 inch slate is very small. It's not worth them adding another device (which costs them a lot of money to design, develop, to do R&D, and support) especially when that other device, the iPad Mini, is going to eat into the sales of the iPad, meaning they aren't really making much more money. How many people do you know that think "Oh, it's two inches too big, I'm just not interested at all" -- I'd bet very few, it may be a little big but they're still likely going to buy it. Then, it's adding another device for developers to support, which is just a hassle and more unnecessary work.
Or in other words:
1) It costs them money to design, develop, to do R&D, and support
2) It appeals to a small market and it'll eat into the iPad's market
3) It's another device developers have to support and it means more, unnecessary work
It's just not going to happen. Apple can only produce so many products at once, they are just one company and they do what they do well. They won't ever compete with other companies like Samsung, or HTC, in terms of new devices per year, it's just not their way.
Or in other words:
1) It costs them money to design, develop, to do R&D, and support
2) It appeals to a small market and it'll eat into the iPad's market
3) It's another device developers have to support and it means more, unnecessary work
It's just not going to happen. Apple can only produce so many products at once, they are just one company and they do what they do well. They won't ever compete with other companies like Samsung, or HTC, in terms of new devices per year, it's just not their way.
By that rationale BMW would only make the BMW 1 series and BMW 7 series and forget about the rest. In stead all manufacturers are plugging the holes in their lineups with intermediate models to capture each and every niche in the market.
Apple has done the same with the iPod line (shuffle, nano, classic, touch) and does the same with their Macbook and iMac lines.
It's true that most people would not buy a 7.8 inch iPad AND a 9.7 inch iPad, but Apple will surely find a way of clearing a similar margin from the smaller iPad while increasing their total amount of sold devices.
It doesn't matter if the 7.8 eats into the 9.7 sales if the 7.8 taps successfully into the market that thinks the 9.7 is too big. If that number is larger than the people that would have otherwise bought a 9.7 and now opt to buy a 7.8, than there is no issue. Sales revenue overall is higher.
It's true that costs for producing the extra device would go up, but only marginally as most of the components for the large iPad fit into a smaller box, as most of the space in the large iPad is taken up by the screen and battery. The smaller iPad can take a smaller battery as the screen is much smaller. So R&D costs only go up marginally.
So, the questions remains whether there is a market for people who think the large iPad is too big. If this market is sufficiently large, then an extra smaller iPad won't hurt sales of the big one.
As history shows, Apple is quite prepared to plug holes in their lineup with intermediate models.
Regarding your points:
1. As I explained above this would only marginally increase cost, easily offset by their high margin. (economies of scope and scale)
2. Not when they tap into a previous untapped market (have you done research t show that that market is in fact small?)
3. Most likely screen resolution would be the same, as the iPhone of large iPad, so there wouldn't be any difference to developers.
Your last comment doesn't make sense. Apple is growing like crazy and they are upscaling production all the time. Adding a new product to a production line is no issue to Apple as they outsource their production to contract manufacturers. They will build a factory for mini iPads if Apple asks them nicely with a big bag of money (which they have)..
You are comparing apple's with oranges. Apple has a fixed product update cycle of a year, which would still pertain to this product if it were released. The manufacturers that you mention (HTC etc) introduce new devices multiple times per year, which Apple will not do (or better: has not done previously). I agree with you that that is very costly and labor intensive. But apple has enough R&D and testing capacity to fulfill the yearly update cycle for all their products and they have enough assets to increase that capacity too.
Conclusion: if there is a market Apple will tap into that, and they will scale up all capacity they have to fulfill the needs of that market.
Last edited:
Actually, no they wouldn't do that. Is the only difference between the BMW 1-7 series, a slightly different size? With the colour, shape, design, and features, all remaining the same? No. The differences vary greatly.
The difference with the iPod line, however, is that these are different products for different markets, not the same product with a slightly smaller or larger size.
The market for people who think the iPad is too large, that the iPad Mini (which is only two inches smaller) is just right, and that wouldn't otherwise end up buying the iPad if the iPad Mini wasn't available, would be very small. It would also cost Apple money and add more work for developers.
EDIT:
1) It's still more money with little benefit, plus they'd need to pay for factories to setup for the 7 inch iPad Mini as well -- I don't know much about what that involves but it could be costly and they'd have to either pay more for more factories or produce less iPad's to make room for the iPad Mini's. Let's not forget either, that everyone is wanting this iPad Mini to be $100 or $200 cheaper but the fact is, it wouldn't be since the bill of materials for it will be very similar to that of the iPad. It would probably be cheaper for Apple to sell the iPad 2 for $100 less, than to make an iPad Mini and sell it for $100 less.
2) I've not done the research, but I can't see how that market could be anything but tiny.
3) Actually, there would be a difference. You see, content on the iPad Mini would be smaller, and small buttons and other elements (of which there are many) which are an acceptable size on the iPad, may be too small on the iPad Mini. This means developers will need to take that into account when developing games, it's extra effort, thought, testing, and so on.
They may be growing like crazy but that doesn't mean they are making five completely different phones every year, which is to what I was referring. I'm well aware of Apple's product cycle in comparison to others, which was my point. They will never produce as many new products per year as other companies, not because they can't but because this is the way they've chosen to go.
If there is a large enough market, Apple will very likely exploit it, but I don't think it's even close to that.
Last edited:
Thanks for that detailed response!
It all boils down to these two things IMHO:
- How large is the market that would buy the small iPad and to what extent would it eat into the large ipad sales? The amount of new small ipad sales should be high enough to offset loss of revenue from the lower amount of large iPads sold.
- Can Apple produce a smaller ipad with a high enough margin that would enable them to make a profit? The small iPad would have to be priced somewhere between the iPod Touch and the large iPad, so there is not a lot of room to maneuver. The BOM is an issue, but as with all Apple products, Apple would probably cripple the smaller iPad with previous generation hardware that is cheaper to make it more cheap AND to make the larger iPad more attractive.
Apple succeeded doing this for the Macbook and iMac lines, which all have different sizes, so they DO do it. But the market size is a problem, although with all due respect; neither you nor I have the knowledge to determine whether there is a market, based on our regional knowledge and the stuff we get from the web. I would like to see professional market intelligence from the major markets that Apple is active in before I draw a conclusion like that.
You have been programmed to believe that anything smaller the the current iPad
is too small. open your mind !!!!
Thanks also =)
That's pretty much it, except you think the new sales of the iPad Mini would be high enough to make a profit, while I think the market isn't big enough. And, as, you say, neither of us know whether there is indeed a market or not.
This iPad Mini would however have to compete against other 7 inch Android slates, which with previous generation hardware it couldn't do at all.
The difference with MacBook Pro's though, they increase in size and price as you go up. The larger the model, the more powerful hardware you can choose from. Apple would be making a smaller device, and trying to price it between the iPod touch and iPad, whilst making a profit, with the only feature it touting, is being smaller. Similar thing with the iMacs.