Backing up a bit, I haven’t been posting recently about the going-on’s of stuff related to Apple since honestly, none of it (product wise) has been of much interest to me personally. Say what?
Mountain Lion (10.8) testing was what I was involved in prior to its release and there were even more things that I personally did not like about it compared to Lion (10.7). As written elsewhere on this blog, my main box is still running 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard). iOS 6 continues on its own evolutionary path though user interface wise, I personally believe the home pages of icons/folders is getting long in the tooth when contrasting it with the likes of Android and Windows 8. And as far as the Maps debacle, that whole thing would get a no mercy lashing from me in terms of putting a half-assed piece of software out before it was really ready (yes, I know the there is the desire to not be reliant on Google for services but sometimes, you need to be able to compromise and deliver the sort of user experience that customers expect as opposed to being caught in between corporate politics).
The Retina Display MacBook Pro, iPhone 5, 4th generation iPad, and iMac were pretty much no brainer evolutionary updates/refinements on the hardware side. While these are all great to continue driving the juggernaut, my take has also been that eventually, they would need to release something else which would be the next big thing in order to move the stock into a higher trading range. Personally for me, there were two main pieces of hardware which could be of assistance; one was a version of the MacBook Air with mobile cellular (non-existent at this juncture) and the other would be a smaller iPad (with appropriate price points).
With the iPad mini now a reality, this will be my primary focal point. Initially, my reaction to the $329 starting price was that it was a bit on the high side especially when comparing it to the price range of it’s closest competitors, the 7″ Android tablet market. Added into the mix is the added competition from Microsoft’s newly introduced Surface and Windows 8 (Windows RT on tablets). I understand that pricing wise, Apple didn’t have much room considering the iPod touch and the iPad 2 which is still being sold. The 7.9″ display is also not a Retina Display and shares the same 1024×768 pixel resolution as the iPad 2; from a software design perspective, this makes sense since this display resolution dates back to the original iPad where the software can run at this native resolution as opposed to having to support another native resolution (moving to a 2048×1536 7.9″ display is likely not cost effective at this time since production yields likely won’t ramp for awhile). Still, the pixel density of the 7.9″ display is higher than the 9.7″ display on the iPad/iPad 2.
For myself, I passed over upgrading my iPad to 2nd-4th generation. Why? Because I found that over time, I ended up using my iPad less and less especially once I got my iPhone 4S and 11″ Air. I used the iPad initially for my e-mail and playing streaming media but the Air just ended up being far more suitable to my needs (the soft keyboard is annoying at times when composing/editing longer messages and media wise, I can play a wider range of formats without having to convert them and/or use something like Airvideo to stream them). The only time I found myself using the iPad was when I wanted to watch something or surf the web lying down (where often times, I would end up dozing off and the iPad would abruptly wake me up when it fell on my face; the weight of the original iPad is heavy enough where the whack is pretty decent).
A shrunken version intrigued me though as it would provide a tablet experience (in terms of the user interface elements) into a form factor that is far more portable/lighter. I think I can use this while lying down such that even if I doze off and it falls on my face, won’t hurt as much (yeah I know, don’t fall asleep when using your iPad lying down). Another thing I always found awkward was seeing people using the full size iPad to take photos/videos since the form factor isn’t what I would consider very conducive in performing that action over a long period of time. Or maybe I just find it strange since I’m old school in terms of camera form factors where I’m partial to a “barrel” (like a DSLR or digital video camera) body. With the mini being much smaller and being able to be operated with one hand, I can deal with the notion of shooting photos/videos on one (just as I do my iPhone which wasn’t odd since it’s around the same size as a basic point and shoot camera).
But enough about my own personal quirks. A smaller mini has far more applicable use especially if it ended up being priced right. As it currently stands, the 9.7″ iPad is finding its way into a wide variety of applications (enterprise and other specialized markets). While it is also seeing an uptake in education, it is still far way from any sort of critical mass since we’re still talking about something that has significant costs associated with it (the hardware, the software, support for initial deployments, maintenance, etc). A smaller version with an extremely compelling price would have been a home run hit (which is why I was initially disappointed with the starting price point especially now that the space is heating up with more competition).
Regardless, pre-orders of all versions of the mini ended up selling out of their initial allotment this first weekend (pre-orders went live at 12AM Friday Pacific Time). The unknown at this time is exactly how many mini’s were produced that are ready to ship to fulfill these initial orders. It was already known that the 7.9″ display panel was supply constrained (300,000 – 1 million is what some supply chain analysts were able to come up with) so from my perspective, anything over 500,000 pre-orders would be a positive). Since Apple is not relying on Samsung for displays and had to find alternative suppliers, it is expected that the mini will have an even longer backlog compared to the 4th generation iPad or the iPhone 5.
Does this open the room for alternatives like the Nexus 7 or the Kindle Fire HD? My take is that for folks who are price sensitive, yes, the fact that either of those can be gotten for less (I’m not going to go into the tradeoffs as each device/platform has their strengths and weaknesses) could drive some sales in that direction. There is also the Nexus 10 and Surface which will go up against the more entrenched 9.7″ iPad. Personally, I look at this competition as healthy since I always felt that Apple did their best when there was a competitive environment. But there is still a sizable demographic who wants the actual Apple branded merchandise and/or are already heavily entrenched inside of the ecosystem where switching to the alternative isn’t a easy decision.
So at this juncture, I believe the jury is still out as to whether or not the iPad mini (based on its starting price point) will do for the entire iPad platform what the iPod mini did for the iPod in terms of cementing its dominant position.
