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Topic: Mobility

What compelling story will Apple tell about the need for an iPad mini?

Summary: I just pre-ordered a Microsoft Surface and am perfectly happy with my full size iPad. The iPad mini will likely appeal to those without an iPad due to the low price, but what story can Apple tell to get current iPad owners to go with the smaller device?

Matthew Miller

By for The Mobile Gadgeteer |

It is now confirmed that Apple is holding a 23 October event since invites went out to the press. It's nearly a certainty that the iPad mini is going to be announced, likely along with some other things, and I was considering picking one up. However, after placing a Microsoft Surface preorder and looking at MY usage of the iPad 3 and Google Nexus 7 my plans to order an iPad mini are on hold unless Apple reveals some extremely compelling reason to get one.

My colleague, James Kendrick, wrote that he is buying an iPad mini as soon as he can, yet he passed up the Microsoft Surface. I went with the Surface in large part due to my enjoyment of the Windows Phone platform and even though I have an iPad and iPhone 5 I don't see the iPad mini fitting in my arsenal right now. I use my iPad all the time for media consumption and for writing with external keyboards, but am much more of a phone guy than a tablet guy. My Nexus 7 sits idle most of the time and I tend to really only use it to test out applications or play with the Jelly Bean OS. I could get rid of it and be perfectly happy just with my larger iPad. I like smaller tablets for going out and about, but honestly, smartphones have pretty much taken over that role for me with high res displays and always on connectivity.

Apple is good at telling stories and offering up convincing reasons to buy their products. I am thinking they will promote the ebook aspect of the iPad mini, but with my fabulous new Kindle Paperwhite that story won't do it for me. I wonder what else Apple can say to convince me that the iPad mini is a better option than my full size iPad. We all have different needs and desires so if Apple can release the iPad mini at $300 or less I think it will sell millions and bring people to the Apple tablet ecosystem that do not yet own the more expensive full size iPad. Do you have any ideas about next week's announcement and what story Apple can tell to convince people to pick up the iPad mini?

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Topics: Mobility, Apple, iPad

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71 comments
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  • iPad Mini is pointless

    This is an iPhone with a slightly different shape. Utterly pointless.
    Tim Acheson
    Reply 4 Votes

    • And, Sadly

      For Tim Acheson they will sell absolute shedloads.

      The point is to make money.
      jgpmolloy
      Reply 4 Votes

      • It will sell

        I agree, it will sell. I was waiting for 2 years for that. I do have a iPhone that I am using for last couple to years. Doesn't do the job iPad mini will do. I could care less about iPad wanna bees (nexus, surface, kindle, galaxy etc.) Apple sets a bar that's hard to beat anyway you look at it.
        Imtiaz Mondal
        Reply 1 Vote

        • Sure it will sell

          However, as for wannabe's, none of those tablets you describe is a wannabe. Different OS, different experience. iOS to my mind nothing more than a glorified app launcher - there isn't anything wrong with that - while Andriod and Windows 8 launch apps AND display content on the desktop; which I prefer.
          roteague
          Reply 1 Vote

          • an operating system (aka OS) is by definition an application launcher

            This is what it IS. It managers system resources (such as memory) and launches applications. Whereas an application is any program that runs in a memory space allocated for it by the OS.
            ForeverSPb
            Reply Vote

        • Apple sets a bar that's hard to beat anyway you look at it?

          Sure, if others where trying to make an iPad.

          If you look around, you'll see no "iPad wanna be's", but what you will see are other tablets with other capabilities.

          But I guess we can call OS X a "Windows wanna be" going with your interpertation.
          William Farrel
          Reply 2 Votes

          • Wanabees

            Some data points for you to consider.

            1. Everyone was trying to make an iPad. Some were more successful than others. The most insistent was Samsung. With the current infringement case outcome however, even they will stop.

            2. OS X is UNIX. UNIX has been around decades before DOS and Windows were "invented" by Microsoft (DOS, stolen from DR and CP/M, Windows stolen from Xerox and Apple, and to some extend IBM). When there was Windows, Apple had MacOS. Remember that? But Apple eventually understood that designing operating systems is not going to happen in-house and adopted UNIX.

            3. Oh the irony, today, with WinRT, "the future of Windows", which is essentially an iOS API clone, Microsoft is yet again a wannabe.

            4. Apple has been manufacturing personal computers since day 1. Microsoft used to be one of the software developers for those computers. In a way, they still are.

            Being wannabe is not anything new. There are plenty of "me too" companies out there.
            Of course, true success comes when you invent something on your own.
            danbi
            Reply 1 Vote

          • Apple stole from Xerox, though

            If you're going to accuse Microsoft of "stealing" from Apple to create Windows, don't forget that Xerox let Apple "steal" their design when Apple created their first Mac OS.
            spdragoo@...
            Reply Vote

          • No Apple did not steal from Xerox

            Seriously do some research. Apple licensed the tech from Xerox in exchange for stock options. Google is your best friend and can help you not look so misinformed.
            athynz
            Reply Vote

          • Actually,

            That is not true. Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) accepted $1 million in Apple stock options and gave Jobs and crew a detailed tour of their facility. That was where Jobs saw SmallTalk.

            http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/tech-myths/5-myths-about-microsoft1.htm

            From this page: "The Xerox Alto ran on an operating system/development environment called SmallTalk that was created in-house by Xerox PARC researchers. In 1979, 24-year-old Steve Jobs of tech upstart Apple Computer, Inc. paid $1 million in Apple stock options for a detailed tour of the Xerox PARC facility. Blown away by the SmallTalk GUI, Jobs demanded the product's technical documentation, which Xerox foolishly handed over."

            No licensing, just payment for a tour. And the engineers who poured their efforts into SmallTalk were livid with their managers who gave the tech docs away. Yes, later one or two of the engineers were hired by Apple, but Apple essentially stole the technology.
            benched42
            Reply Vote

        • Desperate

          The other replies pretty much cover it, but if anything Apple was adamant that there was no need for a smaller iPad and that it was flat out foolish. To me, this is desperation on behalf of Apple or it's them leaching their currently user base even more. Either way it does not bode well for Apple fanboys and fangirls and they need to realize that and save themselves thousands of dollars.
          atgheb
          Reply Vote

      • And, Ironically, the point is to make money exclusively on the backs

        of Apple's clients.

        Wow, what a privilege! Cool eh?

        ~~~~~~~~~~
        To the eyes of a miser a guinea is more beautiful than the sun, and a bag worn with the use of money has more beautiful proportions than a vine filled with grapes.
        ~ William Blake, English poet, painter, and printmaker, (1757 – 1827)

        I'd be pissed too, but you didn't have to go all Minority Report on his ass!
        ~ Jon Stewart on Apple bought police raiding Gizmodo editor Jason Chen's home

        Mac OS X is like living in a farmhouse in the country with no locks, and Windows is living in a house with bars on the windows in the bad part of town.
        ~ Charlie Miller
        WinTard
        Reply Vote

        • Wintered-welcome back. It's been some time since we have been graced

          in insights. Grin.

          When are you going to buy your Surface RT?
          kenosha77a
          Reply 1 Vote

          • Sorry, WinTard. Didn't mean to misspell your name. Darn spellcheck.

            But seriously, it's been awhile. Welcome back.
            kenosha77a
            Reply 1 Vote

    • iPod mini was pointless

      This was a smaller iPod with slightly different shape, and colors. Utter pointless. ;-)

      Maybe because we all have different needs and wants. What may be pointless to you may be perfect for another demographic.
      dave95.
      Reply 2 Votes

      • Funny how your attitude switches

        You are well on the record as saying that Surface is dumb for everyone.

        Huh. Who would have thought that you would flip flop whenever the manufacturer changes.
        toddbottom3
        Reply 1 Vote

        • +1.

          +1
          Ram U
          Reply Vote

        • Said no such thing.

          I never said the Surface was dumb for everyone.
          dave95.
          Reply Vote

      • While I hate to agree with Toddy

        He's right on target here. By your logic here the Microsoft Surface would be perfect for another deomgraphic. Is this in fact the case or do you feel - as Toddy claims - that the Surface is "dumb for everyone"?
        athynz
        Reply Vote

    • And yet

      The same things were said about the iPod touch and the iPad... the sales of those devices completely invalidated those claims. As the sales of the iPad minis will completely invalidate your claim now. Of course your claim is not based on facts or data but your religious hatred of Apple.
      athynz
      Reply Vote
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