“Even as rumors about Apple’s next generation tablet – dubbed iPad 3 – continue to grow, a report on another gadget called ‘iPad Mini’ – an iPad with a 7.85-inh display that could compete with Kindle Fire – has surfaced,” Wendy Li reports for The International Business Times.
“Taipei-based DigiTimes said that an iPad with a 7.85-inch display (iPad Mini) might be released by Apple in late 2012, or in time for the next Christmas, supposedly to compete with the 7-inch Kindle Fire from Amazon and smartphones with large displays,” Li reports. “iPad currently controls 70% of global tablet market and shipments are expected to touch 60 million units in 2011. However, as competition among various tablets intensifies, Apple will try to maintain its lead over rivals such as Amazon, Samsung, Acer and Toshiba.”
Li reports, “Apple has not confirmed whether it it will actually release a 7.85-inch iPad, but if it does, it will a major shift from what the company’s late co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs regarded. According to Jobs, any tablet smaller than 10 inches are ‘tweener’ devices – too big to be a smartphoe and too small to be a tablet. However, the fact that the 7-inch Kindle Fire is selling like hot cakes and Amazon said it’s the company’s best selling product ever might disprove Jobs’ opinion.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Unless people have evolved fingers that are now half the size they were last month, tiny-screen tablets like Amazon’s Kindle Fire are failures in the usability department. Tablets that aren’t able to be used are failures. After the initial Christmas rush, the returns will begin or they will be relegated to the status of glorified e-readers by their unfortunate owners.
One naturally thinks that a 7-inch screen would offer 70% of the benefits of a 10-inch screen. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth. The screen measurements are diagonal, so that a 7-inch screen is only 45% as large as iPad’s 10-inch screen. You heard me right: Just 45% as large.
If you take an iPad an hold it upright in portrait view and draw an imaginary horizontal line halfway down the screen, the screens on these 7-inch tablets are a bit smaller than the bottom half of the ipad’s display. This size isn’t sufficient to create great tablet apps in our opinion. While one could increase the resolution of the display to make up for some of the difference, it is meaningless unless your tablet also includes sandpaper, so that the user can sand down their fingers to around one quarter of their present size.
Apple has done extensive user testing on tough interfaces over many years and we really understand this stuff. There are clear limits of how close you can physically place elements on a touchscreen before users cannot reliably tap, flick, or pinch them. This is one of the key reasons we think the 10-inch screen size is the minimum size required to create great tablet apps… The 7-inch tablets are tweeners. Too big to compete with a smartphone and too small to compete with an iPad.
These are among the reasons we think the current crop of 7-inch tablets are going to be DOA. Dead On Arrival. Their manufacturers will learn the painful lesson that their tablets are too small and increase the size next year, thereby abandoning both customers and developers who jumped on the 7-inch bandwagon with an orphaned product.
Sounds like lots of fun ahead. – Steve Jobs, October 18, 2010
Related articles:
Amazon’s tiny screen Kindle Fire’s big security problem – December 14, 2011
Lack of parental controls on Amazon’s tiny screen Kindle Fire lets kids charge up a storm – December 12, 2011
Disgruntled early adopters of Amazon’s tiny screen Kindle Fire have slew of complaints – December 12, 2011
Amazon’s tiny screen Kindle Fire estimated to play distant second fiddle to Apple’s market-dominating iPad – December 6, 2011
Usability expert Jakob Nielsen tests Amazon’s tiny screen Kindle Fire: ‘A disappointingly poor user experience’ – December 5, 2011
Instapaper creator reviews Amazon’s tiny screen Kindle Fire: Bad game player, bad app platform, bad web browser, bad video player and bad Kindle – November 18, 2011
PCWorld reviews Amazon’s tiny-screen Kindle Fire: Flawed, unimpressive, subpar; can’t hold a candle to iPad – November 16, 2011
Mossberg reviews Amazon’s tiny-screen Kindle Fire: Frustrating, clunky, much less capable and versatile than iPad – November 16, 2011
Apple iPad 2 vs. Amazon Kindle Fire: Bootup, browsing, and Netflix streaming (with video) – November 16, 2011
Wired reviews Amazon’s tiny-screen Kindle Fire: Web browsing sucks, emotionally draining, makes reading a chore – November 14, 2011
NY Times’ Pogue reviews Amazon’s tiny-screen Kindle Fire: Sluggish, ornery, unpolished – November 14, 2011
The Verge reviews Amazon’s tiny-screen Kindle Fire: Uninspired, confusing, incredibly unoriginal – November 14, 2011
Engadget reviews Amazon’s tiny-screen Kindle Fire: Sluggish, clunky, too limiting and restricted – November 14, 2011
PC Magazine reviews Apple iOS 5: The best phone and tablet OS, Editors’ Choice – October 15, 2011
The Guardian reviews Apple iPad 2: Ahead of the pack – March 25, 2011
The Telegraph reviews Apple iPad 2: Does everything better; now’s the perfect time to join the iPad club – March 25, 2011
Computerworld reviews Apple’s iPad 2: ‘The Holy Grail of computing’ – March 16, 2011
Ars Technica reviews Apple iPad 2: Big performance gains in a slimmer package
Associated Press reviews Apple iPad 2: Apple pulls further ahead – March 10, 2011
PC Mag reviews Apple iPad 2: The tablet to get; Editors’ Choice – March 10, 2011
Associated Press reviews Apple iPad 2: Apple pulls further ahead – March 10, 2011
PC Mag reviews Apple iPad 2: The tablet to get; Editors’ Choice – March 10, 2011
Pogue reviews Apple iPad 2: Thinner, lighter, and faster transforms the experience – March 10, 2011
Baig reviews Apple iPad 2: Second to none – March 10, 2011
Careful MDN, Steve poopooed these ideas too:
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/02/steve-jobs/
Those of you arguing that the Kindle Fire’s failure means that a 7″ iPad mini is out of the question, would your logic necessarily apply to the otiginal iPad itself where Microsoft tablet failures littered the marketplace? Why would a unrelated company’s failure to introduce a 7″ product mean that Apple cannot successfully develop and expand that market. Besides you’re missing the point. B&N’s Nook Tablet has been very well received so far.
How’s that job as CEO of Samsung working out, dipstick? Still afraid of a dead man’s shadow? Of course, a little trolling on an Apple oriented website should let you feel a little better about your pitiful little self. Enjoy your cookies.
The comment above no longer has any context, since it was a reply to X’s comment that was obviously deleted. Admins… please feel free to remove my comment above and this one… 🙂
**IF** and **WHEN** Apple releases an iPad ‘mini’ you can bet the the screen’s aspect ratio will be such that it will not ‘sanded down’ fingertips to be useful. Steve has given the “such n such is a bad idea” line many times, only to later turn around a present “such n such” in way that works and makes sense. Only time will tell……
How about a viewable i/Apple-TV. Portable television “set” and connectable to any standard tv with the appropriate adapto, capable of being taken anywhere and watching on a larger screen wherever you go.
Think outside the PC box people!
There’s already a huge market for a smaller iPad – in education. In case no one’s noticed students come in a variety of sizes. A smaller, less expensive, more durable unit would be perfect for marketing to elementary or junior level schools. Little Jimmy wouldn’t have to carry a backpack that weights nearly as much as he does around and teachers would be able to monitor students progress better than ever. Easy enough to track time spent reading an assignment or how many times it took to find the correct answer to a math problem. Upgrade to a newer edition, no problem. Need more second grade readers and fewer seventh grade science text, done.
Win-win for all, especially Apple’s bottom line.
Jobs’ comment about sanded down fingers to work a smaller tablet are less meaningful when you have a fantastic voice I/O service like Siri, a beta, which is still kicking ass and taking names.
A smaller iPad, or larger iPod Touch, in the range of 6″ – 8″ is a no brainer, esp. if Apple can price it at about $299. There is definitely a tablet niche in that size for media consumption and/or gaming. My wife, who is 5′ 2″ tall, finds the iPad a little too big and heavy as a book reader; she uses her iPhone instead, but would love something a little bigger. Something about 7″ diagonal would also fit in her purse, wheras the iPad doesn’t. There is absolutely no reason for Apple to give away this niche to it’s competitors, even if it is a little smaller than the market for a larger, 10″ tablet screen size.
A smaller iPad, or larger iPod Touch, in the range of 6″ – 8″ is a no brainer, esp. if Apple can price it at about $299. There is definitely a tablet niche in that size for media consumption and/or gaming. My wife, who is 5′ 2″ tall, finds the iPad a little too big and heavy as a book reader; she uses her iPhone instead, but would love something a little bigger. Something about 7″ diagonal would also fit in her purse, wheras the iPad doesn’t. There is absolutely no reason for Apple to give away this niche to it’s competitors, even if it is a little smaller than the market for a larger, 10″ tablet screen size.
@ MacDailyNews Take
I think you are completely wrong on this one. In many respects the 3.5″ iPod is too small and the 10″ iPad is too large – a 6″ or 7″ screen is the perfect size for so many applications. For example reading books, playing portable games in the car, etc. Look at the basic kindle – it’s a perfect size. Very light, thin, fits in a coat pocket or handbag, comfortable to hold with one hand, just the right size for reading books, etc. If Apple made an iPod Touch with the same dimensions and a colour screen they would have a huge hit and a big seller next Christmas.
Too large for whom?
I’d like a larger iPad!
MDN’s “finger size” argument makes sense until you realize what it says about using the touchscreen on an iPhone.
If ever, the 7-inch tablet from Apple would probably be the controller for the iTV.
“While one could increase the resolution of the display to make up for some of the difference, it is meaningless unless your tablet also includes sandpaper, so that the user can sand down their fingers to around one quarter of their present size.”
Because the iPhone also comes with a pencil sharpener so the user can sharpen their fingertips to use the screen that is 1/16 size of the iPad screen?
I would like to have iPad choices in the11 to 14 inch range for general use and art work.
I don’t see Apple coming out with a tweener product between iphone and the current ipad. I think the addition of larger notebook sized iPads is more likely.
I expect, given their current pricing on iPhones to see them offer iPad 2 at a lower price after the introduction of iPad 3.