“In my view the 7″ tablet represents the evolution of portable entertainment,” Ben Bajarin writes for TechPinions. “In many of the same ways that the iPad itself represents the evolution of portable computing, so would a smaller iPad represent the evolution of portable entertainment. I spoke about this and was quoted on the subject last week with many press, and my overall point was that the right way to think about a smaller iPad is that it represents more the evolution of the iPod than the evolution of the iPad.”
“The larger tablets like the iPad are more mobile than notebooks but still capable of being used for productivity. In my view the iPad is a general purpose tablet where a 7″ tablet is more specialized and its value will be centered around entertainment,” Bajarin writes. “For the iPad customer I don’t see the value of owning an iPad and an iPad mini… However, there will still be plenty of consumers who still desire, want, need, a new notebook. This market may very well benefit from a more portable media companion like a 7″ tablet. The notebook plus a 7″ tablet combo will be an ideal solution for a certain segment of the market. And the sufficiency of the iPad as a portable media companion and personal computer will meet the needs of other segments of the market.”
Bajarin writes, “An iPad mini strengthens Apple’s ecosystem plain and simple.”
Read more in the full article here.
And they pay this guy how much?
I always carry with me: a 13″ Macbook Pro, an iPhone, an iPad, an iPod Touch, an iPod Nano as watch…. and feel like I also really need a 7″ iPad in my backpack… I don’t have any clue why I need it… but I have to have it.
Why both an iPhone and iPod touch? It seems like a waste to carry them both..
“An iPad mini strengthens Apple’s ecosystem plain and simple.”
Exactly what R2’s been saying on here for months. Apple won’t release an iPad mini due to fear of the Nexus 7 or the Galaxy Nexus Nebulus or whatever. It’s a matter of making iOS stronger.
The day nears for iPad mini haters to eat their words.
Too big for your pocket.
Too small to use.
Apple’s New iPad Mini, just in time to ruin the company.
Listen the guy who wrote that article was drinking the 7 inch kool-aid. Everyone knows a six inch screen is where it is at. Why not make it smaller? Perhaps the size of a stamp would suit you? Then you can buy special tools perhaps an innovative stylus. Wow wouldn’t a stylus be great. Like we have on our palm pilots? When you don’t innovate you have no choice but to imitate. The 7 inch from the iPad killer of the week is no more than a subsidized joke. Kind of a myth really. If Apple does do a smaller iPad the one thing you can be sure of is that whatever they do they will get it right. Jazz just what apple needs to do is have ios platform fragmentation. Like in the hemroid world. How is that honeycomb, I mean jelly bean, I meant ice cream sandwich. On your 4 inch, 5inch, 7inch, 9.6inch, 9.7inch and 10.x size iPad/iPhone wanna be. What do you mean it run like shit on you 10 inch tablet as its just bigger and is not designed for you device. How many of these buy one get three devices do you really need sitting in a drawer?
Geist a waste of semiconductors. Rash thrown together shit made to look like an Apple device. Pathetic , immorall and wrong.
Stop taking the money from stupid people.m
If Apple really has a TV, maybe this is the remote.
Agreed. Although you can use an iPod Touch, iPhone or iPad to control the current Apple TV (hockey puck) they are just slightly too small or too big depending on which one you use. A 7 inch iPad would be a better size to hold when mirroring games to the Apple TV, IMHO.
Big potential markets for this is medical, business and schools… where saving a buck is a priority.
And, here’s a biggie: gifts for kids at christmas time. A cheaper price point will entice the parents, and justifications can be given how well suited for a small child’s hands a smaller form factor could be.
Parents can keep their regular-sized iPads for themselves.
^This. Exactly this.
For all the naysayers, this is the point they’re missing. I will be the first in line to buy one of these for my six-year-old, who can play Angry Birds to her little heart’s content whilst leaving the new iPad for daddy to use… This will fit her perfectly, at least until she outgrows it (she’s already 4’4″), at which time I’ll get her a current-gen iPad.
And I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way.
Yes, granted, a smaller iPad makes no sense. But a larger iPod routed as an entertainment device: perfect.
I know Steve said the screen-size was all wrong; but let’s remember, he was also against and App Store for the iPhone. The man was brilliant, but not infallible…
RE: “Yes, granted, a smaller iPad makes no sense. But a larger iPod routed as an entertainment device: perfect.”
As posted previously, here’s a thought on naming conventions…
iPod shuffle -> iPod nano
iPod nano -> iPod mini
iPod classic -> iPod
(Apple should add Siri to the iPod shuffle to make it a more compelling device btw imo… or discontinue it altogether because it doesn’t fit well with my naming conventions. i’m hoping Apple discontinues the shuffle to help make my naming conventions seem more appropriate. Leave the name nano for the nano if the shuffle is discontinued, Apple.)
iPod touch -> iPad nano
iPad mini -> iPad mini
iPad previous generation -> iPad
the new iPad -> iPad
iPhone 4S -> iPhone
Anything that is not a phone and uses iOS is an iPad. The only thing differing here is the screen size which doesn’t justify two separate product names.
Absolutely. Kids, games, e-book readers, blunt Nook and Kindle sales, automotive solutions… All good reasons for a 7 inch iPad.
I doubt it’s this but how cool would that be?
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/04/07/apple_exploring_hybrid_e_ink_lcd_displays_with_independent_regions.html
I could have sworn that on this very site the idea of a 7-inch tablet was continually ridiculed…
…was I imagining that?
That was for Android tablets and remains true.
And why is it true for Android but not iOS?
Because this is MDN, not ADN.
My point exactly. It’s amazing how this is now a great idea.
My iPhone covers the “little tablet” need. Now I need an iPad or MacBook Air- I don’t “collect” sizes, though.
Doesn’t matter whose OS is implemented, the handbag-sized 7″ is a useless size for reasons already overdiscussed. As one indicator, Amazon is resorting to discounts in order to move their awkwardly-sized Fire portable: http://blogs.wsj.com/overheard/2012/06/11/amazon-kindles-fire-sales-with-discount/
Apple: don’t waste resources developing niche products for miniscule and dying market segments. Leave that to Ballmer & Co.
The iPhone is too small, the iPad is to large but a tweener would be perfect for the john.
I still believe since last year that the “iPad mini” will be in fact the new iPod Touch. I cant see Apple competing itself with the iPad
Whatever it is I want one. iPad is to big to read on. Nay-Sayers need to remember Job and Apple have flipped decisions on things in the past. Fine- call it iPod. It doesn’t matter as long as its closer to the size of a paperback.
iPad is to big to read on.
I read on my iPod Touch with Retina Display every day. And it actually fits in my pocket. No ~7″ can do that.
Check back in December. This is going to win the ‘Stupidest Persistent Apple Rumor Ever’ award. 😀
The current iPad is textbook page size (A5) so it’s logical for the mythical mini to be paperback size – A6 or 7″ diagonal (not 7.8″). Not as full-function as the full-size iPad but great as a gaming device, book reader, communication tablet, remote control, iPod, in-car device, and acceptable but not great as a web browser. I’m guessing Apple/Jobs found their 7″ prototypes non-ideal (for HI, for typing etc.) compared to 10″ but have been working to make a 7″ work to their own standards. Call it an iPod maxi, eh?
7″ would simply fragment iOS further. I hear a bunch of “Android has 7″, Apple needs one too!” Apple doesn’t follow others’ ideas; Apple leads, or at least they used to. I hope they haven’t become followers.
I call BS on this myth. iCal me.
zzzzz
7-inch. lol.
zzzzz