September launch of 'iPad mini' seen boosting education sales - Page 2

 

they dominate the market already. And there's a danger in gaining that last 10-15%. If you have total strength in the market then folks start yelling about antitrust etc even harder. They assume you had to do something to be so totally winning. That your product is just that much better than the rest is impossible. 

 

Apple and their one product line takes 85-90% of the market and the other 20 guys with their 50 or so product lines are sharing that other part. It's still a win. Why would Apple, who is already winning in sales, use and mindshare, increase their production costs, decrease the lines that can barely keep up with demand etc to produce a product that they don't really need in order to win. 

You're saying they'll keep the PPI the same as the iPad 2 but they'll keep the resolution the same as the iPad 2 yet it'll somehow be smaller? I hope not because that makes no sense. It's not physically possible.

What is physically possible and ends up being the cheapest known solution is using the 163 PPI sheets used int the 3GS. At 7.85" 4:3 as the rumour has been suggesting for months and some have argued for years, you get 1024x768 display, the same as the iPad 2 resolution, using the same pixel density they've using for 5 years. Why reinvent the entire widget when you don't have to?
Edited by SolipsismX - 6/5/12 at 9:32am

 

Not really an issue when the companies all start making dock connecting models or even just adapters. Heck someone might even figure out that Apple's iPad camera kit USB adapter would work as well and without having to jailbreak etc. 

 

 

 

Did you read the article. The answer was right there. 

 

I see NO advantages here.  Apple already provides with an iPad a cord that plugs into the iPad and has a full-sized USB plug on the other end of the cord.

 

Learning Series Ecosystem partners are also porting apps to iOS at a much greater level than Android.

 

Tablets that run on a x86 processor have been around for 10+ years and have gone no where, they are bulky and hot. Adam processors don't have a very good record.

 

USB keyboards sitting in closets should be sitting in garbage cans, they are not needed for a tablet. Wireless ones are available if needed.

 

We are also talking about education here and kids have smaller hands.  Intel is probably using 16:9 Aspect ratio so yes their tablet will be much smaller to.

Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah

 

OK well, we will have to agree to disagree. I know loads of people who have weighed up the pro's and cons of buying an iPad over (or as well as) buying a kindle (in-fact I discussed it with my mother-in-law only an hour ago), and for many people, the kindle is the better choice, even for those with a disposable income.

I might even buy a kindle myself, and I would buy one for the main reason everyone else I know buys one, which is so they can sit next to the pool or on a beach and read whilst not having to worry about battery drain.

I admit I am not involved in primary level education however I imagined that in order for the iPad to be useful in education they would be doing real studying and homework which kind of requires personalization of the device and apps. I suppose you could simply use it to access wikipedia and write down the results but if you are saving any work it has to be your own iPad not a shared iPad. What am I missing?

 

He was not saying they would keep the PPI the same as the iPad, he said they would keep the resolution the same.  You are the one that does not make since.  They will keep the same resolution as the iPad 2 but increase the PPI to acheive the smaller screen. The PPI will be close to 300 PPI.  Developers write to Aspect Ratio and resolution, they do not write to PPI.  There are dozens of sizes of HD televisions with 1080P resolution, the only difference is the PPI which does not affect anything.  PPI counts do not affect Apps only the quality of the image.  Making a screen smaller by increasing the PPI increases quality, and that is what Apple would be doing by making an iPad Mini.  Apple will not do the cheapest know solution, if they make an iPad Mini it will be a high quality product.

Quote:

Quote:

 

This "take over the world" mentality is very common, both with companies and individuals, but I think it really gets in the way when people, most analysts included, try to predict what Apple will do next. Microsoft wanted to "take over the world", Google wants to "take over the world", but I just don't see that as any sort of driving force at Apple at all. If you are a "take over the world" kind of person, or company, it's hard to see things otherwise, but it's like wearing blinders.

Totally agree with B......  

 

 

 Also, people think $350 is too much for a school but are thinking of their own wallets.

 

Schools look to spend a million $$ minimum and can get special deals from Apple with machines “leased” with service and a buy at the end kind of package.

Govt and people….. NOT THE SAME…!!!

Just a thought,
en

Of course it's not possible - which is why I never said any such thing. Perhaps you ought to pay attention.

The iPad 2 (at 10") has 1024x768 resolution. If Apple releases a 7" iPad with the same resolution as the iPad 2, it would have greater PPI (or sharpness) while retaining the same resolution so apps wouldn't need to be rewritten..

What makes you think Apple would choose the cheapest thing? Apple would use a high quality screen with the same resolution as the iPad 2 -which is what I've been saying all along. They could do that without going back 2 generations in display technology.

I like iPod Touch Maxi.

To all the doubters who don't think Apple would make a smaller, lighter, cheaper version of a successful product like the iPad I have just 2 words to say:

 

iPod Nano
 

 

To all believers who think that Apple would make a smaller, lighter, cheaper version of a successful product like the iPad I have just 2 words to say:

 

iPhone nano.

One time is a typo but doing it repeatedly is ignorance.
Which is what I've been saying.
Now you're thinking even less. I've already ran the numbers for you and yet you've failed to realize that 10224x768 7.85" is 163 PPI... just like the 3GS. This is rudimentary mathematics here!
Is it really that difficult to understand that you alter the SIZE of the items when you alter the SIZE of the items. It's a 1 to fraking 1 ratio we're talking about. You reduce the SIZE by x% you reduce the SIZE by x%. This should not be a difficult concept to understand!
I'm also not using my fingers to touch my TV display. For frak's sake is it really possible there are people that don't realize the display is the primary INPUT, not just the OUTPUT?
It doesn't affect the apps and yet Apple waited a long time to get double the resolution in the iPhone and had to make a lot of exceptions to get double the resolution in the iPad when your logic is they could have increased the PPI slowly and steadily without any negative affect in the apps and with small qualitative upgrades to the images as they did it. Yet they didn't which should tell you something about your logic and about how Apple operates.
WTF!?! Increasing the PPI does not make a display smaller? I seriously hope you didn't mean to use the preposition 'by'.
Cost and quality are not the same thing. Apple has a 15 year history (much thanks to Tim Cook) in making high quality products at a lo cost from not wasting money where they don't need to which is why the 163 1024x768 PPI 7.85" display makes a great deal of since.

Exactly. Apple designed iBook Author for exclusive use for the iPad. It does not work or scale to the iPhone or iPod Touch. With this software Apple kind of declared the current iPad form factor as the one to move forward with.

 

To create another device would actually hider schools to spend large chunks of change on a fickle company.

 

The iPad Mini aint gonna happen. The iPod Touch is meant to be portable first and formost. There is no more room in my pocket for seven more inches.

 

Do you have some inside knowledge to state that the iPhone Nano will never happen? No? I didn't think so. I prefer to talk about things Apple have actually done in the past as a reasonable indicator of what they might do in the future rather than pure speculation.

 

I don't see anyone asking for an iPhone Nano but I see lots of people asking for an iPad Mini.

 

In the meantime the iPhone 3GS covers the market segment much better than an iPhone Nano ever would and come Oct it will be both smaller and cheaper than the iPhone 5.

 

Of course I do. 3.5" is "too small" for a phone. Apple won't be making a smaller one. Both sides of the argument can't be taken simultaneously.

 

 

And I prefer to reference things they didn't do in the past when people try to claim the same thing will happen in the future.

 

 

I didn't see anyone asking for an iPad mini in 2008, either.

 

 

Six. But yes, exactly.

Something I might like to see is Apple bump up the display size of the iPod Touch to around 5" to act as an in-between model. I would not want a 5" display phone, but a 5" iPod Touch, I could see that working nicely.

 

How can you reference things Apple haven't done? That make no sense.

 

It makes more sense to look at what they have done in the past and ask the question will they follow that same logic again in the future.

 

Apple had a very successful product in the iPod but they still chose to release a smaller, lighter, cheaper model in the iPod Nano. Why did they do that? Simple because they recognised that the MP3 player marketplace had become fragmented and they wanted to make sure they had a device in each segment so they could dominate the marketplace across the board (hence the iPod Classic, iPod Touch, iPod Nano, iPod Shuffle).

 

It's why we have 3 iPhones to chose from and 3 MBPs and 2 MBAs, etc, etc.

 

It's called product diversification and Apple have a long history of doing it so it's logical to assume that they will also do it with the iPad. Personally I don't think they will stop with an iPad Nano, in a year or two when they can make it we will see a larger iPad as well.

When the new larger iPhone comes out and they continue to sell the 4S as the "bargain phone" then you will have your iPhone Nano.

 

You really think textbooks are the key to effective teaching?  And even if they are, you really think with iPad, the textbook publishers will for some inexplicable reason, decide to charge less and thus the cost of textbooks using an iPad will be less than using dead trees?

 

I never said the iPad is ineffective.  I said if a school district is going to purchase one for each student, then that's not the best use of a school district's funds.  Even though as an AAPL stockholder, it would be a good thing for me.  The issue isn't effectiveness, it's economics. (And how clever of you, you deleted the phrase 'each kid' and replaced it with 'kids' when you attacked your straw man.)

 

And in the past, they did not make an iPhone nano, despite doing so following your logic.

 

 

And just like they DIDN'T make a smaller iPhone but are (assumed to be) making a larger one, so too will they not make a smaller iPad but quite probably make a larger one.

 

Maybe so.  But the education market buying season is in the spring.  A September release is fine for the consumer market since the big buying season is the holiday quarter.  Especially for a lower-priced iPad mini.  But that's far too late for the 2012-2013 school year for institutional buyers.

 

Jesus Christ! You just don't get it do you. It has nothing to do with size. It's about market segmentation. Having a product option that meets everyone's needs. Look through Apple's product catalogue - in just about every respect they have a entry level model, mid range mass market model and an expensive high end model. Again something for everyone. It's basic level marketing / product management.

 

They don't need to bring out an iPhone Nano coz they already have a cheaper iPhone - the 3GS and 4.

 

But they don't have a product to satisfy the market segment between the 3.5" iPod and the 10" iPad. An iPad Mini would open a whole new market segment for Apple to sell into.

 

Entry - iPod Shuffle

Mid - iPod Nano

High - iPod Touch

 

Entry - iPhone 3GS

Mid - iPhone 4

High - iPhone 4S

 

Entry - iPad Mini

Mid - iPad 2

High - iPad 3

 

Entry - Mac Mini

Mid - iMac

High - Mac Pro

 

Entry - MB

Mid - MBA

High - MBP

 

Are you getting it yet?????????????????????????

 

I've got a headache now.

 

That's because the current ones on the market are shit.  The low sales of any tablets before iPad would have suggested there wasn't a market for tablets at all, but the iPad proved otherwise.   People don't know what they want until you show them it.

 

Personally, if they release a 7" iPad, I'll buy one.  My wife has an iPad 3, and while I like it, for reading it's hopeless in comparison to the Kindle.  I know the Kindle is a single use device and hence should be better at that one thing than the iPad, but I find the iPad 3 too heavy for reading and in truth it's form factor is just uncomfortable to hold for a long period of time (if I support it from the bottom, because the edge of it is quite pointed, the pressure isn't nice).

 

I'd love to see Apple come out with something that is able to do more than Kindle, but can be comfortably held in one hand for a long period of time.

Says who?

The #2 tablet during the Christmas season was 7". As near as I can estimate, roughly half of all non-Apple tablets are 7".

 

No, you don't.

 

 

They don't need to bring out an iPad mini, because they already have a cheaper iPad. The iPad 2. And next year, who knows? The iPad 2 could be $299, iPad 3 $399, and iPad 4 $499.

 

 

For reference, do you also assume that Apple will be creating an xMac? What about a netbook? A standalone eReader? Should Apple make a digital cash register? Perhaps a television (HERE we go… ). Maybe Apple should just make a DVR instead.

 

Apple owns the tablet market. That is a market segment.

 

 

The Mac Mini and iMac aren't the same market as the Mac Pro. So say some. And you've preemptively acknowledged that I've disproven your point by pointing out the iPad 2 alongside the iPad 3. 

 

 

Trying to create an argument where there isn't one has been known to do that.

 

For a mod you really do seem to manage to get into a spectacular number of arguments.

 

Still human, with all the opinions and thoughts contained therein.

 

Do you trust a machine to moderate? I wouldn't trust Defensio, that's for sure. 

 

I'm more on the side of ED209.

 

Joking aside, I do think you need to let it go sometimes.  Ultimately Shaun just had a different opinion to you, which is really what discussion boards should be about. You end up coming across as someone who wants to "win" by using a war of attrition with endless replies getting into somewhat ridiculous detail when all that has happened is two people think different things.  You were doing the same with Slurpy a couple of weeks ago.  I personally think it lowers the tone of the whole board.

¿Que?

And lots of those items in your list aren't really low-, mid- and high-end. The Mac Pro is a workstation that isn't even in a viable option for most consumers and the MBA cost more money for a given performance than the MBP which makes it a special case for a specific needs. The only honest way to measure low-, mid- and high-end is within a specific model type. For example, the low end 15" MBP has a 2.2GHz CPU, the mid range has a 2.4GHz CPU, and the high end ha a 2.5GHz GPU, along with some other clear base changes between the low and mid-range the ability to customize it even more. I haven't seen anything that suggests that MBA is a midrange machine. In fact Apple has been marketing the 11" model as their entry level notebook for awhile now. The 13' MB is now just for education.
Edited by SolipsismX - 6/5/12 at 3:13pm

iPad 4 won't be out for 9 more months, in all likelihood. Meanwhile, the current lineup is:

iPad 2 $399, iPad 3 $499.

That leaves room for an iPad Mini at $299. Furthermore, some people would actually prefer the Mini because of its size, so it opens a new segment of the market as well as takes the wind out of the sales of the competitors in a way that the $399 iPad 2 can't.

 

Of course. And as this is a discussion board, discussing opinions and their validity is what we do.

 

 

Extrapolation based on past knowledge is 'ridiculous detail'?

 

Breaking out what someone has said line by line and attempting to deconstruct their every point is a frankly needless attempt to demonstrate mastery over someone, and is somewhat childish.

 

Interpret it as you will; that's not my intention. Things become unclear if posts are not broken up. Context is lost and responses can be misconstrued. I'm simply preventing that from happening.

 

Apple doesn't really need to enter every market at every price point.  The current Kindle crop starts at $79.  There's nearly zero profit in there and its sole reason for existence is to push Amazon's book sales.  You'd have to be insane to try to compete  for that market segment.  Apple doesn't really feel threatened if an iPad buyer also spends $79 on a Kindle for poolside reading (we have several Kindles and iPads in my household, each functions well for its intended purpose). 

 

Because many existing apps would violate the iOS HIG 44x44 point touch target size and many developers would have to change their apps to make them as usable as the guidelines recommend/require.  The UX of many apps would be greatly diminished by this UI change and it would be a greatly inferior product.

 

This is what Jobs was talking about regarding filing down fingers with sandpaper.  On the other hand a 4"-6" iPod touch at the same resolution has a larger touch target size than the existing touch.  So apps designed under the iPhone UI guidelines will work well.

 

This is the basis of my contention that any 4-7" iOS device will be an upsized iPod Touch and not a downsized iPad.  It will be the same UI target as the iPhone and not the iPad.

 

I'm sorry but I think that is very much your intention. Over 11,600 posts in less that 2 years. Plus the fact that you post on just about every other Mac forum.

 

Your comments frequently attempt to belittle other peoples views and dissect their opinions in minute detail with phrases like "only an idiot would think..."

 

At the end of the day we are all just expressing an opinion. Non of us knows what is going to happen.

 

I think Apple will launch an iPad Mini. You think they won't. Ok we shall see what happens in Sept/Oct. I'll be the first to hold my hand up if I'm wrong and I hope you will do the same.

 

Okay. As I've said, you're wrong, but you're welcome to that opinion.