Apple telling suppliers to prep for mass production of smaller iPad - WSJ

If true, it's the Second Coming of the iPod phenomenon. And if Apple can pull it off roughly the same way, it spells the end of tablet market, and the monumental growth of the iPad market. 

 

Steve Jobs *did* say this was a bad idea. However, if we consider the success of the iPod approach, then this is Not good news for the competition. At all.

 

An entire family of iPads. It just might be what we will lock up the market for Apple. 

Hmmm. Seems like a larger iPod touch would be more appropriate... But that's just me.
Any comments on why 7.9 has 'better attributes' over the present 9 inch...just doesn't seem significant benefits????
Seems to me a 5-6 inch version would be a sweet spot... But that just me again.

SOLD

Tim Cook you fail !! as apple CEO

I still don't see it.

 

Apple never competes on price. Look at Netbooks. Macbook Air is hardly a cheap netbook, yet between the Air and iPad, Apple has killed the netbook market.

 

Many "analysts" had all sorts of rumors than an iPhone mini was coming out. All sorts of talk that they needed to have a lower price model to compete. Instead Apple has kept selling older models and dropped the price.

 

The iPad2 currently sells for $399. Its miles better than the Fire or Nexus. Why would Apple bother with a smaller device?

 

Apple hates having lots of different products. Even worse is having lots of different development platforms. Today there are only two iOS display resolutions, the iPad & iPhone/iPod-touch and their pixel doubled counterparts which can be automatically pixel doubled by iOS w no change to the app. Adding a 7" model who's sole purpose is to be cheap, while adding another product to the lineup and another screen resolution to worry about is not a good move for Apple.

 

What apple tends to do is take an existing older product and lower its price. 

Spot on! As usual. I'm up for the smaller portable iPad. Sold my iPad2 to get the latest iPad3 but am holding off for the smaller iPad. 

 

Best

I'm at a loss as to why this would have high demand.  Is it supposed to replace Kindle readers because I don't exactly see the benefit of having it as a scaled-down iPad.  Will it be used as a hand-held gaming console?  I can understand why consumers might buy Kindle Fires and other 7" Android tablets because they're cheap in price.  However, I don't see consumers buying a $299 7" iPad to save money.  I'm guessing that Apple would have to leave out a number of features to reach that price and I personally think it's a bad idea to remove any features from a smaller iPad that the normal-sized iPad has.  I still think the analysts are wrong on this iPad mini and there must be something they're misunderstanding.  I'd be happy if an iPad mini could disrupt all sales of the smaller Android tablets, but that's about the only thing that would be worthwhile from it.

Me thinks Apple just ratted out a leaker.

Would an iPad mini without a bezel be sensible/feasible? You could then hold it in one hand, just like an iPhone, even people with small hands. While looking for a mockup, I found this, pretty cool:



Cool video, but I can't embed a video for reasons unknown to me:
http://tablet-news.com/2012/02/29/futuristic-ipad-concept-uses-no-bezel-at-all-magnets-to-attach-to-other-ipads-video/

You make good points. Although I do think it will be part of the iPad family as opposed to being part of the IPod family. I liken it to when Apple had such a command of the MP3 market (~80%) and introduced the Shuffle (Flash) and then took ~80% of that market by the "following Friday!" I also think, Tim is thinking lets get the smaller iPad in the hands of a lot of people and introduce them to the Apple eco-system and they will buy (and gift), Apps, iPads, iPods, AppleTV's, iPhones, Laptops, etc. etc. We all know the "Halo" effect of the iPod! :)

 

Best

Me thinks this is a controlled media "leak" from Apple themselves intended to tell potential buyers to delay their smaller tablet purchases until they see Apple's product. Apple may want the details kept under wraps for a bit longer, but absolutely want to minimize the Nexus7 tablet introduction from this week. "Wait, we have one coming too" is the message they want spread IMO.

This plus "Virtual Bezel Mode" for those who sometimes prefer one would kick ass.

Thanks for the Vid. Very, Very imaginative! :)

A smaller and cheaper iPad could allow Apple to more directly compete with the low-end tablet market 

 

Compete with the low-end tablet market... great...

 

Agreed. IF this is true it is the iPod Touch (which wasn't revamped other than adding white last year) than the iPad. Gets the iPod Touch out from being merely an iPhone that can't make calls, etc. And it has the advantage that scaling up iPhone apps is way easier than scaling down iPad ones. In fact you don't have to do anything which will thrill the developers. Yes many will add a 3rd face that is optimized for the size but until they get it done they have a working app that doesn't look like total poop. 

 

Very true. Apple doesn't design to compete with a price point. They also don't design just cause the other boys are doing it, especially when they already have a product winning that fight (i.e. why make a 7 inch iPad to beat the Kindle when it already getting beaten by the 10 inch iPad)

 

More like perhaps a controlled leak to find out who the source of the leaks is. Remember Tim Cook's oath to 'double down on secrecy'. My guess is that they aren't doing anything with the iPad, it's not even a 7 inch iPod Touch but more like a 5-6 and the named companies and implied components are no where near correct. But someone just got his/her independence from Apple in a big way. 

I don't understand how you can call it 'better than the nexus' when they aren't even released yet... You might be entirely right. But the point is, you don't know. I don't understand product bashing... especially when you clearly don't own a particular product. 

 

This is starting to make a little more sense. It made me wonder why Apple called this latest iPad "the new iPad" rather than the iPad 3. It seems that it may have been but a placeholder. If a new, smaller model is on the horizon, they couldn't very well call that the iPad 4, but it's a completely different product.

So now, we'll likely see a "new iPad mini". No number. Maybe we'll see numbering scheme return upon the next iteration of the current iPad?

I guess Apple will go for iPad Mini, replicating the success in iPod world (classic, mini, nano, shuffle, touch). Besides, iPad Mini is easier to pronounce and remember, I think.

True. I also don't understand product praise when the product doesn't exist, like the Surface and the Nexus.

It'd be physically impossible, but more than that, you wouldn't want one due to the touches you didn't want registered.

You really want to force developers to design their app to have two screen sizes for the SAME DEVICE?! Imagine what they'd do in retaliation.

If nothing else, it gives Apple the chance at an upsell to a proper iPad. However, there clearly is a market for a smaller device. I would prefer a 6" tablet so I could justify buying one. Big enough to have a legible screen and keyboard, small enough to fit in a [man]purse.

Thought we had this worked out the last time this rumor surfaced. The iPad Mini will be, among other things a K-12 product. Coupled with Apple's newest e-book format it will be a (paper) textbook-killer. Not bad as a consumer e-book reader or video viewer either.

 

Well said.  Time to bring the hammer down.  This will cement tablet = iPad  

Everyone keeps saying that. It's not true. Or at least not true enough for anyone to post any evidence of it being true.

Netbooks were pumped out by everyone and his brother back in aught seven. You can still see them today. But if you look at the numbers, there is no market for netbooks. You'd have to be an idiot or have more money than sense to make one now.

What are the numbers for tablet sizes? Apple has, what, 60% of the shipped tablet market, right? What of the rest is comparable to a 7-8" screen? Do we even know?

And that's just shipped. Apple also apparently has about 90% of the market that is actually being used. That tells me straight away what size people actually want.

Bumbling morons like the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and DigiTimes can report whatever they think they heard from whomever they think they heard it until the cows come home, but at this stage Apple will release an iPad mini in the quarter after they release an iPhone nano.

You know, the one that everyone and his brother said was assured. Because a 3.5" screen is too big on a phone!

Is there any news on whether it would have a Retina display?  I'm assuming a $299 price point.  Not sure if it is economically feasible.  I'm assuming it would have 16 GB as the minimum, unlike the crap 8GB in the Fire or baseline Nexus   

 

I would like very much that Apple's positioning is "Everything Retina going forward".   But they do need to hit a much lower price point.  One option would be to release the non-retina version this Fall, and re-fresh it in the Spring to Retina as part of the overall iPad line update.  Or keep it ~ 18 months non-Retina, and then switch it over Spring 2014.  

 

I actually think the latter approach would be a good solution  - low cost now, kill off Fire/Nexus demand, continue to bring Retina screen prices down in parallel, and then update it to Retina.  I like that roadmap  

Wouldn't be that hard to keep the same aspect ratio and just downscale it a bit in virtual bezel mode.

If it comes to be, will it have a cellular radio? Beauty of smaller former factors is portability, but they're much more useful if they can access the net where wifi isn't available.

No significant benefits? It's just over half the size (60 square inches vs 100 square inches). For lots of people, that's a big selling point. When you consider that the bulk of non-iPad tablets are 7", that suggests that a significant number of people fit into that category.


Not necessarily true. No one suggested that Apple should compete on price. The current 7" tablets tend to be around $199. Even if Apple charges $249 or $299, it will sell like hotcakes. Apple has a lot of significant advantages, so making this a price war would be silly. That does not, however, mean that they can't offer a lower priced model. Should they offer only dual CPU Mac Pros? Should they offer only a 13" MBA? Should they offer only a 64 GB iPhone?

While it made sense to start with a single size of iPad, the market has grown enough that Apple can easily support two different sizes - just like the iMac, MBA, MBP, and so on.


There are a lot of possible uses:

- eBook reader (for the person who isn't going to do much other than read books)
- K-12 tablet
- Educational tablet for toddlers
- Games (where the 10" tablet is too large and cumbersome)
- Second tablet in the family
- Watching movies on airplanes where the 10" is possibly too large for the cramped space (particularly when you have a drink or snack on the tray table

In the end, look at what is being sold in the market place. Clearly, the iPad is the dominant leader. But if you look at all the Android and other non-Apple tablets, 7" is the predominant size, so the market is substantial.

Plus, offering a 7-8" product would help to prevent the competitors from getting a strong foothold that they can then use to attack Apple on the high end.

 

When he did so he cited two reasons. 

 

(1) The old filing fingers down - strange when iOS works fine on an even smaller screen iPhone iPod Touch.

 

(2) I think the other (oft forgotten) reason he gave was more telling - he wanted to keep developers sweet. But given the success of the iPad and Apps for it, developers are more firmly on board than before. imho they would tolerate a 2nd screen size.

 

Besides he was dissing 7" tablets. The rumoured 7.85" has a 25% bigger screen area than a 7 inch-er.

There is certainly enough debris floating around this rumour that makes me think it's likely but I have a feeling an result will be different than what most people are thinking.

Once again we have another story about Apple making a small iPad because they need to compete in the cheaper market. Yet there is zero evidence to support this claim. Seems these wall street financial analysts keep using this rumor because they're the ones who pushed the nonsense that the Kindle Fire would be an iPad killer. So rather than admit they are wrong the keep pushing rumors of a smaller iPad.

Agreed. I was messing with my friend's Galaxy Tab 7.7. Great size and had blazing fast LTE.

I agree with this. I still think if anything we might see a bigger iPod touch. Especially if the iPhone gets bigger. But this meme being floated that Apple needs to compete with the $199 tablets is ridiculous. What evidence is there that Apple is being hurt because they don't compete in the cheap tablet market?

It's possible. The % of 13" MB Airs (and 13" ultrabooks in general) shipped is far bigger than the % of 11" models as well. Still hasn't stopped Apple from making the small MB Air their new entry level laptop after the plastic Macbook was killed off.

If you take the full sized iPod, then how do you explain the Mini and Nano?

 

Apple took full sized to half and quarter-size. With the iPad they have full-size, iPhone quarter-size, with the half-size iPad Mini missing in the middle.

Without a bezel it would fit in your hand, like an iPhone, by merely touching the back and the sides. True, the iPhone has a 'bezel' on top and below the screen. I think I'll even be able to hold the current iPad in my hand if it didn't have a bezel. Then again, maybe I just have big hands. Downside would be that there is less room for the battery.

 

Well that is a bit extreme but yeah it will be very good for Apple. People like choice and for many a smaller device is more useful. If you think iPad has had success in business just wait until Apple has something along Day Timer size. What is it about people that they can't regonize marketing when the see and hear it? When entering or creating a new market you have to run with the ball you have to the expense of all others. Steve understood this as one of his great strengths was marketing, the so called reality distortion field.

It can be likened to the phrase "You go to war with the army you got not the one you wish you had". The concept is relatively the same, Apple went to war with the current iPad because that is what they had. In reality it was the perfect place to test out the iPad concept but nothing is, nor never was, written in stone as to what the iPads size should be. I doubt there will be sound competition until MicroSoft gets off its a$$ and starts to ship well designed product. Samsung is working on its own solution but that is a ways off. Every other effort has been bungled by bad management. So iPad is on its own for at least another year or two.
I see an entire family of iOS devices. Apple TV, iPod and iPad are really just the start. IOS could end up cramed into all sorts of devices including automobiles.

I agree with the idea of boosting the iPod business without soiling the iPad brand name with a cheap tablet. I've certainly made plenty of comments toward that end since that rumour first appeared. I will be shocked if they call it an iPad and it's $199 device that is inline with other profit-less tablets.

If they are going to announce such a device at an event where they update the iPod would seem like the best fit. That means this Autumn. Note that they didn't update the iPod Touch last year.


PS: I'd think a cheaper Mac would be more beneficial to Apple's bottom line at this point. I can see them making an $800 PC that actually has a healthy profit margin.

Has anyone ever used one of these 7" devices? I have and so has one of my Apple hating coworkers. For two weeks I used one as a phone/tablet while traveling abroad (a Samsung Note) and came to the conclusion that it was nothing more than clunky to carry and use. My wife, who does not usually comment on gadgets and such, agreed. As for my coworker, he carried around his Nook Color for maybe two months for his everyday work needs. Now I never see it anymore and a 4.5" Droid has taken its place.

My point is that Apple doesn't need to introduce a device this size because people don't use devices this size like iPads. They use iPads like iPads and iPhones like iPhones. I think this "mini" iPad is actually the new, larger iPhone or the remote for the new AppleTv.