A big bundle of negativity today are we?
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Originally Posted by
Carmissimo 
It doesn't add up that Apple would move 10 million of these units in less than two months, even if it is the holiday shopping season.
I could see 3-5 million going out the door on the first weekend.
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The market for this device is not a clear one. For puttering around the house, clearly the iPad has this device beat by quite a margin. On the go, there's the iPhone and soon the 4-inch Touch.
The market is pretty well established for 7" sized devices. There are many advantages for a device this size. It would be great for travel, especially mapping as the iPad is currently to big for that and iPhone too small. Beyond that woman would love a device this size that can be stuffed in a purse.
This doesn't even get into business where people carry Daytimer type folios around all day that are about the same size. I actually see business adoption to be stronger with this device than with the current iPad.
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Children? Place the current iPad on the table next to this proposed iPad Mini. Guaranteed the average seven-year-old would gravitate to the current iPad model.
As a parent would you really do something so stupid? In my day we made do with what our parents could afford and where willing to buy.
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If you already have an iPhone and you already have an iPad, you're probably not a potential customer for this device.
Well I'm not at the moment. However I know of many people with multiple I devices in their household, another one doesn't mean much.
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Move along to early next year and it gets worse. Considering just how light the new iPhone has become, clearly Apple remains committed to making its products lighter. As such, we can expect a significant weight reduction for the iPad 4. That would further render this rumoured unit irrelevent.
What is it about people that they can't understand that there are different markets and different needs? IPad Mini will sell simply because it offers up a smaller more portable design. In a nut shell it serves a different user base than the current iPad because of its size.
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The other impact of releasing this device is the long-term disappointment that purchasers are going to experience on account of the current iPad has set a standard that this proposed unit can't match. In a household with iPhones, Touchs and standard iPads, this device would end up all but ignored.
Baloney! People still buy Kindles and are very happy with them. People still buy Touches and are very happy with them.
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The other downside to all this is that if Apple replaces the iPad 2 with this unit, a good deal will have been taken off the table. The iPad 2 is easily the best bang for the buck in the tablet market. If instead, we get Apple's version of a 7-inch tablet at the $399 price point, to me that's not progress.
Tough for you. Frankly iPad2 is a terrible value but you see this is called a difference of opinion. Most people will see this device as a new product positioned to sell to people with a need for a smaller tablet. Besides it isn't a given that Apple will abandon the strategy set forth with iPhone where last years product becomes this years entry point. IPad 2 might get dropped early due to the dock connector but tht doesn't mean in the future Apple won't have a new / old strategy.
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On the other hand, the Wall Street Jounal is a reputable publication and the noise regarding this rumoured unit has been deafening in recent days. So this misstep might well be on the agenda. Even when Jobs was in charge, mistakes were made. No reason to think current Apple management will get it right all the time.
There is even less reason to believe anything you have posted here. Using your logic Chevy would sell one type of car and tell the rest of the world to go to hell. That isn't what a company like Apple should be doing, there goal should be to meet as many varying needs as possible with the fewest number of products possible. Right now they simply don't have the right mix of products to do that. When it comes to tablets it isn't a one size fits all world.
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I don't think consumers want a $399 tweener tablet from any manufacturer and the $299 price point is already covered by the new Touch.
Sorry to hear that! It isn't about price anyways, the existence of the Touch had no impact on my iPad buy.
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Consumers buying it to save a few bucks over getting the regular iPad would end up wishing they hadn't. The competition has been devastated by the 10-inch iPad and now Apple is going to give us a tablet more like competitors' failed products. Odd.
The competition is loosing out due to Apples infrastructure. Make no mistake iTunes, App Store and other Apple services make for very compelling arguements to buy Apple iOS devices. You are mistaken however to believe that the completion has failed, there are very successful products out there. Frankly Apple could take a big bite out of those markets with the right device.
Look at this from the more speculative standpoint, some industry projections see the PC industry drying up in 5-8 years. That is most people will have their personal computing needs handled by iOS like devices. That means cell phones, and tablets will replace laptops and PCs in that time frame. Given that this speculation is true do you really think Apple can cover the market with just one tablet device?
By the way I'm not so convinced that this transition will happen. I'm not a big fan of iCloud type solutions for every need. I expect that in the future there will be a mixed arrangement where iCloud is part of the solution. That is we will still have "PCs" in our house but they will serve a slightly different purpose. The other problem is that data services are just to expensive to allow for the type of connectivity some envision. Streaming music and video over cell systems won't happen at the rates charged these days. So future PCs take on a role something like a server combined with entertainment and other functions.
