And I still have an iPad 2 that my just turned 4 years old granddaughter has been using almost every day for the last year. Almost 8.5 years old, and my iPad 2 still works. i think I paid an arm and a leg for that 64 gig iPad 2, especially compared to today’s cost of a regular iPad.
More proof that Apple has, since the return of Steve Jobs, been employing old style horizontal and vertical integration in order to maximise sales and weaken the opposition. It exposes the stupidity of the 'outsource everything but your core business' craze that started in the 1990's. In this context, the iPad Mini simply closes a gap in the 'horizontal' part of Apple's strategy, while also optimising old components from the 'vertical' supply side. BTW, Apple also ignores the supposed optimum zones of Arthur C. Clarke's management trilemma, usually quoted as "Quick, Cheap, Good: Pick two." Instead the philosophy is that the product has to be better than good, and speed and price are managed to a 'best possible' level, through great management and clever strategy. Right now it is fascinating to try to discern where Apple TV+ is going. Is it just a new revenue stream, or is there a deeper, more subtle play behind it?
Bit weird to cut the article on Jobs disparaging 7" tablets without mentioning the iPad Mini being released in 2012.
The reason why it's not weird is that Jobs said that in 2010, which was 2 years before 2012 in historical terms of time.
And yet your article makes digs at Google for what they were doing two years after that (in historical terms of time), and specifically calls out Jobs's "prescience":
It ended up taking more than a year for many makers to give up on 7-inch tablets-- Google kept trying to sell them until the end of 2014-- but Jobs' anticipation of what would be successful in tablets ended up being presciently correct.
It's weird. A little extra line or two would have tailed it off without the obvious omission, e.g.
Of course, once Apple had asserted its dominance in tablet computing it didn't entirely keep its aversion to smaller form factors; the 7.9" iPad was released in 2012, and the fifth generation of that device is sold to this day.
In a number of ways, Apple is no different than other successful companies. When you have products, but aren’t competing in a specific area, and are repeatedly asked why, you have to have a response. If you say that the area is great, but that you just aren’t going to compete, that causes problems as to why. So you tend to downplay the worth of those products. Then, if you come out with something a year later, you can say that’s you solved the problems other products had, as so now you’ll compete.
with the iPod as an example, Steve said that people didn’t want to see video on such small screens. He may have been right enough, at the time, but there was certainly interest. When Apple came out with an iPod that did run video, it did a better job than the competition. I remember this pretty well, even though I never had an iPod myself.
part of the job of top company officials is to deflect anything that makes the company look bad, or lost. It’s normal, and people who don’t understand that don’t understand how business is conducted. As long as you’re not lying about financials, it’s ok.
before the iPad, we had a number of discussion here about tablets, whether Apple would have one, and, if so, what size it would be. At the time, I was all for a small model that I could carry around in a belt holder, the way I had, and have my phone. I felt that if it wasn’t that easy to carry, people wouldn’t take them when they went out. Ireland was for a 10” model because it would be much easier to do work on. We all had rather “spirited” discussions. It turned out he was right about what Apple would do.
ironically, I use the iPad Pro 12.9”, and if Apple made a bigger model, I would get that. But, between my iphone Max, and that large size, I don’t carry it with me as much as I did the 9.7” model. So, in a way, I suppose we were both right, when Apple came out with the Mini, and then the larger phones.
but the Mini isn’t a 7” 16:9 tablet. It’s really much bigger. So I suppose that when Hobs was railing against small tablets, and meant specifically those small 7” models being to small, he was right. The 7.9” Mini has a lot more screen area, and allows for iPhone sized icons, which, as we know, are fine.
Comments
i think I paid an arm and a leg for that 64 gig iPad 2, especially compared to today’s cost of a regular iPad.
In this context, the iPad Mini simply closes a gap in the 'horizontal' part of Apple's strategy, while also optimising old components from the 'vertical' supply side.
BTW, Apple also ignores the supposed optimum zones of Arthur C. Clarke's management trilemma, usually quoted as "Quick, Cheap, Good: Pick two." Instead the philosophy is that the product has to be better than good, and speed and price are managed to a 'best possible' level, through great management and clever strategy.
Right now it is fascinating to try to discern where Apple TV+ is going. Is it just a new revenue stream, or is there a deeper, more subtle play behind it?
It's weird. A little extra line or two would have tailed it off without the obvious omission, e.g.
with the iPod as an example, Steve said that people didn’t want to see video on such small screens. He may have been right enough, at the time, but there was certainly interest. When Apple came out with an iPod that did run video, it did a better job than the competition. I remember this pretty well, even though I never had an iPod myself.
part of the job of top company officials is to deflect anything that makes the company look bad, or lost. It’s normal, and people who don’t understand that don’t understand how business is conducted. As long as you’re not lying about financials, it’s ok.
before the iPad, we had a number of discussion here about tablets, whether Apple would have one, and, if so, what size it would be. At the time, I was all for a small model that I could carry around in a belt holder, the way I had, and have my phone. I felt that if it wasn’t that easy to carry, people wouldn’t take them when they went out. Ireland was for a 10” model because it would be much easier to do work on. We all had rather “spirited” discussions. It turned out he was right about what Apple would do.
ironically, I use the iPad Pro 12.9”, and if Apple made a bigger model, I would get that. But, between my iphone Max, and that large size, I don’t carry it with me as much as I did the 9.7” model. So, in a way, I suppose we were both right, when Apple came out with the Mini, and then the larger phones.
but the Mini isn’t a 7” 16:9 tablet. It’s really much bigger. So I suppose that when Hobs was railing against small tablets, and meant specifically those small 7” models being to small, he was right. The 7.9” Mini has a lot more screen area, and allows for iPhone sized icons, which, as we know, are fine.