Thread: iPad-Mini Rumor
View Single Post
Kraetos
Lovable Bastard
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Boston-ish
 
2012-05-05, 00:09

Quote:
Originally Posted by hmurchison View Post
I've said and re-state the iPad is about the software and ecosystem first and foremost.
Yes, you do keep saying that, but you don't appear to be thinking it through. The software and the ecosystem is explicitly designed to work on a 9.7" device. You're not talking about leveraging the existing ecosystem, you're talking about splitting off a new one.

Quote:
People don't want tablets they want iPads.
Again, you keep repeating this ad nauseam, but you don't appear to actually be thinking it through. The 9.7" screen is literally the defining feature of the iPad. There is nothing about the iPad that represents the essence of the iPad better than it's screen. An iOS device without a 9.7" screen (or larger) isn't an iPad.

Quote:
So it's not about size of screen or how many USB or HDMI ports are on the side
No, it's exactly about that. The 9.7" screen was a deliberate choice. The lack of USB and HDMI ports was a deliberate choice. Saying that it's "not about" these things belies a lack of understanding of why the iPad has been so successful.

Quote:
it's about how the user interacts with their device and the iPhone proved that iOS could be special in a 3.5 size while the iPad proved it would scale to 9.7".
Although they share a name, iPhone iOS and iPad iOS have important differences in the UI. iPad iOS is not simply a scaled up version if iPhone iOS, one look at the home screen should tell you this. The iPhone keyboard is not the same as the iPad keyboard, and if you've ever used a scaled up iPhone app, you would know that they are quite different.

The 9.7" screen is just large enough for a full size on-screen keyboard. A 7.85" screen is not. This is not a minor difference; it completely changes the intended purpose of the device.

Second, the iPad relies on popovers where the iPhone relies on panes. Popovers are far more efficient than panes. Panes are a compromise made due the screen size. A 7" iPad is too small for popovers. Again, this completely changes the intended purpose of the device. The full size iPad is a competent content creation device. The rumored iPad mini would not be. This is exactly the category that Apple doesn't want iPad to fall into.

Apple is not eyeing the Kindle market with iPad. The Kindle market is peanuts compared to the notebook PC market, and that is what the iPad is after. Going after the Kindle market is a distraction that Apple cannot afford right now. The stakes are too high, the future of computing is literally on the table here, and Apple is not going to dick around with making a crippled iPad when the market they are targeting is accustomed to larger screens, not smaller ones.

You (and other iPad mini proponents) cannot see the forest for the trees. The 7" iPad seems appealing because it could be cheaper, but it's a stopgap measure at best. A $299 iPad 2 will probably be practical by this time next year.

Apple must not take their eyes of the ball. The ball, right now, is to replace the 2+ billion Wintel PCs, worldwide, with iPads. A 7" iPad is a costly distraction from this goal. Period. End of story. The full-sized iPad we have today is just about the most innovative thing to happen to computing in the past 20 years and as a shareholder I don't want Apple pissing away time and resources on a market which is a fraction of the size when the utterly massive Wintel PC market is riper than it's ever been. If Windows 8 is the Vista-like fumble that I'm pretty sure it will be, then Apple needs to drive the iPad home as a PC replacement. An iPad which is too small to have a good keyboard would be dead weight against PCs.

The Kindle market is pretty small compared to the PC market. You're arguing that Apple should distract themselves with a 100 million user market when there's a 2 billion user market ripe for the taking.

Quote:
7.85" is a walk in the park.
I think there eventually will be an iOS device in the 5"-8" screen size range, but it won't be an iPad. It will be an iPod. It will use an iPhone-style keyboard which is fastest in portrait mode, and use panes instead of popovers. It will be around 6", be suited almost entirely for consumption, run iPhone/iPod (not iPad!) apps, and it won't be marketed as an iPad or receive the same fanfare than an iPad launch does. It just not as important a size to address. It will happen eventually, but not soon, and not as an iPad.

Logic, logic, logic. Logic is the beginning of wisdom, Valeris, not the end.

Last edited by Kraetos : 2012-05-05 at 11:12.