[PCWorld]

Post your comments for iPad Mini Draws Strong Consumer Interest here

[BradE]

The cult of cool is Apple's bank, not heeding pundits or polls. The instant Fonzi starts following orders or trends, he dies.

[FalKirk]

An unscientific online survey about a purely hypothetical product.

Honestly, why did you bother to write about this? You not only wasted your time, but you wasted ours as well.

[fatkat]

Isn't the iPhone a 3G connected smaller version of the iPad?

"Floggers of the idea can't see how Apple can resist the market pressure for a cheaper tablet"

Funny, I can't see how they wouldn't. Apple makes 2 kinds of devices, cheaper ones and better ones, and they have had great success keeping the gap between the 2 wide, rather than narrow and the difference between the two obvious. You can get a 32GB or 64GB iPod or just the 8GB - no 16GB model to compromise on. The differences between the two must be obvious so that only budget customers will buy the cheaper device. Those who would have gone for the 16GB model if it were available now have no choice but to give Apple more money. Apple makes sure that budget shoppers get what they pay for. Similarly a few years back, there were 8GB iPod Touch models - but they had 2G. Again, Apple wanted buyers to know that they would pay a price for not paying that much. Today the lesson again - you can get an 8GB iPhone, but it would be the iPhone 4, not 4S.

Ultimately, there are two competing forces out there - buyers who wish that Apple would make a device that fits their budget, even if it's not quite as powerful; and Apple that wants to make a device that fits a price point no matter what their customers say they want. It's a tug of war and my money is on Apple to win.

[AhhYonzbd]

Apple can afford to lower the iPad 2 down to a more reasonable price and still make a profit. As for size, it's basically up to the individual to decided what is practical for their everyday use. In other words, manufacturers will never satisfy consumers no matter how much they information they receive. Another good idea for Apple, raise the iPod Touch screen to a bigger size without raising the price, i.e. 5 inch screen.

[kjohn034]

fatkat, on 06 May 2012 - 11:30 AM, said:

Isn't the iPhone a 3G connected smaller version of the iPad?

"Floggers of the idea can't see how Apple can resist the market pressure for a cheaper tablet"

Funny, I can't see how they wouldn't. Apple makes 2 kinds of devices, cheaper ones and better ones, and they have had great success keeping the gap between the 2 wide, rather than narrow and the difference between the two obvious. You can get a 32GB or 64GB iPod or just the 8GB - no 16GB model to compromise on. The differences between the two must be obvious so that only budget customers will buy the cheaper device. Those who would have gone for the 16GB model if it were available now have no choice but to give Apple more money. Apple makes sure that budget shoppers get what they pay for. Similarly a few years back, there were 8GB iPod Touch models - but they had 2G. Again, Apple wanted buyers to know that they would pay a price for not paying that much. Today the lesson again - you can get an 8GB iPhone, but it would be the iPhone 4, not 4S.

Ultimately, there are two competing forces out there - buyers who wish that Apple would make a device that fits their budget, even if it's not quite as powerful; and Apple that wants to make a device that fits a price point no matter what their customers say they want. It's a tug of war and my money is on Apple to win.

I'm still on the fence about getting the new iPad as opposed to keeping the iPad1. Why? The iPad1 still gets the job done in much the same way that the new iPad does and that is a testament to the genius of the original iPad concept and hardware. Now a smaller iPad would bring something new to the game. Same interface but much easier to lift or move around all day. The iPod touch is too small and no 3g or 4g and the iPhone just costs too much for service as i only want data and no phone. So i think i would sell my iPad1 and buy a new iPad mini in a heartbeat. Also i think the mini hardware could be really good for the size. Use the iPad 2 processor and crank up the resolution, add a nice fat battery and off to the races.
Jobs thought the iPad was going to kill the laptop and probably the desktop. Didn't happen so the larger iPad doesn't make as much sense in this new reality. There is a lot of room for many different kinds of computers so nothing is getting killed off.
Bottom line is i'd buy a mini in a heartbeat and i think so would many others.

[ronin7752]

Tsk, tsk. And so many IT Experts claim that a 7-inch tablet is an inferior product.

After 30 years, I am still amazed at how stupid marketing "experts" can be. This just another example of a totally skewed survey for which the results are poorly interpreted...

[karthiq]

Since apple has a strong ecosystem and a strong supply chain which gives it a better control over its device pricing, i think it can make mini a success if this ''consumer interest'' is accurate.

[KLanD]

The ipod is priced between $200 and $400

The ipad is $500 to $700+

No way would a mini be $250. I think even $300 would be pushing it. I think $350-$550 or even $600 would be about right.

although I still doubt it'll happen.

[hellopoco]

Its called an Ipod Touch.

[DevinPolaski]

Difference in screen size will mean difference in experience, which breaks Apple's good consistency. No matter what version of iPhone or iPod Touch you have, it's pretty much the same experience, aside from obvious speed variations and processing power. Same goes for any of the three versions of the iPad; all have a unified experience more or less. But throw a third screen size in and you have a whole new category, which gets messy. And there's already plenty of Android tablets making a mess in user experience; Apple doesn't need to add to that.

[nonseq]

This is the kind of hard hitting incisive,researched, and well reasoned "churnalism" that we have come to expect from Mello, Jr.

No survey too flimsy, no source too disreputable for Mello to report.

This post has been edited by nonseq: 07 May 2012 - 09:38 AM