I need to get this out of my system. Ever since Apple launched the iPad mini, it has been irking me and I almost assumed that all reviews would bring this up, but to my surprise no one did. Instead what we get are fawning pieces like this, this and this. No one asked the most important question: Why? What is the raison d'être for this device?
Before I get any further, let me put out a few confessions about myself. I am an avowed Apple critic, turned loyalist. I've a couple of Macbooks and an iPhone. And not just that, I literally put my money where my mouth was. I bought and still hold Apple stock. And I absolutely made a killing with it. But somehow I never bought into an iPad even though I came pretty close on a few occasions. I never could justify it in my daily lifestyle since I already had a kindle for my reading. But I could totally see it as an able laptop replacement and a great all-in-one home/travel device for browsing, reading & entertainment. For years, Steve Jobs had resolutely refused to create a 7" version of the iPad saying that it would be a compromise and made no sense. In fact here's a famous speech of his he essentially called 7" devices-dead-on-arrival! Of course, the iPad mini is 7.9" and therefore some diehard defenders might say it isn't a compromise. Well, I don't buy that bull crap, not one bit. If a 7" tablet doesn't make sense, then a 7.9" one is even worse, considering the fact that the iPad has a 9.7"screen.
Honestly, here's whats probably happened. Post-Jobs, the Apple board is now stronger and probably demanded from the management why they weren't tapping the 7" market after the success of the Kindle Fire and, to an lesser extent, that of the Google Nexus 7. The management, of course, capitulated and came out with the iPad mini. The only reason they made it 7.9" is because they wanted to maintain the 16:9 resolution of the iPad, so apps can run without any modification. They put an inferior screen (the only current generation Apple product without a retina display), tacked an older processor, with lesser RAM and called it the next best thing! In all fairness, there is no doubt in mind that the new iPad mini is still a great product, beautifully built, with great battery life and will be a overall great experience. And no one will notice the lack of retina anyways. They could have at least had the guts to go out and price it at $250 or even better $200 and completely wiped out the Kindle fires and Nexuses. It would have been game, set & match for Apple. But they played it safe with a device that will sell millions but probably won't dominate the segment like the iPhone & iPad did before. It most likely will also end up cannibalizing a lot of the iPad sales.
I love my Apple products but they all have a specific purpose. This one doesn't.
Before I get any further, let me put out a few confessions about myself. I am an avowed Apple critic, turned loyalist. I've a couple of Macbooks and an iPhone. And not just that, I literally put my money where my mouth was. I bought and still hold Apple stock. And I absolutely made a killing with it. But somehow I never bought into an iPad even though I came pretty close on a few occasions. I never could justify it in my daily lifestyle since I already had a kindle for my reading. But I could totally see it as an able laptop replacement and a great all-in-one home/travel device for browsing, reading & entertainment. For years, Steve Jobs had resolutely refused to create a 7" version of the iPad saying that it would be a compromise and made no sense. In fact here's a famous speech of his he essentially called 7" devices-dead-on-arrival! Of course, the iPad mini is 7.9" and therefore some diehard defenders might say it isn't a compromise. Well, I don't buy that bull crap, not one bit. If a 7" tablet doesn't make sense, then a 7.9" one is even worse, considering the fact that the iPad has a 9.7"screen.
Honestly, here's whats probably happened. Post-Jobs, the Apple board is now stronger and probably demanded from the management why they weren't tapping the 7" market after the success of the Kindle Fire and, to an lesser extent, that of the Google Nexus 7. The management, of course, capitulated and came out with the iPad mini. The only reason they made it 7.9" is because they wanted to maintain the 16:9 resolution of the iPad, so apps can run without any modification. They put an inferior screen (the only current generation Apple product without a retina display), tacked an older processor, with lesser RAM and called it the next best thing! In all fairness, there is no doubt in mind that the new iPad mini is still a great product, beautifully built, with great battery life and will be a overall great experience. And no one will notice the lack of retina anyways. They could have at least had the guts to go out and price it at $250 or even better $200 and completely wiped out the Kindle fires and Nexuses. It would have been game, set & match for Apple. But they played it safe with a device that will sell millions but probably won't dominate the segment like the iPhone & iPad did before. It most likely will also end up cannibalizing a lot of the iPad sales.
I love my Apple products but they all have a specific purpose. This one doesn't.
