Tech and Gear
Apple has sent out press invites to the much anticipated launch of the iPad Mini. Much has been said about Steve Jobs’ criticism of 7-inch tablets. First, the iPad Mini is likely bigger than 7 inches. Second, his criticism is for the, back then, smallish iPad competitors, not for an Apple product.Finally, that was then and this is now. Things change. Personally, I’m very much excited about a smaller iPad. It’s like the difference between a hardbound book and a paperback.
Amazon has announced a whole raft of Kindle e-readers and tablets. But the interesting ones to me were the tablets. There are 3 of them, the Kindle Fire 8.9″ HD with 4G, the Kindle Fire 8.9″ HD, and the 7″ Kindle Fire HD. The bigger Kindle Fire HDs compete directly with the iPad while the smaller competes directly with the Google Nexus 7 and the much rumored iPad Mini. The battle of the big three is heating up even more. What’s interesting is that while Amazon started with books, Google with ads, and Apple with songs, pretty much all of them are now selling the same stuff: books, ads, songs, movies, etc. But Amazon has a huge leg up: shopping. Google and Apple would do well to get into that, maybe by buying eBay?
The table is now a tablet. Microsoft has announced it’s own branded tablet (ahead of the anticipated Google’s own branded tablet). And guess what? It looks like and iPad down to the screen cover. If it wasn’t for the Windows logo and the keyboard, I could swear it’s an iPad. And then the microsite looks so minimalist, so Apple-ish. Looks like Apple has another company to sue.
A lot of people were disappointed with the new iPad. And I can understand why. Personally, I wouldn’t get one because of how I use the iPad. Or rather how I don’t use the iPad, Jeanne uses it more. But I’m not disappointed. Not at all. In fact, I find Apple tablet strategy brilliant.
Most of the disappointment focuses on the new iPad being an Apple product (can’t say anything about that) or on the hardware specifications. What does the Retina display matter? But it does, as you will see later. Why only a quad-core GPU update? But really why go quad-core CPU when the main bottleneck is the graphics? And so it goes.
But Apple’s tablet strategy is not just about hardware, it is a synergy of both hardware, the new iPad, and software.
To full appreciate this, go back to earlier this year when Apple announced iBooks 2 for iPad. With it, the iPad became a serious and fully Apple-supported platform for educational use. Then on to the new iPad launch where the new iPad was, of course, the star of the show. It overshadowed the release of new versions of iWork, iPhoto, iMovie, and Garage Band. But all these recently launched applications are as important because with them the current iPad becomes more useful.
But running all these applications (except maybe Garage Band) on the new iPad, with its Retina display, will be awesome. Books, documents, photos, and movies look sharper and you get an improved perspective, literally. Probably even get a productivity boost. To some of us, these things matter.
Sure, Apple would love current iPad 2 users to upgrade. But current iPad 2 users are not their primary target. Immediately lowering the price of the current iPad 2 stimulated sales and mitigated the new product effect where customers delay purchases because of the announcement of a newer, better version. But it also made it harder to upgrade (i.e. the potential selling price of used iPads became lower and thus making the cost of upgrading higher).
Clearly, the new iPad is targeted more at those who haven’t bought iPads yet, those sitting on the fence just waiting for a little nudge, and those who have the original iPad. And because of the retained price points, instead of buying secondhand iPads they will buy the new iPad directly from Apple.
For Apple, the new iPad matters because it furthers their tablet strategy and puts momentum towards the continuity of iPad sales.
After much speculation, Apple has announced the new iPad (yes, that’s how it’s called). Highlights are:
No word on the RAM and processor speed but they’re likely bumped up in order to accommodate the graphics and business use positioning.