Newsletter Issue #640: Why Do They Want a Smaller iPad?
March 5th, 2012As I’ve said in past columns, some media pundits, not to mention so-called industry analysts, believe they know more about the tech market than Apple. So when there’s a product niche that’s not being filled, they will attempt to make strong cases for why Apple needs to create those products right away.
Now as the iPad’s sales began to soar, Steve Jobs said that Apple had experimented with different display sizes, and decided that seven inches was just too small for most of you. That statement came at the time when other companies resorted to the smaller screens in an effect to somehow match Apple’s price.
The apparent success of the $200 Amazon Kindle Fire is being cited as a requiem for smaller tablets. If Amazon succeeded, Apple is not only missing the boat, but losing loads of potential sales to tablets with the smaller form factor. Therefore, they must be planning one, if not now, in the very near future.
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A couple of comments covering both these pieces: a.) as I’ve said before, if Apple ever does market a smaller iPad the major reason might be weight rather than price point. Used as a book reader, the full-sized iPad is a heavy, awkward bugger, and as Apple gets deeper and deeper into the book and textbook market they might want to put out a version meant primarily as a book reader that is a better rival to the Kindle in the weight department. Light weight is one area in which the Kindle beats the iPad hands down. I can attest to that. I’ve been on airplanes all day reading a book on my iPad and by the time I got to my destination my hands felt wrung out.
b.) AT&T is in a some degree of a financial bind. Two of several reasons are that the iPhone has become so popular, and that it turns out that iPhone users tend to be heavier bandwidth users than originally anticipated,so that it must be putting a huge strain on ATT’s ability to keep up with demand, and this is probably compelling them to invest more in beefing up their infrastructure than they had envisioned. So capping bandwidth on users who thought they had unlimited-use contracts is their attempt to bring the situation under some sort of control. Regrettable? Of course? More than a little bit shabby? Of course. But a rational and understandable response to what may be a severe corporate problem.
Don’t think of it as a smaller iPad. Think of it as a bigger iPod Touch – the ultimate digital media consumption device.