Apple's New Mini-iPad
Most pundits believe Apple’s 7-inch tablet, the iPad Mini, will most likely launch on Oct 17, and Apple will finally be able to offer a $199 tablet.
Anticipated to be a pure consumption device that will rival Kindle’s Fire HD, Barnes & Noble Nook HD and Google Nexus 7; the new mini-iPad sets the stage for Apple to grab those book reading and high-speed streaming consumers. Note: Amazon having the more established ecosystem than Barnes & Noble and Nexus.
The allure of the 7″ size is that it less cumbersome than the full size iPad and fits right within a one-handed grasp. The full-sized iPad has always been both consumption and creation. People write stories, build presentations, make music, and create artwork on the big iPad (along with reading, browsing the web and watching movies). Consumer’s behaviors with the smaller tablets, are to download via wifi and then travel onto planes and read offline.
The iPad Mini will be about reading books, browsing the Web, listening to music, watching movies. It will support many, but not all, of the iPad’s apps, but will not have the same horsepower.
Steve Jobs was adamantly against a mid-sized iPad. Current Apple CEO Tim Cook venerates Job’s memory, but that doesn’t mean he won’t go his own way: “Steve taught us to not focus on the past,” said Cook earlier this year, “Be future-focused.”
I think it’s now safe to say the future of tablets includes 7-inch devices.
