Apple unveils iPad mini, upgrades its big brother

Yes, it's called the iPad mini – and that was one of the few heretofore unknown facts about the new iPad that Apple rolled out at its "a lttle more" event on Tuesday in San José, California. That and its price: $329 for the entry-level, Wi-Fi model. Pre-announcement speculation was somewhere in the $299 range, with some overly …

[stuartnz]

Nonexistent Nexus?

" At a base price of $329, the 16GB iPad mini is a hefty step up from the – arguably less elegant – 7-inch, 16GB Kindle Fire HD"

An interesting choice of product to compare it with - surely Google's tablet is at least as serious a competitor for the iPad Mini as Amazon's?

[LarsG]

A must have?

Renders all other small tablets 'must have nots' which will be seen in the sales figures.

[RICHTO]

Re: A must have?

LOL @ all the iSheep will have to go blow another £600 to have the latest over rated device from Apple...after having the last one for only a few months Surface is looking very attractive in comparison....

[asdf]

Re: A must have?

You were going so strong and then you had to mention the Surface. Maybe not as DOA as the Kin but probably about as DOA as WP7.

[Gio Ciampa]

Re: A must have?

Fine by me - means I won't have to spend my time queuing to pay the extra...

[ThomH]

Re: Nonexistent Nexus?

Indeed, my main thoughts have been 'is $100 extra over the Nexus worth it for a 40+% bigger screen?' — I wonder if we're about to see an inversion of the usual squabbling over whether screen sizes matter above all else?

[eSeM]

Re: Nonexistent Nexus?

Screen size does matter ....

With a 4:3 screen ratio the iPad Mini will not fit in a suit or jacket pocket .... which kind of defeats the purpose of a small tablet.

Lower spec and overpriced compared to the opposition.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Nonexistent Nexus?

$80 difference for the 16GB Nexus.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: "$80 difference for the 16GB Nexus."

For how long? The 16GB Nexus is expected to get bumped down on price within the next couple of weeks, and when that happens the $249 price point will be filled by a 32GB Nexus 7. At that point we're talking a $180 premium if you want 32GB and either a $104 or $130 premium if you want 16GB.

[Anonymous Coward]

To us in the UK

$1=£1

So it will be expensive. Next years update will have a retina display.

[Martin 47]

Re: To us in the UK

Starts at £269 in apple store .co.uk so its almost at a tempting price point, which is another thing the green fruity thing is good at

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: To us in the UK

tempting at £269? You have seen the leaks of the 32Gb Nexus coming in at £199 haven't you? That would make it £150 cheaper than the iPad 32Gb.

[Rukario]

Re: To us in the UK

More like £1=$1.47 (taking the retail price of £269 to be £244 + 20% VAT to compare prices like-for-like without consumption taxes).

[Bob Vistakin]

Re: Nonexistent Nexus?

Does it come with a file?

This guy said a 7" tablet doesn't work - guess he meant Apple would release one over, err, his dead body.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFAjfUT8wZI

[Anonymous Coward]

@Bob Vistakin

It has a 40% larger screen area but nice troll.

[Anonymous Coward]

FFS - Does anyone know how to do math?

Quoting from the presentation: "their area of display: 21.9 square inches, ours is 29.6 square inches"

Then we get into the comparison fun: the Mini *is* 35% larger than the Kindle/Nexus (not 40%), *but* the Kindle/Nexus is also only 26% smaller than the Mini... it all depends on which one you use as the basis of comparison.

I think the 35% is the more appropriate number, but regardless: 40% and the larger numbers being tossed about have nothing to do with screen size.

[James O'Brien]

Re: FFS - Does anyone know how to do math?

"We were already so far ahead of the competition, this just ... I can't see even them in the rearview mirror."

While they may be far ahead at this time how many times in history has the underdog risen up to bite its master? Especially now with Apple losing several of its patents. Should be interesting to watch in the near future.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: FFS - Does anyone know how to do math?

"We were already so far ahead of the competition, this just ... I can't see even them in the rearview mirror."

So far ahead of the competition they got to the market months before us?? (years technically)

So far ahead of the competition that their tablet packs twice the processing power of ours?

It's an ipad2 that shrunk in the wash!!

[John Bailey]

Re: FFS - Does anyone know how to do math?

Shh.. Someone will explain laps to him in a minute.

[Psyx]

Re: FFS - Does anyone know how to do math?

"We were already so far ahead of the competition, this just ... I can't see even them in the rearview mirror."

We are so far ahead of the competition that we have to continually make comparisons to them*, rather than purely sell on our own functionality.

Yeah, I'm totally convinced.

*Except as regards price, obviously.

[James Micallef]

Re: FFS - Does anyone know how to do math?

"I can't see even them in the rearview mirror"

Is that because they're already overtaking you?

[Tom 35]

Re: FFS - Does anyone know how to do math?

Apple talks about more screen area for web pages. How about a video? Most current video is 16:9 (or more for a lot of movies).

[Psyx]

Re: FFS - Does anyone know how to do math?

"I think the 35% is the more appropriate number, but regardless: 40% and the larger numbers being tossed about have nothing to do with screen size."

Two roundings of 5 upwards (here and in the 7.85 to 7.9 screen size) in 'premier' marketing text just makes me hear the words 'weasels' in my mind.

[I ain't Spartacus]

Re: FFS - Does anyone know how to do math?

Psyx,

Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Nonexistent Nexus?

It's 7.9 inches and 4:3 ratio not 7" and 16:9 ratio. So the screen is actually a reasonable size.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Nonexistent Nexus?

Better apps on the iPad, better design and a decent ecosystem.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Nonexistent Nexus?

I agree, compare the two and The Nexus 7 wins on price, and I suspect performance...

[Khaptain]

Underwhelming.

Not really easy to understand the intended market

Apple appear to be saturating their own market.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Underwhelming.

It's the iPod stratagy.

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm just going to leave this here...

http://www.iamconcise.com/main/the-reason-for-the-ipad-mini.html

I swear I heard a violin playing in the distance as the announcement was made.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yep

Interesting holiday season indeed

[Nanners]

Saturation indeed

I am an apple user. Not an apple fan, but an apple user. In my area, music production, nothing else holds a candle. I've been an apple user since the late nineties. I have no idea what apple is trying to do here. They seriously need to simplify. Drop the iPad 2 already. The company will be in better shape with the new iPad, the mini, and the touch might as well be the iPad micro. Same with the rest of the products they are pumping out just because they can. This is not apple.

[paulll]

Re: Saturation indeed

"Not an apple fan, but an apple user."

"In my area, music production, nothing else holds a candle."

Hate to break it to you, buddy, but you're a fan.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Saturation indeed

""Not an apple fan, but an apple user."

"In my area, music production, nothing else holds a candle."

Hate to break it to you, buddy, but you're a fan."

No, he's right. The ipad has usable latency, android tablets currently available to buy don't. iPad has had this advantage for a few years. OSX laptops and desktop machines are more predictable for recording audio + midi. I don't want this to be true, but unfortunately it is.

[Ross K]

How Appropriate...

Apple's marketing honcho Phil Schiller reveals the pricing of the full iPad line...

shill [shil]

noun

1. a person who poses as a customer in order to decoy others into participating, as at a gambling house, auction, confidence game, etc.

2. a person who publicizes or praises something or someone for reasons of self-interest, personal profit, or friendship or loyalty.

verb (used without object)

3. to work as a shill: He shills for a large casino.

verb (used with object)

4. to advertise or promote (a product) as or in the manner of a huckster; hustle: He was hired to shill a new TV show.

[g e]

iNexus

Meh, done better elsewhere with 2x the memory and ~30% cheaper.

Still shows how threatened the fruit-mongers feel by the competition if nothing else.

Are US hands really that big or is that 'holding it' photo more than a tad 'shopped ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: iNexus

If you watched the keynote you would have seen Phil holding it himself, so it is holdable.

They've reduced the area around the screen as you can hold this by the sides instead of the bezel like you need to do with a larger tablet.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: iNexus

It's 6mm thinner than the smaller screened Nexus 7, ahold fit in the hand no problem.

[David Barrett]

Re: iNexus

The mini is 7.2mm thick the nexus is 10.4mm thick

So its 3.2mm thinner, why bother posting something so easily disproven?

[Stacy]

Larger Display?

Or just physically larger? I can't help but noticing in the pictures comparing screens they show the larger screen for the iPad Mini (which in itself seems odd... hey we made a smaller device that's bigger!) show the smaller screen showing more of the website than the larger screen...

Unless the larger screen is supposed to be the smaller android screen...

http://cdn.macrumors.com/article-new/2012/10/NewImage35.png

(Seeing as something like the Amazon Fire HD has more than 1000000 pixels vs the Mini's nearly 800000. How is 200000 pixels smaller 49% bigger?

Where's my question mark icon? I'd rather than that the WTF...

[Eddy Ito]

Re: Larger Display?

Simple, the 7.9" 4:3 iPad display works out roughly to be 6.32" x 4.74" for ~30 sq. in. and the 7" Kindle/Nexus screens are about 6.10" x 3.43" for 20.9 sq. in. so the 9.1 sq.in. difference works out to be about 43.5% of the 20.9 sq.in. and I guess taking into account the space consumed by the tabs in the UI it brings it to 49%.

What they've done in the picture is compare only the parts of the screen that are actually given to the web page and not the whole display. Also note they chose the web page carefully so that scroll bars aren't needed on the iPad and shows white space at the bottom of the "Fire" screen. A slightly different page might require the iPad to show scroll bars but the Fire wouldn't. Of course this is assuming the iPad has scroll bars of some sort.

[Paul E]

Re: Larger Display?

And the 4.74 inch width they end up with means a less pocketable device than the 3.43 of the others thus removing one of the main reasons why people are buying 7 inch tablets.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Larger Display?

And the 4:3 ratio means that a good chunk of the extra screen is wasted when watching video on it. All that extra space used to display the black bars top and bottom.

43% more screen for 35% more money (soon to be 75% more).

1024 x 768 against 1200 x 800

No GPS on the wi-fi model

No NFC

Proprietary connector

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Larger Display?

Only when you're watching movies; watching classic TV programmes such as the X-Files obviously has no problems. However, the reason I bought an iPad to begin with was reading ePub and PDFs, and for those formats the iPad has the best layout. It's interesting how every other manufacturer, from Microsoft to Samsung, present their tablets in landscape mode.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Larger Display?

"And the 4:3 ratio means that a good chunk of the extra screen is wasted when watching video on it. All that extra space used to display the black bars top and bottom."

Yes, and if all you want to do on the thing is watch 16:9 video, that would be a major issue. If you want to do anything else at all (including watching 4:3 video, of which there is still plenty), then 4:3 is a much better layout to have. I'm not using an iPad because I'm in love with apple, I'm using one because every single bloody Android devide manufacturer has inexplicably decided that people only use tablets for watching video, and specialised their products to support that. I had high hopes for the HP pad, but we all know what happened to that. Apparently the next transformer will have a 4:3 version, if so that'll probably be my next tablet.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Larger Display?

@Eddy. On the iPad (or any capacitative touch device) you don't need scroll bars. Only scroll position indicators, which fade away after the scrolling stops. It's just a little floating grey lozenge shape which displays on the right over the top of the web page.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: On the iPad (or any capacitative touch device) you don't need scroll bars

provided there's a good area of the screen you can touch and drag. A lot of websites make it pretty bloody tricky to find a spot that doesn't immediately launch a click event when you touch it. For example, try navigating the 4od site on a touch device without accidentally clicking something you didn't want to. It's a pain in the arse.

Scroll bars (or similar, my android pops up a scroll button when a big list starts moving) are useful on touch devices, not least because some lists are bloody long and continually flicking the page up to get to the bottom is a pain. Oh but that's bad design! Well tough, the world is full of crap design, we need tools that enable us to get round it not make things worse... This kind of blinkered "I know better than everyone else" bullshit gets on my tits.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Larger Display?

They decided to use 1024x768 as it is a current resolution used by the older iPads, This means developers don't need to do anything and all existing iPad applications will work perfectly on it.

Putting a retina display in it would make this tablet very expensive and introduce a 3rd resolution for developers to worry about. Two is enough already.

[Churro Joe]

New iPad already

So the old iPad is called the 'new iPad' and has a retina display and now the new iPad is called the 'iPad with retina display' and is a slight upgrade...alright then.

Definitely a new strategy from apple- it seems to me like Apple are doing what the automotive market did when they started incrementing the number plates every 6 months instead of every year. People will be less inclined to wait for the next one before buying one as the upgrades are so frequent they might as well take the plunge now as in 6 months time. It also means that apple can react more quickly with smaller changes so that they are not painfully behind all the other manufacturers for eleven months of the year. It'll upset the fanbois for a while but they'll get used to it.

[Eddy Ito]

Interesting as in the curse?

It's clearly priced out of major competition with Nexus, Kindle & Nook so we can only hope they decided to maintain their iPadded margin that way even if it cuts into sales of iPad the larger it won't be a kick in the shorts.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Interesting as in the curse?

You do realise that Google and Amazon are selling their devices below cost? In order to lure people into their ecosystem, they've decided to sell their tablets for an incredibly low price, thereby screwing their OEM partners (in the case of Google, same as with Microsoft). Yes, Apple extracts a healthy profit from their devices, but then isn't that the mainstay of capitalism?

[NoneSuch]

Best Amazon commercial I have seen all year. Didn't cost them a thing either.

[Ben Tasker]

Yup, the investors certainly don't seem too happy. AAPL stocks have taken a sharp drop following the announcement. I dont place too much faith in the markets, but it looks like the shine is definitely starting to come off.

[Steve Todd]

Market adage:

Buy on rumour, sell on fact. Unless the announcement was wildly beyond all expectations the stock price was going to go down as speculators take their profit.

[Ben Tasker]

Re: Market adage:

That certainly makes sense, does look like there's been a climb over the past few months.

Can't help think that Apple kit never lives up to the hype. Whether that reflects on the quality of the kit or the reliability of Apple gossip is a completely different discussion though!

[Alan Denman]

Re: Market adage:

It has been going down markedly for the last month or so.

So rumours made it fall and so did yesterdays fact.

The stark business reality here is that this starkly looks like Apple's last great cash grab before that seismic perception shift.

[Fuzz]

UK pricing

£269 for the cheapest model, £80 between each model and £100 extra for 3/4G

compared to £190 for the Nexus and £160 for the ad supported kindle fire HD. You'd have to be very committed to Apple/iOS to go for the ipad.

[toadwarrior]

Re: UK pricing

If you don't want an e-ink kindle why would you want anything else? Even the "awesome" Nexus was plagued with problems that makes it looks like cheap rubbish.

[Ben Tasker]

Re: UK pricing

Because expensive rubbish is so much better? Never understood that turn of phrase personally, Id much rather spend close to fuck all than a fortune on something that turns out to be shit.

Not that this is intended as a view of any of the kit, more an OT ramble

[Martin]

@toadwarrior

"Even the "awesome" Nexus was plagued with problems that makes it looks like cheap rubbish."

Citation needed. I know of several people who have Nexus 7's and no-one who has been plagued with problems. And it doesn't look, or behave, like cheap rubbish.

iPad mini - 4:3 screen size. I expected a 16:9. I owe someone on these forums a virtual beer...

[Gary F]

Re: UK pricing

I paid £56 inc postage from ebay for a new 7" Android tablet. It does email, web, video Skype, Angry Birds, movies, Google Play, etc. What more is a 7" device supposed to do? I accept for 3x the money a £160 Nexus is faster and the top of the line 3D games run smoother on it, but what more would I get with an ipad mini for 5x the cost? 5x as much fun? 5x as much productivity? I doubt it. Not everyone has cash to splash so every £/$ counts.

A few years ago I thought only rich fanatics bought Apple products but I've seen friends who always say they're broke own the latest iphones and ipads. If they're hard up they should realise a designer label isn't important and the functionality they need can be found is products at a fraction of the cost. Moan over.

[Anonymous Coward]

iPad mini at £269 =

No thanks.

It sounds crazy to call it 'old tech', but that's exactly what it is. In the lightning fast world of computer hardware, it's a shruken iPad 2. And spare a thought for all those who invested a large chunk of change on an iPad 3 six months ago. A very small, smug, thought.

With the loss of Jobs, it does seem Apple is starting to lose direction. Love, loath or 'meh' him, Jobs had a certain style and polish - that's sadly lacking now.

About the only highlight was the stunning looking new iMac range. There's no doubt, they are *incredibly* sexy beasts, but the price? Less so.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: iPad mini at £269 =

Guess we should spare a thought on everyone who invested a large chunk of change on an Android phone two months ago as well then.

[Lutin]

Re: iPad mini at £269 =

"Guess we should spare a thought on everyone who invested a large chunk of change on an Android phone two months ago as well then."

Can you be more specific?

[Steve Todd]

Re: iPad mini at £269 =

Excepting that it got the iPad 3 CPU, iPad 4 LTE radio and WiFi, the new Lightning connector, a new screen and case then yes, it's identical to an iPad 2. /s

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: iPad mini at £269 =

"Excepting that it got the iPad 3 CPU, iPad 4 LTE radio and WiFi, the new Lightning connector, a new screen and case then yes, it's identical to an iPad 2"

Err... try again... http://www.apple.com/uk/ipad/compare/

iPad 2 & iPad mini both have the A5 processor and 1024 x 768 screens, the iPad 3 has the A6 and 2048 x 1536 screen. All 3 have the same wi-fi specs.

Those Apple-tinted glasses need cleaning.

[Colin Wilson 2]

Re: iPad mini at £269 =

"the iPad 3 has the A6 "

No it doesn't - it has an A5X.

[Jedit]

"Spare a thought for those who invested in an iPad 3"

Yes, think on how they'll be able to use all existing peripherals while people who buy an iPad 4 or Mini will have to replace theirs.

The manufacturers of iCade must be spitting teeth; their device is now obsolete, and due to its nature (it's an arcade-style case with joystick) you can't use an adaptor with it.

[Anonymous Coward]

Pricing fail ...

£269 for the base model? They're having a giraffe .... never mind iPad Mini, it's more like an iPod Maxi.

I now eagerly await the news that the iPod Touch will be rebranded as the iPad Nano ...

[Steve Knox]

Re: Pricing fail ...

... it's more like an iPod Maxi...

Now there's a crossover product...

[Anonymous Coward]

Costly memory

So it's £80 for and extra 16GB of memory and another £80 for another 32GB of memory.

If only they provided MicroSD slots for consumers to decide for themselves.

And you cant even use a USB 3G dongle for calling/data plans and download. Stuck to WIfi unless one coughts up another £100.

Fanbois, open wide this time. St. Jobs cometh for you.

WTF

[Steve 14]

Suspicious

I can't help but think the size, shape and position of buttons not to mention the rounded corners suggests that this is nothing more than a rip off of certain Samsung products. I hope they reap what they sow.

[Tim Almond]

Expensive

It strikes me that Google and Amazon have correctly priced these toys in the toy price bracket. A lot of people out there will drop £130-160 on something on a whim, but £269 is a bit more of a commitment.

(yes, I know that someone will have some stories about how these are used for some serious application, but most of them are really toys).

[Dana W]

I was all set for it, and at $250 or so I'd have bought in, but at this price its a fail for me. I'm not paying that much for 16 gig.

I an disappointed.

[MooseMonkey]

Prices

Ipad Mini

Wifi Only

16GB £269

32GB £349

64GB £429

Wi-Fi + Cellular

16GB £369

32GB £449

64GB £529

I'm waiting to see how much for a 32 GB Nexus 7 3g please...

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Prices

>I'm waiting to see how much for a 32 GB Nexus 7 3g please...

Still £199, but with no £15 app voucher - prices leaked last week from Argos Catalogue initially then elsewhere.........but if it were even vaguely about price/value Apple would be long since bankrupt.

[Steve Todd]

Re: Prices

Erm, no. Thats the WiFi only version. The 3G version we're still waiting on the announcement for that (next week apparently)

[David Webb]

The way I see it, with the pricing they have the main competitor for the mini is umm, an iPad 2 although you can get a Samsung Tab 2 for around the same price as a mini so it's a 7" competing with 10"? What kind of idiot would blow that much cash on a 7" and not a little more for the 10" version or a lot less if they really want a 7" from Google/Amazon? I'm discounting Windows RT tablets until they come out, the Surface is just too expensive.

[Vector]

Cake and eating it too!

What I love is the spin Apple puts on things. First, it was "OK, our screen is smaller, but just LOOK at the resolution!" Now, with a lower resolution, it's "Look how much BIGGER our screen is!"

[Chris 171]

apple innovation harvest low this season..

Same stuff with different measurements, same bland OS.

The side bezel looks a bit thin too but then apple know ergonomics right?

The competition are already way ahead with unique designs to really start drilling home the benefits of a well resourced R&D dept. Will the fanbois notice? Doubt it...

A flat near featureless slab is not my idea of good tech.

Finally, I sincerely hope 'education' via ipad poking is a very small fad, what a sorry state of profiteering... apple essentially stealing kids dinner money to aid their quest for cash. Sick.

[Dana W]

Re: apple innovation harvest low this season..

Are you kidding? Brand it "educational" and kids stay away in droves"

[csumpi]

Re: apple innovation harvest low this season..

Apple products are stylish, not ergonomic. I found out about that when I accidentally invested in a 13" macbook unibody a couple years back. The edge below the keyboard was so sharp, it created painful cut marks on my palms. The thing would get extremely hot as aluminum conducts heat (I was trying to use it for work, not just organizing itunes library). The no button touchpad is a disaster for usability. (Unfortunately other manufacturers started using the clickpads also and got rid off the physical buttons.)

[Mark McNeill]

Your cut-out'n'keep guide

Shortly after launch a hardware issue with ##### will arise, which Apple will ignore until the swell of protest becomes too great. Some time later Apple will punish customers for %%%%ing with their tablets, sparking a well-worn debate about the walled garden and ownership of their device. This will last almost until the release of the next Apple tablets, which will be &&&&&er than their previous ones.

[In the meantime Android will suffer a @@@@@ lapse and ***** issues. RIM will complete another orbit of the drain.]

[Rukario]

Re: Your cut-out'n'keep guide

And speaking of RIM, Playbooks are down to C$149 for the 32 Gb version. (Staples had this price for a while, but it seems London Drugs has joined the fray.)

[JimboSmith]

Re: Your cut-out'n'keep guide

It's £129 for the 64Gb Version in the UK (at Currys/PC World)

[jestersbro]

It looks just like a...

Samsung Galaxy Note, LG Vu, (insert other idenitcal small form factor tablet name here) only better.

Apparently.

I really couldn't careless but I will enjoy telling fanbois that it's sh*t. Always good for me when I'm feeling down.

[Andrew James]

Re: It looks just like a...

Except the resolution on my Note II is 1280x720 ish. Better resolution over a smaller area, and similar usage distance from face usually. And it fits in a pocket comfortably (by comparison).

[dssf]

Bedsores galore?

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/10/23/tech/mobile/apple-goes-small/index.html

"When the iPad came out, it was intended to be a consumption device. Ads for the tablet showed people reclining in various environments, clutching the iPad like a book. The spacious 10-inch screen was ideal for watching movies and TV shows, playing games, surfing the Web and otherwise consuming content.

That's how most tablet owners use their devices. Tablets are homebodies, used most often in the living room (30% of the time according to Nielsen) followed by the bedroom (21% of the time).

"Fully half the time they're using tablets, they don't leave the couch or the bed," said Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps. "If you can do everything on the smaller iPad you can on the larger iPad -- that plus the added convenience of being able to take it with you more places could take the wind out of the sales of Amazon.""

So, are they snapping and then discarding remote photos to say with certsinty that these users are in bed and on their sofas? Or, are they satisfied with self-reported surveys? I wonder how many tablet users (all tablets, mind you) are seeking therapy for bedsores, and sore backs. It definitely is easier to surf in bed from my Tab 10.1 than to try doing so with my 6lbs laptop in bed. (So far, no bed sores for me... YET.)

[PaulR79]

3rd generation iPad

For me, the biggest announcment today was that they've released a 4th generation iPad after only six months. Is this a sign that they are changing to two new versions a year? I own a 3rd gen. iPad* (yes I know... ) but to me this seems more likely to upset people than the poor 'mini' version.

*Personally I didn't want an iPad, I wanted a Transformer Prime but ASUS were utter dicks and only sold the 32GB version with keyboard dock in the UK. That was more expensive than the iPad and that coupled with the display resolution made sense to me for checking photos on the go with the camera connector / USB connector.

[JDX]

Re: 3rd generation iPad

Then people are stupid. The iPad they bought is still very fast, in fact the iPad2 is fast! They are NOT expecting people to upgrade every new version, which is why they've stopped numbering them.

[PaulR79]

@JDX

As someone elsewhere mentioned, the increased cost of Apple stuff over other products is usually excused with it being the new iThing for a year. This changes that and for some (not me, I don't even play games on mine) will mean either spending more to have the most recent or going elsewhere. I don't care either way, it just seems like a very bad strategy to start at this point in time.

[mark1978]

Re: 3rd generation iPad

>For me, the biggest announcment today was that they've released a 4th generation iPad after only six >months. Is this a sign that they are changing to two new versions a year? I own a 3rd gen. iPad* (yes I >know... ) but to me this seems more likely to upset people than the poor 'mini' version.

No, it just shows they are switching to an October release for new iPads. Which is much better for the Christmas market than March - as then by the time you get to Christmas you're thinking - I won't buy an iPad now because there will be a new one in a couple of months.

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmmm

> is usually excused with it being the new iThing for a year

Ah well, if you buy for "bling" rather than actual feature set then there is no real "value" in the value proposition anyway. If users insist on making purchasing choices on the possible future actions of a corporation rather than the actual benefit of the device then ...

/me logs out of humanity and goes and looks for a better species to join.

[mIRCat]

Re: Hmmm

" /me logs out of humanity and goes and looks for a better species to join."

You may want to look into the delphinidae family, I hear they have sex for fun.

Paris because, well just because.

[RICHTO]

The main reason for the iPad 4 is to extract more money from gullible Crapple fans with the new "we can charge you £25 for an adaptor" connection port....

[Anonymous Coward]

and ...

grosso modo, it seems to be working. Why in creation do you bother?

[Anonymous Coward]

"price kept low presumably by Amazon's desire not to make money on hardware, but rather on content purchases from its online store."

It'd be interesting if Apple took this stance...

[peter 45]

Hmmmmm

Will Apple be taking BMW to court for stealing the Mini name?

[Alan Denman]

Off a cliff at a drag,

It is such base technology one should really just drag and drop it off a cliff.

But of course it can't even do that.

[Spanners]

The best thing about my Nexus 7

It's not from Apple.

Nobody can look at me playing with my tablet and think that I decided to get it before the manufacturer announced its existence, Nobody can see it as an "aspirational device" whose purpose in life is to make me into a more beautiful, smarter, more managerial or just cooler peson.

They will see something that probably cost £159 and i not sold by a company whose biggest activity is spurious lawsuits.

If they look at an iPad mini they will see a blatant copy of something that has existed in the Android "world" for some time.

(That's my "I hate Apple" rant over for the week.)

[FutureShock999]

Re: The best thing about my Nexus 7

Man, you put WAY too much thought into what someone thinks about you.

[csumpi]

Tough year for the Apple addict.

Three iPads (new, newer, mini): $1500

iPod Touch5: $300

iPhone5: $200 (with new contract)

MacBook Pro retina display: $2200

new iMac: $1700

apps: $?

cases/covers/pillows: $?

adaptors/connectors: $?

Man, that's almost like a downpayment for a house.

[Anonymous Coward]

Didnt he say updated iPad??

So doesnt that make the big one the iPad 4 (or possibly 3S??)

Wont be buying one - even my fanboi son has suddenly announce he is buying a Samsung next time - and after watching his GF playing with her new SIII for only two days!

[Anonymous Coward]

Colour me confused

This is definitely not Apple, they haven't blamed the users for the hardware bugs in the last models yet but they're releasing new bug fixed stuff?

[davew_uk]

@Gary F

I too have a cheapo Android tablet - and feel quietly pleased about its high functionality/price ratio - but you wouldn't show it off to your mates. For that, Apple will happily charge you a premium.

[Confuciousmobil]

Bigger screen?

Isn't that what the standard iPad has?

It's nice to see Apple reversing everything that idiot Steve Jobs did. Simplified product range! No way, more is obviously better. No smaller iPad, don't be silly, ditto larger screen on the iPhone. One release a year? No, every few months makes much more sense.

Steve Jobs obviously had it all wrong, just think where Apple could be now had he not gone back? And where they could go now....

[Anonymous Coward]

GPS

Yes but it seems that to get GPS I still need a 3G one. I don't need 3G on a tablet. But I do need GPS. So I won't be getting one.

Which is exactly why I haven't got an iPad before now, and is why I am typing this on a perfectly usable - in fact more so since it does have GPS - Android tablet.

Apple differentiate their models on the daftest things.

[mark1978]

Re: GPS

The reason you have to get a cellular one for GPS is that the GPS system relies heavily on data downloaded over the mobile network. Yes you could have GPS without mobile data but Apple don't want to diminish the experience or other such marketing slogan.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: GPS

There are plenty of reasons for wanting GPS but not needing always-on data.

SkyDemon, for one, an aviation navigation app. That would have been a perfect use for an 8" tablet with GPS. and no real need for an always-on connection.

I also have an option of more than enough mapping apps on Android, not least Google's offline maps, that don't require mobile data.

The old argument used to be that the chipset was 3G+GPS. Didn't believe it at the time, and so it has been proven since.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: the GPS system relies heavily on data downloaded over the mobile network

Do you have ANY concept of how GPS works?

[RICHTO]

Re: the GPS system relies heavily on data downloaded over the mobile network

Clearly he does. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assisted_GPS

[mark1978]

I've always thought the iPad is too big and too heavy, so I'm looking forward to trying one of these. It'll just be a replacement for using my phone on the sofa.

Of course there will be a retina display version launced in October 2013 - but then isn't there always something better on the horizon?

[Bassey]

Marketing Strategy

I don't quite get all the analysts hand-wringing "is this the beginning of the end" etc. There seems to be an assumption that, because Apple has followed into a market, instead of leading, they are suddenly doing something different. Apple have done this in the past and they did it for one reason - to make some more money. For all the "experts" talking about marketing etc Apple make money. The iPod was a premium product and completely defined the high end of the market. But, when other manufacturers released cheaper, smaller, flash-based products Apple followed suit. It didn't treat the iPod nano or iClippy-whatever it is called too seriously. It didn't make a song and dance. Sure, they devoted the usual attention to detail and made them lovely to look at (and more expensive than their rivals) but there was never any all encompassing market-domination strategy behind them. They were devices designed to sell a couple of 10s of million and sell a bunch of songs/videos through iTunes.

The iPad Mini looks like exactly the same thing. It is a shrunk down iPad 2. It isn't revolutionary. it isn't clever. It has nothing to make it stand out from the crowd. It isn't set to create or dominate a new market segment. But it will almost certainly sell a couple of 10s of million each year, it's a way for Apple to get rid of last years Big iPad components and it will generate a shed load of sales through iTunes. And at £300-odd quid a pop that is still a few extra billion in revenue. Why can't it just be about generating cash?

[Lallabalalla]

Re: Marketing Strategy

" it's a way for Apple to get rid of last years Big iPad components" - of course, well apart from the screen unless they found a way of cutting them down - and that's why I won't be getting one until next year at best, if ever, when it will get the better processor and retina display.

Massive fail.

Then there's the new iMac, which I was considering - until I heard it has only a midrange processor and NO optical drive. Sheesh. I have tons of assets on cd/dvd. I watch movies, rip CDs to itunes, burn playlists to CD, my kids make their own DVDs.. so, no way I'm going ot fork out that kind of cash for an "all-in-one" that clearly isn't when you have to have the desk littered up with a peripheral drive and cable - that you have to pay extra for. And for what? It's 5mm thinner? So what? Who the hell cares about that, it was thin enough anyway. Apple seem to have contracted supermodel-itis. Their products now embody bulimia and they have become fashionistas instead of trendsetters. Sad.

Massive fail.

I would have quite liked an iPod nano, That was *such* a nice design. Now, it's no longer nano and you can't wear it instead of a watch when running/cycling. And it won't dock on my hifi. This one - no thanks.

Massive fail.

My wife's iPhone5 is great - except that it's too tall for her hands to use comfortably. And the finish is cheap. And the maps are rubbish and there's no native youtube app and the music player doesn't have podcasts any more. And it won't dock on the HiFi (which links to the TV so we can watch shows & movies from it with kick-ass sound). What I want is a 4S with the new processor and camera, but, no dice.

Massive fail.

So all in all - you could say I'm a tad disappointed!

[Mike Brown]

rant on!

Need to vent to fellow techy minded folks.

I bought an ipad 3 2 weeks ago, as a xmas present for my wife. Yeah i know, but she really wanted one. And now less than 7 months after it was released it been withdrawn from sale? By christ that was fast. Clearly thre ipad 3 was a stop gap, and has some issues that they needed to fix fast( from what i hear, the A5X isnt really fast enough for the retina). Im fairly pissed with apple, as they must have known when the released the ipad 3 that it was going to be superceded in a very short space of time.

So, my 1st apple purchase has been very short lived, i sent it back today. And it will be my last apple product. I knew they hoovered up money from customers but this is taking the piss. 2 google nexus's here i come!!

[Lallabalalla]

Re: rant on!

You have my sympathy - but don't think you can palm your wife off with anything less than an iPad if that's what she wanted! Or it could be a very frosty Xmas indeed!

If you *are* able to send the 3 back that's great. Get them to swap it for a 4 - in fact, wouldn't it be great if *everyone* who got suckered into buying a 3 did that? Think they's get the message?

[Bassey]

Re: rant on!

Hi Mike, I'm no Apple apologist (don't own a single product) but their support IS (usually) excellent. They will normally exchange superseded products bought in the run up to a new launch. The window is usually 3-4 weeks so it is WELL worth contacting them, explaining how upset you are, and seeing if they'll swap it for the new model.

[Mike Brown]

Re: rant on!

cheers guys. Im going to take the hit on this one. I was pretty anti apple before, but was willing to bend like a willow for my wife. But not now. I feel rather strongly about my hate for apple, and before i didnt really have any reasons, i do now. The good thing is she dosent know i got her one, and she wasnt massivly hinting either (i know the difference!) So the new nexus's that google announce will do just fine, preferably the 10 incher that has been rumoured.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: rant on!

So you hate Apple more than you love your wife? Wow.

[Mike Brown]

Re: rant on!

lol. i can see why you might think that, but no. You havnt unearthed the most hate filled anti apple fanboy.

[Anonymous Coward]

Suddenly not important

Si the iPad Mini has a bigger screen than the N7 and a lower resolution? I thought that display quality was important? I thought that screen quality for reading stuff was the most important thing in the world? So why have they reduced the DPI to something less than the current industry standard?

It's not a cut down version of the iPad3 or 4, it's a cut down version of the iPad 2.

As for the iPad 4, the only thing that has been made obsolete is the egos of iPad 3 owners; at the end of the day, the iPad 3 population still works. I pity the iPad 3 owning sheep who will buy an iPad 4 because they need to keep up with fashion.

Wake me up when Apple do something groundbreaking.