Where Does the iPad Mini Line Up Amongst Apple’s Other Offerings?
Last month, when Apple announced the iPhone 5 and the new iPod Touch, their pricing seemed to preclude the long-rumored 7.85″ iPad “Mini” or “Air” or whatever they end up calling it. I even went so far as to ask if Tim Cook had killed the iPad Mini in the crib. And yet the rumors persist, some incredibly detailed.
But let’s take a look at the iOS universe and see if there’s really a place for a smaller tablet. I’ve prepared a chart to show all the devices, excluding the iPad’s optional 3G or LTE feature, because that doesn’t really matter here.
Apple hits every price from $0 to $699 in hundred-dollar increments, with one $50 increment at the 32GB 4th generation iPod Touch. The overlapping prices are what interest us here. A company can offer similar products at the same price, but only if there is enough differentiation between them to make sense to the consumer. Otherwise, the product line is just a huge, jumbled mess — and that isn’t how Apple operates.
The iOS line doesn’t have many price overlaps, but they are instructive. For $199, you can get either a 16GB iPhone 5, or an iPod Touch with the same memory. What’s the difference? The phone gives you, duh, a phone — but it also locks you into an expensive contract. Also, the iPod uses a cheaper (but still “Retina” density) screen, and an older, slower processor. So we have three points of differentiation.
$299 gets you an iPhone 5 with 32GB, or the new 5th generation iPod Touch. Again, same memory on both devices. Same screen on both devices, too. And the same A6 processor. The only differentiation is that one is a phone that comes with an expensive contract.
At $399 is where things get interesting. You can have the 64GB phone, the 64GB iPod, or the 16GB iPad tablet. We have two tiny devices with tons of storage versus a bigger device with comparatively little storage. You get the bigger screen, but you lose memory, the Retina Display, and the new A6 processor.
Where do you squeeze in a smaller iPad?
First off, two assumptions. The iPad Mini/Air/Nano/Whatevs will have the same 1024×768 resolution as the iPad 2. Those pixels would be packed into a smaller space, so the screen would be damn sharp — but not Retina Display sharp. We also have to assume that it would use the same A5 processor and the same 16GB of storage space, so as not to destroy the buying case for the iPad 2. Apple might be tempted to cheap-out and limit the Mini to 8GB, but that’s just not enough memory for a tablet.
At $249, Apple will already sell you the iPad Touch with the old processor. What is there to differentiate between the two devices? Buy the Mini you’d lose half the memory, but you’d gain the bigger-but-not-Retina screen and a faster A5 CPU — is that a good model? It just might be.
Price the iPad Mini at $299, and it goes up against the new iPod touch and the mid-level iPhone 5. What’s the differentiation? Both have the A6, both have 32GB. (I keep mentioning the CPU, because that’s what will determine how long you’ll be able to continue upgrading your iDevice with the newer versions of iOS. You can save money, but you’ll lose probably one year of future iOS updates.) At this higher price, you’d still only get half the storage as the competing iDevices. You lose Retina. And you lose CPU speed in comparison. This does not seem like an as-good purchasing decision.
We can’t bump the Mini’s price to $399, because pricing it exactly the same as the iPad 2 just makes no sense. The only differentiation would be the size of the screen, and nobody is going to pay the same for less. At least I don’t think they would.
Let’s try $349. Would you take a $50 off (about a 15% discount) from the iPad 2, for the same specs and a screen one-third smaller? To me, that just isn’t a compelling decision. At $399 iPad 2 puts a pretty low upper limit on a sensible price for the iPad Mini. And then there’s the competition, which sells plenty of 7″ tablets for $199, or even less.
So let’s revise that table.
Things are starting to get crowded in that $199-$299 zone, but I think that’s OK, because $300 is usually considered the upper limit of an impulse purchase. And Apple can make the sales pitch that, yes, you can buy some cheesy 7-inch Android tablet with far fewer apps and a so-so screen for $199, or you can run all your iOS apps on this beautiful new Apple-engineered almost 8-inch tablet.
That, I think, would be a pretty compelling case for a lot of consumers.
So I take it back. There is room in Apple’s price structure for an iPad Mini. And the sooner, the better.
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“And Apple can make the sales pitch that, yes, you can buy some cheesy 7-inch Android tablet with far fewer apps and a so-so screen for $199,”
No, how about an android for $100, with zillions of apps, and a great screen? Because that’s what I bought, a month ago.
I sure hope, for Apples sake, that you don’t work there.
They’re on ebay for $60 with free shipping. Only a dope would pay $400 or more for one of those Apple thangs.
And for those of us who wouldn’t touch an Apple anything for any reason? Death to proprietary hardware, baby.
Funny thing, Xiaoding — I bought my wife one of those wonderful $100 seven-inch Android tablets ten days ago for her birthday. We’re taking it back tomorrow. The damned thing is unusable.
What, exactly, is unusable about it?
Is this your first tablet? There’s a learning curve for sure. Now, that’s one thing Apple does well, making sure ANYONE can use it. But, that comes at a price, both in money, and functionality.
I love my Nook color. One of the reasons is that the size is perfect. I like that it is the size of a book. It feels natural to hold it. I feel clumsy holding the traditional iPad. Affordability was also a factor for me. If they brought the price down enough to make it reasonably affordable, even if a bit higher than other small tablets, I would give it a try.
My wife wants to be able to drop it in the tub. Wouldn’t a ruggedized device find its own niche?
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A very detailed analysis, but I think it really does come down to “7 inch tablets are selling in the Android market segment.” This is a case of Apple following suit (and hopefully, not filing one
)
For sure, those 7″ things are selling like hotcakes!
A point a guy made…7″ is the perfect size. Bigger than a phone screen, but not too big that you can’t carry it around.
The smaller Apple is a bit square, not very good for carrying around at all.
Apple an Android tablets both leave something to be desired, that is the ability to accomplish useful work. When I can edit a full blown document, author a spreadsheet with a complex pivot table, and fix an AutoCAD drawing on the fly, then I will seriously consider a full size tablet. The smart phones and mini tablets are fine book readers, browsers, and email tools, but I’m interested to see if Microsoft can finally start to bring the tablet to the workplace with Windows 8.
I am thinking of buying an IPad just to take to the coffee shop with my dog. I work at home on my nice big Mac designing fabrics, and have a PC next to the kitchen which I use to email, surf and write anti-Obama posts on blogs which takes up too much time lately (what can I say). So, I guess I think I need an I-Pad to force myself get out more. I don’t text and I don’t FB. So, what type of IPad do I need? Any suggestions? Will it interface with my home Mac so I can continue working while out and about? We are planning a road trip in November so I need to made a decision soon. My son told me to get an Asus tablet..hmmm.