Kyle Baxter:
I have no doubt that Apple is working on a small iPad, but that’s a separate question of whether they will actually release it. Let’s think through it.
That’s always important to remember. Apple experiments with a lot of different products, but that doesn’t mean they’ll ever get released. Having said that, Kyle has some interesting points.
iPad Jr. …for the kids. Small touch targets? Pffft. Small fingers! 😉
In all seriousness though, a larger screen device aimed at gaming (like the iPod touch) would be awesome sauce for kids. Using the old iPad screen res (or Retina iPhone depending on the aspect ration) would still look OK, and be very cheap to produce. $299
Bout time for an iPod Touch refresh, isn’t it? /understatement
thats exactly what i was thinking, the iPod touch is a media consumption device more than a creation tool. create a 5-8 inch iPod touch with the same 3G options as the iPad. you have a great mobile device for games,video, music apps but you are keeping the iPad name untainted and just screwing around with the iPod line which has had a lot more liberties taken with its image and is more of a place to experiment
Back in the day when I worked in Apple field service I had a 128k Mac with a 5.25″ Twiggy drive in it. Wish I took a pic!
However reasonable this guy may sound, an iPad mini is still bullshit. Apple never has and never will pander to the price whiners. The current size is the ideal and they’re selling all they can make. There’s no reason to compromise.
Yes, Jobs said that those who made smaller tablets would regret it.
Exactly. All this talk about them needing to make an ‘fire killer’ is a joke cause the iPad is already one. The Fire is for a different market anyway.
Apple likely did test an under ’10’ inch iPad and said no. that is not to say that they might not do a 5-7 inch iPod. Heck the Touch needs something to make it more than a phone that doesn’t make calls. Up it to 5-6 inches and market it for younger kids as a game machine, or with the Apple Remote app for your new Apple TV box etc.
You don’t even need the 3g/4g. Kids don’t need that stuff. Heck one could ask if they even need wifi.
Definitely need Wi-Fi, even if it’s just for iCloud and the wireless syncing.
3G is debatable, but if you’re going to put that in, why not make it an iPhone?
But then you’d have a monstrosity like the Galaxy Note.
Also, would Apple sacrifice the iPod Touch’s pocketability for a bigger screen? Maybe if they were able to keep the same form-factor, or enlarge the dimensions a bit, (but then that’ll lead to the app-resolution/resizing problem).
It seems Apple has found the optimal screen sizes for their devices. Any changes to that would compromise what they’ve well-established for app developers and customers.
Apple knows very well how important it is to make it “easy” for the developers. Every Screen Resolution that has to be tested and optimized for “hurts” the App-quality. Point in Case: the new Ipad Screens must cost a hefty buck because there was nothing like that size and pixel density on the market
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_displays_by_pixel_density#Devices_sorted_by_size
and if we cut through the advertising BS, one very important driver was IMHO to double the resolution so the “old” Apps are still “pixel perfect”.
The only changes needed to the iPad 3 to make it meet all the benefits of a mythical iPad mini is to make it 33% lighter and 20% cheaper.
Solution:
Current 10″ iPad IS the “iPad mini”.
Future iPads are bigger, not smaller. “iPad Pro”.
5″-7″ screen sized entertainment devices are marketed
as a new bigger version of the iPod touch, not a
smaller version of the iPad. “iPod touch pro”.
Kids in general don’t need iCloud and many of them won’t be old enough to have their own apple ID under Apple’s terms anyway
as for wireless syncing, they don’t really need that either.