Well, the iPad mini is finally here, ending years (okay, months) of speculation with far from impressive specs and a higher-than-expected price tag. Disappointing? Yeah, maybe a little.
Having said that, we firmly believe the iPad mini will sell by the proverbial bucketload, and I gots five reasons why; five reasons to make you cry, you big Android lover.
Said reasons range from the blatantly obvious to the potentially slightly silly. In any case, feel free to tear me a new one in the comments. Heck, I didn’t need to tell you that, you rabid fiends.
Here we go, in no particular order. Ready?
1. It’s Apple
An anonymous member of the Mobot team said this morning: “Tim Cook could take a dump on each individual iPad and double the price, and people would still buy it by the truckload.” Sounds about right.
It was interesting to see the reaction from Joe Public last night, with numerous posts from Facebook friends on the News Feed, and messages from amigos asking me what I thought about the new iDevices.
That kind of reaction simply doesn’t happen with any other company. These people, the ones moved by the iPad mini, are in all likelihood completely oblivious to the Google Nexus 7, and even if they are aware of it, nothing compares to the Apple shiny (cue: Sinead O’Connor).
2. The price
Yes, the iPad mini is significantly more expensive than the Amazon Kindle Fire and Google Nexus 7 (£269 versus £159 and £199 for the 16GB models respectively), but the iPad mini is the cheapest iPad yet. Also: see 1.
Tablets are a luxury device. They’re like giant smartphones without the phone capabilities, or laptops without the power. As such, it’s kinda hard to justify shelling out for one. Heck, if I didn’t review iOS games, I wouldn’t own an iPad. For serious. What am I getting at? Ah; extending that luxury logic, it might be fair to say that tablet buyers are in a position where price isn't everything.
In any case, while a price tag of £269 is higher than many predicted (and many hoped for), it’s still £130 cheaper than the third/fourth generation iPad.
3. The apps
The App Store hosts over 700,000 apps, with 275,000 specifically tailored for the iPad. For gamers, there’s no choice, and there’s stuff like Garage Band, too. Sexy tablet apps is one area where Android is sorely lacking.
4. The timing
A couple of people mentioned on Facebook that they wanted an iPad mini for Christmas, which is now just two months away. What better time to ask for an extravagant gift that you mightn’t necessarily buy yourself.
Yep, we imagine Santa will have many an iPad mini in his swollen sack this year.
5. The specs
Perhaps a bit of a controversial point, as the iPad mini is rocking iPad 2 specs from 18 months ago, with a significantly lower DPI than both the Google Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire.
However, as far as Joe Public is concerned (in my head, anyway), the iPad mini offers a larger display without being too massive. It’s actually lighter and thinner than the Google Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire while offering a 35% larger display, and it has front and rear cameras. And don’t forget the Apple logo on the back.
Conclusion
Looking back at a survey from early October, it suggests “only” (ahem) 18% of consumers plan to buy an iPad mini, compared to the 45% who planned to buy an iPhone 5 (from an earlier survey).
Let’s say those figures are loosely accurate, and that the iPad mini will “only” sell a third of the units shifted by the iPhone 5 in its opening weekend. That’s still over a million units, a landmark that might’ve been achieved by the Google Nexus 7 in three months. Just saying.
The iPad mini will sell by the bucketload. It’s inevitable. It’s Apple.
