Why a 7-inch iPad makes no sense

updated 09:10 pm EDT, Thu August 5, 2010

Editorial: Apple may decide against smaller tablet

Rumors are swirling that Apple is coming close to unveiling a new, seven-inch iPad to give consumers another tablet option for those that want to be a bit more mobile. The device would reportedly boast the same basic features, but the biggest difference would be the 2.7-inches of screen real estate lopped off the new model. But is it really as exciting a prospect as some make it out to be?

Some are excited about the prospect of a new seven-inch iPad. They reason that the device would be easier to carry around, it would be cheaper, and perhaps most importantly, it would get closer to matching the size of the Amazon Kindle, the iPad’s chief competitor in the e-reader market.

All those points sound fine, and a cheaper iPad would make sense. But I don’t see any value in a seven-inch iPad. Sure, it would be smaller and carrying it around would be easier, but if that’s all there is to the device, why wouldn’t a shopper just buy an iPhone or iPod touch and be done with it?

The iPad is a fantastic device. I bought mine at launch, and so far, I couldn’t be happier with it. I think the screen is just right for a device of that size, and at the introductory price of just $499, it’s relatively affordable. I have no significant complaints.

But I would have some serious complaints with a seven-inch model. For one, a seven-inch screen starts getting into the dangerous territory of being too small for users to watch movies and enjoy Web videos on. Plus, a smaller footprint effectively puts the iPad into the middle-of-the-road area where consumers have trouble making up their minds. They reason that for, say, $100 more, they could get a much bigger device. Or, for a $100 less, they can get a smartphone that provides all the same functionality, but adds in calling. Confusion doesn’t help sell tech products, and Apple is the master of avoiding overlap.

I’m all for devices that are more pocket-friendly, but we need to decide what the iPad is all about. Is the tablet a device designed to make you more productive and help you enjoy entertainment? Or is it a device that you want to store in your pocket and whip out when you have nothing better to do?

If it’s the latter, I don’t see value in it. For one, what size pockets do people have that they can slip the iPad mini in and be comfortable? And secondly, if the iPad mini gets too small, it’s in danger of becoming a PDA. And we all know how well that turned out the last time Apple made something too big to be pocketable but too small to fill in for a notebook.

Apple has hit the sweet spots with its iPhone and the iPad. The iPhone is perfectly sized and designed for those who want to be productive while on the go, and the iPad is ideal for those that want an entertaining experience wherever they are. The disparity between the two devices makes them appealing to just about any consumer. Why give that up for the sake of a slightly cheaper tablet?

By Don Reisinger

By Electronista Staff

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TAGS :

iPod, Amazon, iPhone, industry, gadgets, digital imaging, Kindle, Apple, Newton, iPad

bobolicious

Junior Member

Joined: Aug 2002

08/05, 09:33pm | report spam | close reply

just one opinion...

...i can imagine younger kids, or those with smaller hands, or those wanting something lighter to fit in a labcoat pocket or smaller purse, or on a dash as a gps, yada yada...

...for me the software & content will be the deciding factor - the ebook titles I wanted were all on amazon, can't be 'shared', book/note synced with alternate devices, content selected to be googled/linked/copied/printed (within fair use policies) and in the apple system there is no reader for desktop use (save the $99 development simulator) - so in fact ebooks seem in some ways less flexible than traditional books & seem to fail to take advantage of the potential of the 'new' medium - somewhat like still needing to buy CDs to get lossless audio quality...?

iphonerulez

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2008

08/05, 09:46pm | report spam | (1 reply) close | reply

Yup, you don't see the point...

Steve Jobs and Apple really don't care about your opinion or whether you see the point or not. I think they've probably done some sort of survey and then they'll produce the device for consumers, marketing it in such a way so that it will be the most natural thing in the world. It really could be a mass market reading device. You see, there are literally hundreds of millions of consumers out there and Apple can afford to take the risk of reaching some. If it doesn't sell all that well, no big deal. I'm sure it will and it will be a nice way to blunt sales of other vendors similar-sized tablets. Nobody will know for certain until the 7" tablet is built and offered for sale. That's honestly the best way to test your "don't see the point" theory.

I'm sorry, but there were just too many analysts and pundits that really didn't see the point of the iPad or Apple Retail Stores. There's something about their brains that doesn't work properly because they only see failure instead of an opportunity.

Foxypaco

Joined: Apr 2010

08/05, 10:25pm | report spam | close reply

comment title

The iPod Touch starts at $199. The iPad at $499. If they made an 7" iPad for $299, I might consider buying one.

nat

Joined: Mar 2002

08/05, 10:55pm | report spam | close reply

ipod touch

... gone. iphone, ipad mini, ipad makes more sense to me than the same line up but also with the touch. that of course is if the 7" rumors are true.

SockRolid

Forum Regular

Joined: Jan 2010

08/05, 11:26pm | report spam | close reply

7" is exactly the wrong size

Too small to watch videos, too big to fit in a pocket. It's really that simple.

chas_m

Moderator

Joined: Aug 2001

08/05, 11:47pm | report spam | close reply

Thank you!

I've been saying for some time that a smaller iPad already exists ... it's called the iPod Touch. Maybe they'll rebrand the iPod Touch, make it a *little* bigger and *call* it an iPad mini, but really I just don't see Apple doing this.

The iPad was *very* carefully considered for size, weight, comfort etc. There's really no value in an "inbetweener" that sits oddly between the Touch and the iPad proper.

melgross@usa.ne

Joined: May 2005

08/06, 01:10am | report spam | close reply

not too small

I don't agree that it would be too small. We've been watching music videos, Tv shows and movies on our iPhones and iPod Touches, so this much larger screen certainly isn't too small.

It could either have the 960 x 640 of the iPhone, or the 1024 x 768 rez of the iPad. Either would work well in this size.

And don't forget that if Apple came out with it for $299 as was suggested, it would better compete with the kindle as a book reader because it would be lighter in weight, and the screen would still be one inch larger, in addition to the much lower price. The weight of my iPad doesn't always bother me when reading books, magazines or newspapers, but it is heavy for that task sometimes, and I have to shift it around.

I'm not saying that this rumor is right, but that I don't see anything drastic that would prevent it. The only doubt is one made in Ars Technica, tht the batteries might not be big enough to give the same 10 hours, but I'm not sure that's correct.

And Apple doesn't do marketing surveys, as per statements of Steve Jobs.

I've repeated this post on Ars.

Geordiekeith

Joined: Aug 2003

08/06, 02:01am | report spam | close reply

Right size

Totally disagree. The iPad for me is too big - for that size I want a full computer with keyboard, more access ports, etc. whic I have to have for working when travelling. At my age, over 50, the iPod touch is too small for movies, books, and even games. (No iPhone as for work I have to have a Blackberry...) So, like mummy Bear, a 7"" iPad would be just right for me - falling nicely into the Kindle area for books, with the added bonus of movies and games - all my entertainment on my travels.

Feathers

Grizzled Veteran

Joined: Oct 1999

-7

08/06, 07:39am | report spam | close reply

Why...

Why Don Reisinger should go somewhere that he's actually wanted...

I just want to know. Did your daddy get you your first job?

facebook_Doug

Via Facebook

Joined: Aug 2010

08/06, 09:29am | report spam | close reply

I commute with an iPad everyday but...

Much as i love it is a bit bulky. I carry it in my laptop bag (I carry enough computing power to go Mars). I watch TV, read papers and surf the net but given the choice and my personal experience i would opt for the 7" gadget.

Jonathan-Tanya

Joined: Oct 2004

08/06, 09:37am | report spam | close reply

the smaller form factor is ideal

"too large to be pocketable"

some people carry purses - 7" fits, 10" doesn't.

the thing about the iPod touch, is its too small to read comfortably - say you are reading a textbook, and you are using it to study. You may have to take a serious nostalgia trip here, Don, but - you need the actual number of pages in a textbook to be manageable. A tiny screen with free flowing text - the textbook may literally be 2000 pages, its just too long, you cannot categorize info well.

So go to the 10" iPad right, except the 10" iPad is too heavy. If you dont' think it's too heavy, you haven't held it in your hand for 2 hours yet, reading intently.

You can treat a Kindle like a real book. today's iPad, gets heavy in your fingers. Your fingers can carry a few ounces for a while, but cannot handle > 1 lb.

It's not about its transport weight, its about its reading weight. A typical laptop would be super light at 1.5lbs - but laptops go on your lap or table, not on your fingers.

djbeta

Joined: Jan 2004

my $.02

It's a GREAT size for videos, if you commute on a train for instance.

It may be too big for a pocket, but it looks PERFECT for a woman's purse.

I think the key to its success will be the price point. I think $299 is not where it's going to land.. I think it will be $349 or $399 for an entry level model. On the other hand, with all of Apple's success, they are in more and more of a position to be aggressive with pricing, so who knows!!!??

08/06, 09:52am | report spam | close reply

i like the size

you can see the archos 7 in hand here

http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/13/archos-7-home-tablet-review/

i'd be much more likely to buy this size than the full sized ipad.

JeffHarris

08/06, 09:57am | report spam | close reply

What about weight?

Apple could probably handle a 7" device, saleswise.

If Apple could knock the weight to half that of the iPad, it could be compelling for a lot of users. Whether such a device could be held comfortably in one hand while using it would make a difference. This is where the iPod touch shines and the iPad doesn't.

The 1.5 lb. iPad can be heavy for some and it's tough to hold in one hand for anything but short periods.

I sit when using my iPad and can stand when using my iPod touch. And carry it with me when the MacBook Pro is overkill. I ALWAYS carry my iPod touch, though.

acpryor

Joined: Aug 2007

08/06, 10:25am | report spam | close reply

No need for one, movies aren't great on iPad anywa

There are lots of things an iPad may be good for, but watching movies isn't one of them. Web vids sure but movies? My laptop has the proper screen ratio and for ideal for traveling by car or plane. Who wants to hold up their iPad for a 2 hour flight or have to bring a separate holder (which moots the whole portability point) when a laptop works perfectly. You can also set a laptop easily on a suitcase etc in the backseat for watching movies in the back.

I don't know.. we'll see what happens...

Inkling

Joined: Jul 2006

08/06, 10:52am | report spam | close reply

Competition from the Kindle

Why do pundits such as Reisinger think that their tastes should dictate everyone's choices? Have they so little to say that blasting rumors is the only way they can draw attention to themselves?

I'd be delighted if the rumors prove accurate and Apple creates two new models: one a bit larger than the current iPod touch but still pocket-sized and one that's coat-pocket sized. The current iPad is so big, users need a case to carry it about and, if you're doing that, you might as well carry a laptop and get some additional exercise.

However, I do suspect that the smaller of the two would be better if given an iPod touch UI and treated as a new iPod touch model, perhaps with added features (i.e. a GPS). The larger screen will help those with large, clumsy fingers like me, but may not be large enough to work with an iPad UI. Developers are likely to be overwhelmed if they're faced with more than two UIs.

In this move, Apple probably has its eyes on the likely success of the new Kindle. That Kindle is an almost perfect size and weight for a digital book reader. You can slip it into a coat pocket or purse, put 3,000 books on it, hold it up for hours, use it for almost a month without recharging, and read it in any light in which you can read a book. The only real negatives are those most consumers are unlikely to notice:

* No purchased books from any source but Amazon

* No free public library books

* Transferring a user's own documents to it is clumsy

* That inadequate little keyboard.

Restricted to power-hungry, color LCD-like screens, Apple can't match all the new Kindle's features (much less its $139 price), but knows that it must match as many as possible or see fewer sales of both iPads and ebooks via the iBookstore. It must have a gadget or gadgets bigger than an iPhone/touch and smaller than the current iPad or lose market share. Apple doesn't always listen to its customers, but it pays a great deal of attention to the market.

The real question is whether Apple will get it right the first time. Amazon has taken four tries to develop a Kindle that I find appealing. Apple won't have that long before competitors take over the increasingly hot book reader market. Steve Jobs may claim that "no one reads anymore," but he knows otherwise.

sglewis

Joined: Jun 2005

08/06, 10:58am | report spam | close reply

not to small to watch movies...

Let's get real, Apple's been selling devices since BEFORE the iPod Touch designed to watch movies. They still sell the Nano, which watches movies. In no way is a 7" screen to small for an obviously large group of people. We watch movies on iPhones, iPod Touches, iPod Nanos, original iPods (does anyone still buy those... I guess so...). Android folks are releasing 4.3" touch screen phones claiming they make better movie viewing devices than iPhones due to their HUGE screens.

What's for sure, is the screen will have a 4:3 screen, since small bars while watching movies like on an iPad outweigh the problem of forcing ANOTHER new screen resolution on developers / breaking existing iPad apps, etc.

The problem I see, is they are (rightly so) doing things like this Retina Display in the iPhone, that probably is a couple of years from being feasible in a 9.7" screen size due to the density required / manufacturing yield concerns. The next BIG thing in iPad screens will probably have to incorporate that somehow, but at 1024x768 (current iPad screen) you only get around 183 ppi in a 7" diagonal screen. The magic number is 300 ppi.

If they find a way to source reasonably affordable 7" IPS panels at 1600x1200 panel (4:3, 285 ppi), I think you'll POSSIBLY see such a product. Until then, no way. The current iPad is the last non-retina display you'll see in an iOS device. If the next iPad doesn't do retina, it will continue to use the same exact 9.7" 1024x768 IPS panel.

Already, in just a month of having an iPhone 4, and having had an iPad WiFi since launch day, I now see pixels when looking at the iPad. Never noticed that before. Retina display is the game changer. It's lucky from Android their have fairly high PPI screens or they'd look really bad. And it's exactly one more reason that new Blackberry is going to flop.

SierraDragon

Mac Elite

Joined: Mar 2004

08/06, 11:14am | report spam | close reply

Markets like having multiple choices

The question is: Is there sufficient market for a (cheaper) 7" size iPad? The answer IMO is unequivocally YES. A 7" iPad does not have to be ideal at everything, just at a decent price point and very good at the specific things that enough specific users find important.

E.g. I am a database developer, and a 7" size would be ideal for data input for all kinds of enterprise apps. In such usages things like how feature movies play or how books read are irrelevant. I am sure there are many other folks with lots of 7"-is-ideal usages other than DB input too. Purses (mentioned), GPS, etc. Certainly enough to make 7" a viable market segment.

-Allen

wisebabo

08/07, 01:03am | report spam | close reply

It's called COMPETITION

The author seems to forget that Apple doesn't exist in a vacuum. Even though competitors have been very late(!) to come up with competing products they will. For example, Dell is rumored to be coming up with a 7" tablet.

Yes if Apple sells a 7" tablet its current sales of 10" tablets *MIGHT* go down from what they could be but I think it is clear that overall sales will go up. But if a competitor comes up with a 7" tablet and Apple doesn't have a similar product, its current sales of 10" tablets (and thus overall sales) WILL go down from what they could be.

Typical short term thinking. Fortunately Apple hasn't shied away in the past from making decisions that may have reduced the profitability of one particular product but made the company richer as a whole. (For example it could have released the iPhone without the ability to play music so as not to compete with its very profitable iPods. It did not and the rest is history.)

facebook_Joe

08/07, 11:44am | report spam | close reply

No Sense? Really?

The iPad has gotten its fair share of criticism. And it's on the way to selling 4 million units.

You say 2.7", but that would produce a screen half the size. Remember your high school algebra, when you multiply the diagonal of a square by .707 (1/sqr2) you get half the area.

The iPod touch can view videos. On a plane, I hold it at arm's length, and it appears bigger than the TV all are watching. The iPad appears as big as a 55" tv to your field of vision.

The 7" iPad would hit a niche. I'd predict it will be a hit, naturally would take some sales from both iPod Touch and iPad, but more so from the other tablets due out this Christmas.

Consider - given the number of apps out there, and track record of prior devices, if you were Steve and saw the huge number of tablets that will be introduced soon, why not introduce the in-between size?

MyJelleo

08/09, 10:08pm | report spam | close reply

Battery Life?

A lot of people here don't realize creating a smaller iPad isn't like taking a Kitkat bar and breaking it in half to make it a smaller Kitkat bar -- it's not that simple. Did everyone forget how crammed the iPad is? Apple would have to start from scratch in order to design an iPad Mini and maintain all the features that are in the iPad.

Also, after reading the comments, I noticed all of you forgot a deciding factor between the kindle and an iPad Mini: battery life. The iPad mini would not only most likely have to lose 1 of the 2 batteries the iPad has, but will also most likely need a smaller battery in order to fit inside its smaller and thinner frame. We're talking about a more than 50% drop in battery life.

An iPad mini would not fit anyone's needs. The ebook reader needs long battery life, a music listener needs pocketable portability, and a content creator needs screen real estate.

An iPad mini to fit between the iPod touch and iPad makes as much sense as a Macbook Midget made to fit between an iPad and a Macbook.

Peter Bonte

08/10, 08:41am | report spam | close reply

7" is for gaming

Just big enough for the iPad games but super for iPhone games, at $199 it would kill the current handheld gaming market.
Ultimate price points for next years low-end iDevices
- iPod Touch $99
- 7" iPad $199
- iPad $399

Shadowcatcher

Joined: Jul 2010

08/11, 12:28pm | report spam | close reply

AppleTV Remote?

Under what circumstances was this 7" model discovered? Instead of a up and coming iPad mini, could someone have possibly had seen what may be [an optional] remote for the up and coming refresh of the Apple TV device?

Seems like a little overkill for a device remote control, just throwing out the idea as a possibility.

Carmissimo

Joined: Sep 2003

09/27, 11:36am | report spam | close reply

Changed my mind

I was of the view that a smaller version of the iPad would be a great addition but then I had the chance to look at an iPad in the flesh and now I have a different view.

Yes the device is a little heavy for handheld use but it also struck me as being the perfect size for what it's intended to do. The solution is not to release a 7" model but rather to engineer out some weight. I'm sure this is doable and as a result you'd have an outstanding device.

Regarding price, if it was an issue, would Apple be selling their device by the millions?

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Why a 7-inch iPad makes no sense

updated 09:10 pm EDT, Thu August 5, 2010

Editorial: Apple may decide against smaller tablet

just one opinion...

Yup, you don't see the point...

comment title

ipod touch

7" is exactly the wrong size

Thank you!

not too small

Right size

Why...

I commute with an iPad everyday but...

the smaller form factor is ideal

my $.02

i like the size

What about weight?

No need for one, movies aren't great on iPad anywa

Competition from the Kindle

not to small to watch movies...

Markets like having multiple choices

It's called COMPETITION

No Sense? Really?

Battery Life?

7" is for gaming

AppleTV Remote?

Changed my mind

Login Here

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Why a 7-inch iPad makes no sense

updated 09:10 pm EDT, Thu August 5, 2010

Editorial: Apple may decide against smaller tablet

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just one opinion...

Yup, you don't see the point...

comment title

ipod touch

7" is exactly the wrong size

Thank you!

not too small

Right size

Why...

I commute with an iPad everyday but...

the smaller form factor is ideal

my $.02

i like the size

What about weight?

No need for one, movies aren't great on iPad anywa

Competition from the Kindle

not to small to watch movies...

Markets like having multiple choices

It's called COMPETITION

No Sense? Really?

Battery Life?

7" is for gaming

AppleTV Remote?

Changed my mind

Login Here

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