New iPhone and iPad "Mini"
Friday, August 24, 2012 at 9:05AM 
Time to move away from banging on about the SCOtutor debacle on the blog and start talking about some product related stuff.
Over on the British Tech Mac podcast, the subject of the new iPad "Mini" has been a constant topic of discussion for ages and ages.
Originally, I was a sceptic, based mainly on Steve Jobs insistent rebuttal of the smaller 7" form factor back in the October 2010, almost two years ago. As anyone who followed Steve closely knows, he was the master of redirection, and not always completely transparent in his pronunciations.
"No video on the iPod" anyone?
In this case though, he seemed pretty insistent.
However, as rumours have started to crystallise over the last 12 months, it's become apparent that the 7" (or 7.85") iPad form factor is feasible and now looks to be almost a certainty. Two Daring Fireball posts:
Let’s Try to Think This iPad Mini Thing All the Way Through
Thinking This iPad Mini Thing Even Througher
seem to have brought everything together on the technical aspects of what an iPad "Mini" might consist of.
Then came the semi confirmed rumour of a combined iPhone and iPad announcement on the 12th September - the iPhone part subsequently confirmed by a resounding "Yep" from Jim Dalrymple.
If Jim says "Yep", it's almost a dead cert.
Notice in that link that he only said "Yep" to the iPhone part.
Subsequent discussions on British Tech Mac allowed me to postulate that Apple would be unlikely to have a combined iPhone/iPad event.
The iPhone is just too important a product for Apple for them to allow it to share the limelight with any other product.
My thoughts were, the iPhone would be launched in September, but Apple would follow that up with another October event, the one usually reserved for the iPod. This would be the launchpad of the new iPad "Mini" for the Christmas market, possibly positioning the new iPad "Mini" primarily as a killer gaming or entertainment platform, which also has access to all the current iPad apps. If Apple could bring this to market, before Christmas, and at a price point of $199 - $249, they would totally own Christmas.
Game over!
The good news is that yesterday, John Gruber also postulated the possibility of two Apple events, a separate one for the iPhone in September, followed up with an iPad one in October.
The even better news is that Jim Dalyrymple gave it his seal of approval.
Roll on September and October!
As a footnote, it's telling that other vendors are falling over themselves to get their product announcements in before September 12th
- Nokia & Microsoft (September 5th)
- Motorola Event (September 5th)
- Amazon Kindle Event(September 6th)
Another interesting fact is that Microsoft are launching Windows 8 and the new Surface tablet on October 26th.
What would be the impact of Apple releasing a $199 iPad Mini on the 24th October, just two days before the Microsoft launch.
Plus having immediate availability.
Interesting times!
Reader Comments (4)
Not too sure whether other vendors "falling over themselves to announce in September" should be valued so high:
1) Apple wouldn't inform its competitors of its products before its customers
2) September is traditionally the time of year where hardware manufacturers start manufacturing if they want a units to be available in large numbers for the Christmas season.
That's a very valid point Uli.
I doubt that Apple would introduce two new products in two consecutive months. Plus, the rumoured iPad mini could be just a bigger iPod touch, which in turn would perfectly match with Apple's habits of refreshing the iPod lineup in September.
Hi Don
I think John and Jim have got it right and to me this is more confirmation that the so called iPad mini will actually be introduced as a New iPad Touch, with Apple moving the iTouch line to the status of a lower tiered iPad. iPod will remain as primarily a music device and maybe we will see the nano as a watch.
This move not only protects Steve's legacy but also serves to position all 7-8" tablets as "less serious" devices.
In this way instead of appearing to be playing catch up to Google, Apple leads the market with a new product which I predict will be aimed at young gamers and soccer moms looking for a safe hand held gaming device the kids want with a educational tool.