Comments on: Why Apple Should Consider a 7-inch iPad

By: Colin Gibbs

Colin Gibbs — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 14:29:46 +0000

You make a great point about marketing, tbb. Differentiating with a smaller tablet will only work if you tell consumers how smaller = more mobile.

By: tonybillbill

tonybillbill — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 18:34:10 +0000

Agree that Jobs was largely doing some PR spinning with that.

I believe the larger size will end up being more mass market (for any ‘stationary’ use cases, in-home, etc. it’s just better), so I think it makes sense that they started with that.

But the smaller size will be key to the prosumer/’very mobile’ segment, who are always on the go, given that it’s easier to pocket (in a coat or small carrying bag) in the cases where one doesn’t want to carry a laptop. ^^^The 7″ tablet guys should be emphasizing this in ads – the current TV ads for the Samsung tablet, for example, talk about all this generic functionality that doesn’t differentiate the product at all.^^^ I can’t imagine that the average consumer will come away from that ad understanding what advantages it brings vs. iPad.

By: williamhaven

williamhaven — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 18:10:29 +0000

I think the success of 7 inch devices like the Samsung Galaxy Tab will show Apple that they’re leaving money on the table without a 7 inch model. Apple doesn’t have a problem selling four versions of the iPod, and three versions of its Macbook. So having two versions of the iPad isn’t so hard for consumers to comprehend.

^^^Jobs’ comment to the effect that a 7 inch screen is too small is disingenuous. Millions of iPhone and iPod Touch users somehow get by without using a stylus on a 3.5 inch screen.

Perhaps the real issue is that Apple can’t build a 7 inch iPad much cheaper than the price of the 9.6 inch model.^^^