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Apple iPad Mini Could Complicate Things For Windows 8 Tablets
Nerval's Lobster writes "Current rumor suggests that Apple is gearing up to unveil its iPad Mini Oct. 17, with invitations to media arriving Oct. 10. That's according to Fortune, which obtained the information from an unnamed Apple investor who, in turn, heard those dates from other unnamed sources. While that attribution might prove a bit too vaporous for some people, it does align with earlier reports from AllThingsD that Apple is planning to reveal a smaller iPad sometime in October. If those rumors prove accurate, the unveiling of an iPad Mini in that timeframe could prove very bad news for the upcoming Windows 8 tablets. (Gizmodo offers a pretty complete rumor rundown on the iPad Mini's possible features here.) Unlike the traditional PC market, Microsoft doesn't dominate the market for mobile-device operating systems. Windows 7 tablets never gained much of a toehold among tablet users, who prefer iPads and Android-based devices by wide margins. When it comes to Windows 8 (and Windows RT, the version of next-generation Windows for ARM architecture), Microsoft is starting out as the underdog."
so?
From what I've seen, Windows 8 tablets are focused on the 9-12 inch segment. I'd say the real threat posed by the iPad Mini is against the smaller stuff, like the small Kindle Fire (HD or not), Nexus 7 and similar hardware.
There is absolutely no story here. Nothing to even connect Microsoft and Apple.
"Competition from X could be bad for Y".
What a fucking wank fest this site is. Anyways, flame on, dopes.
Oh, wait...
I should be able to mod down the story so nobody has to read this garbage.
imho
any one who wants an iPad, and can afford one will buy an iPad. Those that don't want an iPad (me included) would have made that decision based on some reason (whatever that might be). people that buy the w8tablet either are getting a good deal (priced) for holidays or know nothing about tablet technology... not because there is or isn;t a new iPad available.
thats just my thoughts
Would it be poor taste to sneak a large Steve Jobs poster onto the outside of Apple's release venue, with his quotes on 7 inch tablets?
"If you take an iPad and hold it upright in portrait view and draw an imaginary horizontal line halfway down the screen, the screens on the seven-inch tablets are a bit smaller than the bottom half of the iPad display. This size isn't sufficient to create great tablet apps in our opinion.
Well, one could increase the resolution of the display to make up for some of the difference. It is meaningless, unless your tablet also includes sandpaper, so that the user can sand down their fingers to around one quarter of the present size. Apple's done extensive user-testing on touch interfaces over many years, and we really understand this stuff. There are clear limits of how close you can physically place elements on a touch screen before users cannot reliably tap, flick, or pinch them. This is one of the key reasons we think the 10-inch screen size is the minimum size required to create great tablet apps."
If the rumours are true and judging by the lack of innovation with the iPhone 5 it seems likely that the iPad Mini won't be anything special. Gizmodo seems to be expecting a sub-HD screen, the same as the iPhone, and fairly pedestrian hardware specs. iOS 6 is already out so we know what to expect from that.
Their competitors are doing things like split screen multitasking at a price point it seems unlikely Apple will be able to match (the iPod Touch is $300).
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
or "Win8 on the Surface"
Where's my ~14" A4/Letter sized tablet? Give me a full sized page of text please.
The[sic] there's that name. Makes me think of urinate every time someone says it.
Probably best if I not tell you what I think when I hear the word 'pad'. -- Some woman
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
The promise of winRT is really MS office on a tablet. And nothing else. Windows 8 brings NOTHING else to the table that iOS or android doesn't already do better.
So, office.
Not some BS cloud hybrid, actual fully functional office. Excel, word, access, the whole nine yards.
Also not some BS psudo-laptop hybrid device that Microsoft has been failing to sell for a literal decade. An actual real tablet with a functional touch interface, long battery life, instant on, app store, all that. You know, like apple sells. Or something running andriod.
Here is why you will never buy a windows 8 tablet:
Office on Arm is a lie. Microsoft will never be able to port the full office suite to arm because the codebase is so bloated with decades-old windows specific bloat. You will never see a winRT port of office that you could ever call functional.
The alternative? One of those new custom "windows only" intel SoCs. - These tablets will never sell well. They'll cost 899, weigh twice as much, have a boatload of carryover pc-isims that will make them useless as actual tablets, and will run maybe an hour and a half before running down their battery. And intel based windows tablet will never be as functional as an arm based one.
I would argue that it does considerably more than simply complicate things. The iPad mini will show that Apple can create and expand upon a range of high quality devices on what is essentially a single platform. It's all about the ecosystem that you can buy today vs. Microsoft's ever persistent promises of a better tomorrow. While that may be an oversimplification, most end users just want something that works, looks great, and makes their lives easier. Currently, I don't see that with Windows outside of the traditional desktop experience.
It's been 11 years since the first iPod was release and the general public's raging erection for Apple devices has still not been satisfied. Windows RT wouldn't stand a chance even if Apple shutdown tomorrow. Releasing a new device wont make Microsoft fail any harder than they already are.
Didn't Steve Jobs say publicly that a tablet any smaller than the iPad is useless as a tablet and if its bigger than the iPhone its useless as a phone, aiming directly at the 7" Android tablets hitting the market?
Always nice to know that Apple plant's stories (or exposes the media bias). I love how everytime some big iPad killer is announced, *someone* posts a story about the iPad mini. Remember the Nexus 7 launch? One week later there was a iPad mini that proved to be vaporware. At least this time it's BEFORE the launch of Win 8, so we'll see it was just a plant story of vaporware.
Well, if you're going to shorten it, you can borrow W8 from me, that's what I've been calling it.
Free Martian Whores!
Microsoft and Android will have to fight a serious uphill battle against iPad. I have an iPad and love it to read material but as content creator (Even simple emails), it sucks. The market is wide open to fill the content creation gap.
... quietly, somewhere at the Apple offices all records of and references to the iPod Touch are being destroyed.
Fifty watts per channel, baby cakes.
windows 8 is such a silly canard, such a rollup of scraps from under the counters at Microsoft, that a damn good whipping from Apple in all formats availiable is probably the only thing that can shake Microsoft's culture up. I think they're still capable of good stuff, Kinect as an example of taking thousands of dollars technology down to the price point of a really good controller. and it works well.
problem is, Microsoft is so anal about the DOS and NT userbases that they're trying to badly preserve them in a throwback visually to Presentation Manager. they need to fork their efforts. dying tech, over there... our Shiny New Thing that goes past IOS/Android, over here. arm-wrestle in the market, folks, and winner gets the development funding.
oh, and a bunch of "we always did it this way" guys would get fired and fade out of the picture.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
the new Mini Pad, the current Maxi Pad, not to mention the Tam Pod.
I know they tried to market to the elderly with the shuffle.
Why can't apple make anything that a real man can be seen carrying with out some shame?
Let me guess, you think of that cool intown studio apartment you got after moving out of your parents' suburban split level home, where you and your friends could chill out and drop some acid while listening to the grooviest tunes.
But I don't want to W8. I want it NOW.
(I actually installed W8 on a Virtual Machine to try it out. Not too pleased with the Mobile interface on my big monitor.)
[John]
Shit better not happen!
Between us, I suspect that whatever Apple chooses to do will wipe the floor with whatever Windows 8 ends up being, but I have a hard time making myself care either way.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
iPad Mini market is clearly for home users looking for an entertainment platform.
Windows 8 tablets are aimed squarely at the enterprise crowd.
Simply put, iPad has had a slow adoption into the enterprise world due to a real lack of compatibility with the Microsoft systems STILL IN HEAVY usage in enterprise. People can shit on Microsoft all they want for no longer capturing the consumer market, but Microsoft is still king in enterprise. People bring an iPad into the office expecting a large amount of compromise in functionality, and tolerate it because they are driving to finding a way to make iPad work in the office.
However it is a far more natural progression for enterprise users to get a Windows tablet the blends seamlessly with their office environment. In fact I suspect that WIndows 8 Tablets will truly mark the end of the "PC" era as enterprise users swap out desktops for tablets. The only reason for PC's to exist today is mostly to support enterprise workstations.
iPad Mini is not an enterprise product.
Sure if MIcrosoft is hoping to open up their market share in consumer electronics, Windows 8 will find it hard to compete with any iDevice, but even then there will be more variety and price points of Windows 8 tablets then Apple products, as has been historically for the entire history of Microsoft and Apple. Once again Microsoft is entering a market where Apple makes expensive niche products and Microsoft will focus on more value mainstream products. Just that this time around Apple's "niche" is significantly larger.
Don't be mistaken, Apple is VERY worried about the release of a Microsoft tablet product, just like they are worried about Android phones. Remember that for every iSheeple that must have everything Apple, there many more people that can't stand Apple or at least want to have more value conscious choices. Microsoft is poised to offer an alternative that is more easily adoptable by enterprise users and more attractive to value conscious consumers in the long run.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
After all, the main difference between a iPhone and an iPad is the size... so isn't an iPad Mini really just an iPhone?
Different market. Windows 8 tablets will be focused on actually being productive with a tablet - a laptop or ultrabook replacement. An ipad mini will be the same as everything else apple has on the market...great to check facebook and look at photos but that's about it.
Win 8 tablet: apps to use, plus a *real* OS when I need it. Tired of using bullshit dataviz office on the go? Fire up MS Office 2010. Don't want to play bullshit touch games? Fire up Dead Space, Mass Effect, etc.
Please explain why that approach will suddenly work now when it failed for about a decade straight before Apple introduced the iPad.
iPad: iOS apps. Limited feature
It's called "focused" and is why Apple has sold tens of millions to date. Odd how people appreciate well written software that tries to solve a specific problem.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
"Unlike the traditional PC market, Microsoft doesn't dominate the market for mobile-device operating systems."
This is a widely promoted mythconception. The reality is Microsoft doesn't really dominate the real PC market anywhere nearly as much as they claim. Most of those Microsoft Windows based PCs are actually doing boring tasks like cash registers, data entry, surveillance, systems control, etc. They aren't being used by people for more creative tasks. The Mac dominates the market for the real people work. Microsoft does the boring stuff. Sadly, Microsoft does it badly.
Windows 8 for tablets is a non- event anyway. Whatever apple does or doesn't do, Windows will be ignored in the mobile space.
FTA: ...Microsoft is starting out as the underdog."
That's a strange way to put it.
More accurate would be "...Microsoft has been unsuccessful in its more than 15 years of attempts at the mobile platform, despite its dominance in other sectors during that time."
Microsoft's efforts will at least accomplish something worthwhile: force Apple and Google to recognize the need for real applications like LibreOffice on tablets as opposed to just forcing users to accept a steady diet of media consumption and lightweight apps.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
If in fact Apple does release a smaller iPad then I think this will actually be quite significant with respect to MS and Win8. Given the popularity of other smaller tablets released recently such as the Kindle and the Nexus it shows that the market is moving (or rather expanding) to accommodate this new form factor. But it doesn't look to me like Win8 will play nice at this scale (just my opinion, I could be wrong). So just as MS finally get's something possibly credible onto the market the market has shifted to something else.
So it could be that Apple still doesn't believe the smaller form factor is better than the 10" size but is happy to play along as it would quite aggravate MS.
Regarding Jobs' comments regarding the 7" screens, I believe he may have been right at the time but our UI design skills for tablets have improved now which may mitigate those points. The industry moves so quickly that a lot of comments many people make are true at the time given what was viable then but become less relevant as we learn more.
Ryans Tutorials - A collection of technology tutorials.
Nah. iShedEndometriumIntoPaperProducts.
or desktop Office and (on Intel) any existing third-party software for Windows.
Which was the approach with TabletPC's since very little of that software has touch support.
So how does it work better this time around again?
There is a correct answer by the way.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Tablet PC did not have a touch centric UI.
NOR DO ALL THE THIRD PARTY WINDOWS APPS.
I'm done with this conversation, carry on if you like.
Sorry, you got it wrong.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
You think?
I'm so glad slashdot is here to slap the cock of obvious in my face and expect me to suck.
C'mon guys, you're better than that. Saying an iPad mini is a threat to Win 8 tablets is like saying the sun exploding is a threat to a yet-unrealized genetic mutations of the wombat.
Anyway, when iPhone came out, there were zero third party apps for it, of any kind.
Since that is utterly irrelevant to Windows 8, why do you even bother to mention that?
There wasn't that same problem in the mobile space at all. Palm had been successful, Blackberry had been successful. It's not like the PDA and smartphone were not working before.
But the tablet market no-one before Apple could make work, and Microsoft tried for years.
The thing that makes your comment really REALLY off-kilter is that if you actually go to apply Apple's start to to the topic at hand, tablets - Apple launched the iPad not just running the iOS library, which really didn't matter that much, but around 3,000 applications built SPECIFICALLY for the iPad.
THAT matters. A LOT.
Ok, now I give you the last response but honestly, think about the topic before responding.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Perhaps she meant this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsjU0K8QPhs
Jobs always talked out of both sides of his face. Him saying 'never will' meant 'absolutely will'.
The only consistent thing that Jobs did was treat people like dirt. Karma took care of that.
I'd rather W8 until at least SP1 (assuming I liked Windows). Historically, early releases of Windows have been buggy and virus-prone. Kind of like you don't want to install a x.0 of anything, whether MS, Apple, or Linux or their apps.
I do have to say that W7 isn't too bad, it came on the notebook I bought last year and I still haven't installed Linux on it yet.
Free Martian Whores!
I cringe every time I hear them use the word 'pad'. Will they make a tampon next/
My Next tablet would be a windows 7 one or an windows 8 depends on the specs(I prefer 7 though). I have used iOS and android tablets and they are just big screened smartphones. As the smartphones trend is a bigger screen, why would I need to shelve out more bucks just to have the same gadget, but with a slightly bigger screen.
And windows tablet is really not a new thing either. They are just expensive so no one wants to buy one before, but with the price of new microsoft tablets, there is no reason why you would choose an iOS or android if you are a windows user. Your favorite software? in Windows, Your favorite game? in Windows, Your favorite adobe photoshop? In windows(Please don't argue with the photoshop crap in android/iOS). Instant connection to your home network? Windows even external drives can be used instantly in a windows tablet. Do that with your android and even worse on your iOS. The most used word processor program? In windows. Want to watch videos other than youtube? In windows. How about running flash online without any hassles? In windows(flash games/apps have trouble loading in an android, Check google for "android blue box problem") Even facebook games, in windows.
I sound like a fanboy but please admit to yourself, what gadget are you using to research, create your papers/assignments, to play complex games, watch videos other than youtube as well as look at P**N, your windows.
Smartphone market on the other hand is a different matter altogether. What I am just saying is for the tablets.