BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

Tim Cook Blinked First - The Nexus 7 Takes Pride Of Place At The iPad Mini Launch

Following
This article is more than 10 years old.

new iPad mini (L) and iPad (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

One thing is for sure, this is no longer Steve Jobs' Apple. Tim Cook and his C-Suite team took to the stage yesterday to debut a number of new devices, refreshing almost the entire consumer product line in time for the holiday season. A confident refresh of the iMacs, a luxurious addition to the MacBook Pro, a lightning fast change-up on the Mac Mini, an indulgent tweak on the iPad... all designed to keep Apple ahead of the chasing pack.

Then there was the launch of the iPad Mini. In all of my time covering Apple launches, this felt the most defensive presentation of little more than a "me-too" product.

What was the justification for making the iPad Mini? Why has Tim Cook decided to be his own man, sandpaper his fingers, and build the tablet that Steve Jobs said would never work? Was it an emotional, was it a new way of computing that would change everything? Was it a breakthrough piece of technology? No.

It was the Google Nexus 7.

Mountain View's finest was given pride of place at the launch, and that says everything about why there is an iPad Mini. This is not a new product, it's not something Apple has dreamed up, they haven't thought differently... they're following everyone else into the 7" market because they don't want to be left out. Apple is scared to miss the next big thing, because if they do, what's left of the 'reality distortion field' will crumble. That's not how you change the world.

Then there's the price point. $329 is slightly higher than I thought they would go (previously on Forbes.... "I’d expect to see a 16GB iPad Mini with Wi-Fi connectivity to launch at $299"). Until we see a tear-down, it's impossible to confirm the raw build cost, but a two year old processor, screen technology and size that can be bought in bulk, and a retail price that's $130 more than the competition. Consider the Nexus 7 that's being sold at cost. You have to assume that with Apple's legendary supply chain control they can build the iPad Mini at a comparable cost to the Nexus 7.

I would not be surprised to find a production cost of around $160-$170, leading to a mark-up of close to 100%

I know that Apple's strategy is to keep profits high, but Steve Jobs' iPads were never the expensive option in the tablet market, they were the cheapest. Tim Cook has done the exact opposite with the iPad Mini.

So we have the ultimate 'inbetweener' unit that's larger than the 7" competition, with a poorer screen (less pixels, over a larger area), two generations behind the rest of the iPad range. How do you sell that?

I don't think Apple know either. They hit us with specification after specification, notably cherry picking the handful where the Mini wins out. They discussed new construction methods. Johnny Ive came up with the soon to be classic "a concentration of, not a reduction of, the original" as Phil Schiller showed us a reduction of the original. Oh and the browser comparison? Did anyone at Apple try scrolling on the Nexus 7, because all the UI furniture they laughed at scrolls away as well.

No, all you can sell it on is the words 'iPad' and 'Apple'.

What I wanted to see on stage was Tim Cook's Apple. What I saw wasn't a dynamic company that was ready to tilt at windmills, but a company that was relying on past glory to force their way into a new market by trashing the competition.