by Tony Rushin
The iPad Mini was announced last Tuesday and will be available this Friday. I’m not going to bore you with technical specs – we’ve both got more important things to do. However, I did run across a few blogs that caught my eye for the legal and medical community:
Law Technology News: early feedback from the legal technology community
TechnoLawyer Blog: the perfect size for note-taking
MobiHealthNews: physicians will prefer the iPad mini – it’s pocketable
Mobile Health Computing: perfect for medical students and residents
Apple has sold over 100 million iPads since they were announced just two and a half years ago. Clearly they hit the mark. However, will the iPad Mini hit the mark? Will it be a Treat or a Trick? A day before Halloween, I figured the only way to definitively answer that question is to compare it to a “mini” that has been out for a while:
| iPad Mini | Snickers Fun Size | |
| Size vs. Regular | 40% smaller | 58% smaller (this is bad) |
| Weight vs. Regular | 53% lighter | 69% lighter (again; bad) |
| Price vs. Regular | 34% less | 60% less |
| Availability | Constrained (right now) | Everywhere (can’t buy individual bars) |
| Name | “Mini” is descriptive | “Fun” is a lie (regular is more fun) |
| Fits in Pocket | Yes – a big pocket | Yes (but may melt) |
| Ability to “Satisfy You” | ??? | Always (according to commercials) |
Based on this exhaustive market research my conclusion is that the iPad Mini will be a Treat… but people will not give them out to trick-or-treaters. Actually, the most insightful part of my market research is the discovery of Apple’s next tablet: the iPad King Size.
