King of the Hill? Is Apple in Trouble?

Another day, another keynote by the great folks at Apple. It seems that this company continues to release products that are absolutely “magical”; but are they really?

On October 23, 2012 Apple released the iPad mini along with a slew of other products (13inch Retina MacBook Pro, updated Mac Mini, updated iMac) with a hoorah from the majority of the tech bloggers.  The iPad features a sleek new design incorporating a 7.9-inch screen packed into a lightweight chassis with incredibly slim bezel. This produces a beautiful product that will surely sell like hot cakes.

So what is the issue? Competition! Unlike the original 10inch iPad, the iPad mini launches into a market with some serious competition. The iPad mini has to contend with the likes of the Nexus 7 by Asus and the Kindle Fire HD by Amazon. On paper the competition sport much better specs and price points.

 

Most tend to agree the screen is the most important component of a tablet. Apple prides itself on producing products with screens that are the highest quality to produce the most like life images. Well if that is a fact, the iPad mini does not fit the bill. The Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD feature higher pixel density (216 PPI vs 163 PPI) that theoretically should produce a much higher quality images. That fact alone should make the iPad Mini a flop.

The second specification that many tend to focus on when buying a new device is the processing speed of the device. You guessed it the iPad mini falls short in this category. It uses Apple’s A5 chip employed in the iPad way back in 2011 unlike the competition that uses the latest quad-core chip by Nvidia – the Targa 3.

Third and probably the most important – price. The iPad mini is priced a full $130 higher then the more powerful competition. This will surely turn away some consumers.

Are we seeing the demise of Apple? Is apple slipping on the design of goods? Will Apple be the next Sony? Many Apple fans will argue that specs do not matter and I tend to agree. All the specs above do not necessarily mean anything if the device looks beautiful and functions as it should. The issue arises when the early adopters become disappointed with the products Apple releases. This is what I’m afraid is going on with the iPad Mini. Many tech writers and die-hard Apple geeks are absolutely disappointed with the specs and price point of the iPad Mini. What I am afraid of is there early adopters will spread their disappointment to the early and late majority of customers and hurt sales.

 

What do you think? Is Apple in trouble?

 

http://www.theverge.com/2012/10/23/3542546/apple-ipad-mini-nexus-7-kindle-fire-hd-specs-compare

3 thoughts on “King of the Hill? Is Apple in Trouble?

  1. This post summarizes very nicely what aspects the iPad mini is lacking and why it might suffer a bit in the face of competition, as opposed to its “parent’s” success as was seen with the original iPad. Apple has always been at the forefront of the field when it comes to life-like imaging. Apple clearly has the technology to offer a higher pixel density, making me wonder if they did not offer such a standard to save money or to simply get it out on the market more quickly in the face of competition. Recently, I also saw the new Microsoft Surface, which features a think, sleek “click-in” keyboard in a variety of colors. This seems to be one of the newest features of a tablet and may set itself a part from the rest, including the iPad mini.

  2. I agree that this could be disappointing to some customers. It’s not like Apple to be lowering quality of features on a new device, but on the other hand this makes it much more affordable than the original iPad. Although competition might have better prices, Apple will always have that brand loyalty to keep competitiveness. I wouldn’t say that Apple is in trouble, but I do believe some will be effected by this decision. As long as Apple keeps consistent in there quality and simplicity in developing future devices, they should continue to be a top dog in the industry.

  3. I don’t think apple is in trouble but I do agree that they dropped the ball on this one. Apple pricing it’s new IPad mini at $130 more then it’s competitors was a bad idea. People do pay more for the apple name but $130 more might not be worth it from a consumer point of view. To add to it the specs are lower on the mini compared to the rest of the tablets. Apple might have to suck it up and drop the price of there new tablet, just like how they did with the very first Iphone. If Apple wants to stay at the top they cant afford to make overpriced products like the mini again in the future.

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