w********1 发帖数: 3492 | 1 Tue, 10 Jul 2012 12:28:32 PDT
With rumors of an "iPad mini" launch in the coming months ramping up, there
has been much discussion about just how usable such a device would be
running at the 1024x768 resolution of pre-Retina iPad models. In particular
, some commenters have pointed to Steve Jobs' October 2010 discussion of the
7-inch tablets from competitors that were just then hitting the market,
where he outlined Apple's belief that such tablets were too small to be
useful.
While we argued as long ago as last December that scaling the iPad display
down to a rumored 7.85-inch screen would still maintain usability and we
provided iPad- and print- friendly examples to allow users to test for
themselves, many have remain unconvinced of the benefits of a smaller iPad.
Daring Fireball's John Gruber now takes another detailed look at what an
iPad mini would entail, arguing that a 7.85-inch display on an iPad mini
would be a very different experience from the 7-inch screen being used by
competitors such as Amazon's Kindle Fire and Google's Nexus 7.
So, how can we square the idea of Apple making an iPad Mini with Jobs’s
remarks from just a year and a half ago? We could point out (again) that 7.
85 inches is closer to 8 inches than 7, and that the exact size of the
purported iPad Mini display offers 66 percent of the surface area of a 9.7-
inch iPad, not 45 percent [as is the case with a 7-inch display]. We could
point out (again) that, assuming Apple-recommended 44-point user interface
tap targets on a display with 163 points per inch, it should offer tap
targets of the exact same physical size as every iPhone made to date, thus
avoiding the need for Apple to include sandpaper with the device.
Comparison of "iPad mini" to 7-inch tablets and full-size iPad (Source: @
trojankitten, via Daring Fireball)
Gruber goes on to note that Jobs was panning small, expensive tablets
running a version of Android never intended to be used on devices larger
than phones and that the tablets hitting the market today are very different
products. He also points to Jobs' repeated efforts at misdirection in
which he publicly spoke out against certain ideas even as Apple was pursuing
them, as well as Jobs' ability to quickly and decisively change his mind at
times.
Beyond the size of the iPad mini, Gruber also addresses the topic of a non-
Retina display in the device, suggesting that with Apple seeking to keep
pricing down the display will be one of the main ways it can achieve its
desired pricing while retaining significant margins. The iPad mini would
naturally gain a Retina display a year or two down the road as pricing
continues to drop.
Finally, in addressing pricing on the rumored iPad mini Gruber suggests that
Apple could approach the $199 pricing seen on the Kindle Fire and Nexus
7 by leveraging its massive supply chain and economies of scale to bring
its own costs down to the neighborhood of $150 and still maintain
profitability. But even pricing of $249 could be competitive depending
on hardware features and factoring in the benefits of Apple's extensive iOS/
iTunes/App Store ecosystem for customers. |
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