I’m sitting outside reading and checking the site on my new iPad. (Okay, and I’m also playing through Kingdom Rush for the third time. They really NEED to come out with Kingdom Rush 2 already!!) And while I’m really loving my iPad, I am hoping the rumors about the iPad-mini are actually true.
Sure, as we noted here, the smaller iPad makes sense from a market perspective. It would fill the gap that currently sits between the $199 iPod touch and the $399 iPad 2. And sure, it would let Apple compete with the likes of the Google Nexus 7 and the Amazon Kindle Fire. And sure, it will let the iPad become an even bigger presence in the world of education. After all, giving a student a $250-$299 iPad mini is certainly better than needing to give a $399 and up iPad as it currently stands.
But there is an even bigger reason the iPad-mini will be a huge hit if it comes to pass. WEIGHT!
While the current iPad isn’t exactly heavy it also isn’t exactly light. At just under a pound and a half it gets heavy pretty quickly. And that’s the weight without a case. Add a case and the weight, and fatigue from holding it, grow.
The rumors have the iPad-mini being significantly smaller from a screen perspective AND about as thin as the current iPod touch. That combination would yield a device that is significantly lighter. That will make it easier to carry but it will also make it simple to hold for an extended period. And it sounds a lot like… this.
Welcome to the future… Gene Roddenberry style.