iPad rumor frenzy - Mid February 2012 Edition
This week has seen an explosion of iPad 3 rumors, which we can pretty much thank one single article in the Wall Street Journal for. An article that covers the whole spectrum of iPad-related rumors, might I add.
I really do wish some people wouldn’t start taking what has been reported in the WSJ as absolute truth, simply due to that Walter Mossberg happens to write for that same publication. If you bother to read who is behind this particular article, you will find no mention of Mossberg anywhere and most of the quoted people are either analysts or “people familiar with the matter”. If you want to jump the gun and make the bizarre conclusion that this is not firm and substantial evidence that Apple is intending on releasing a smaller iPad, go ahead. I won’t stop you! Just don’t be shocked if it turns out they “only” release a new iPad at the same, boring 9,7 inches as the previous models.
But before I get too deep in lamenting the fundamental lack of common sense and afterthought on the Internet, let’s dive into the article itself and see what we can find, shall we?
Officials at some of Apple’s suppliers, who declined to be named, said the Cupertino, Calif., company has shown them screen designs for a new device with a screen size of around eight inches and said the company is qualifying suppliers for it.
Unnamed people at unnamed supplier of parts said Apple was looking at other size display panels. Firm stuff, clearly!
Apple is working with screen makers including Taiwan-based AU Optronics Co. and LG Display Co. of South Korea to supply the test panels, the person said.
Please note the wording in “test panels”, it’s kind of important.
An Apple spokeswoman in California declined to comment.
Color me surprised…
Analysts said a tablet with a smaller screen would help Apple expand its market share in the increasingly competitive market.
And as we all know, when analysts say anything about Apple and what Apple does, they are always right.
Diana Wu, an analyst at Capital Securities in Taipei, says that consumer demand for Samsung’s 5.3-inch Galaxy Note and Amazon’s 7-inch Kindle mean “consumers want a tablet that is smaller than the existing 9.7-inch iPad.”
Wanting a smartphone that’s too big and wanting a tablet that’s made by Amazon means you want a smaller iPad? Got it!
Amazon.com’s Kindle Fire has a seven-inch screen size and is priced at $199, well below the iPad’s entry-level price of $499.
Thanks, I can do basic maths too.
After this point the article runs into how Apple, and pretty much every other electronics company, manufactures its wares, by letting other companies build these wares for them. Of course they “cleverly” intertwine the current tempest in a teacup which revolves around the working conditions in these factories and that Apple has been singled out for blame. Because as we all know, Apple is the source of all bad things in the wold and deserve to be punished for everything…
Summary
So basically this whole article starts off saying that Apple has been looking at making iPads with different size displays, which pretty much anyone with a functioning brain could have guessed. It then goes on to summarize the current status of the tablet market and shoves some fairly ill-conceived thoughts from analysts into the fray, while ultimately stating that Apple needs to make iPads in more sizes to stay relevant in the market. To top everything off, we are treated to a brief summary of the situation regarding the protesting and noise-making in the public sphere, aimed at Apple the factories in which their products are made.
In essence it’s three articles for the price of one, and the topic promised in the somewhat link-baiting headline is only one third of the whole. As I mentioned earlier, I have no doubts that Apple have a vast array of iPad prototypes in their secret lab at 1 Infinite Loop. They have probably built iPads in every imaginable size and screen dimension, both round and square, possibly even triangular. Nowhere in this article does it say that Apple will bring a smaller size iPad to market. A small, but rather important point in all this, I would like to state.
Can we please just stop assuming that there will be a smaller screen iPad whenever the next event takes place? Play with the idea that there will be a new iPad and that it will be better than the iPad 2. Anything beyond that fairly narrow scope is just setting yourself up for a world of disappointment since Apple will most likely not live up to your unrealistic expectations of what they will show off. Setting expectations appropriately is key!
