15/12/2012

iPad Mini opens up a whole new market for tablets

It's no secret: tablets are the future of personal computing.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="646"]ipad mini v ipad sizes ipad mini v ipad sizes[/caption]

…and my hairdresser and I were talking about Apple and the iCloud only today. Her youngest, who’s completed further education but yet to find work, lives his entire life in the iCloud.

iPad Mini just one of the suite of the coveted Apple products


[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="149"]iPad Mini Black on Amazon.co.uk iPad Mini Black on Amazon.co.uk[/caption]

iPhone, iPod, iTunes and iPad already connect him to his home-from-home in cyberspace.

And with an iPad Mini costing £226 (Amazon [20/11/2013], see image, left) this Christmas, he'll have little else to open. But he’s totally, 100% cool with it.

It made me think: for some, owning the latest Apple product is an image thing. And, when your company’s footing the bill, owning the latest iPad or Galaxy, depending on your iOS or Android preference, is no problem.

However, for the majority, buying a product that syncs their life in the cloud is all that matters. Being able to access their virtual life from wherever or whenever necessary and know that it's the same across all devices is the driver behind Apple's success. No question.

Two aspects to consider when buying an iPad Mini:


For my hairdresser, what worries her most about her son's obsession with i-Everything is:

  • the expense of maintaining his current status, let alone affording to keep up with his iCloud existence when new products emerge

  • the virtual aspect of living everyday so disassociated from the real world that it may lead to a substantial reality check later in his life


She’s worried that the iCloud will rob her little ray of sunshine of the best years of his life. Also, how he'll cope now that he’s left college and got to pay his own way.

Looking further down the road - as she was - with so much of his benefit being recycled up to the iCloud, how will he ever save for a rainy day? Reading between the lines, "rainy day", meant "afford a place of his own".

Our conversation raised very real issues. Some I'd not considered, others I was aware of, but perhaps not to the extent she described.

I don’t regret buying a tablet (10″ Android/Ice Cream Sandwich), even if I am behind my PC every day. As such, it's not a top brand, not by any stretch.

But even if I did get out and about, I'd need convincing that spending 'x' amount on Apple products is such a good thing. Especially as there are less expensive products that provide similar services and connectivity on the market.

Am I missing out on the whole point? What is it that makes Apple fans such brand evangelists?




...Have Your Say:

  • How many of you guys are hooked on Apple?  Or conversely, as my good lady wife is becoming: Android-'appy?

  • Also, is running our life in the cloud such a good thing? Or is it so far from reality that Peter Pan is the IT guy?

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