UK iPad Mini FRENZY: Queues stretch SEVERAL FEET from till
Astonishing queues at times reached as far as several feet from the tills in Glasgow's Apple store, as the Wi-Fi version of the iPad mini launched in the UK. Reader Joseph Heenan reported walking in to the Apple Store, buying the device and walking out "within a couple of minutes". Heenan added that "there were staff standing …
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not a big deal.
only fan boys will queue up. But fanboys will already have the bigger ipads and wont want the mini, hence no queue.
Re: not a big deal.
Why wouldn't they want a Mini?? They already have an iMac, a Macbook, an iPod Touch, an iPhone, an iPad... why not a Mini as well, maybe to keep in the car for emergencies...?
Re: not a big deal.
The fanbois have already had their pockets emptied twice this year for the iphone 5 and ipad 3.
There's just not enough to cover a new mini ipad and the ipad 4.
iPad 4?
So what's the deal? Haven't we only just got over the "new iPad"?
Re: iPad 4?
My conspiracy theory is that the A6 was always meant for the iPad 3 and that Apple hit delays producing it. This required a stop-gap which was the A5X. The only problem being it was fabbed at 45nm and the quad-core graphics needed to push the retina display created a very large and expensive chip.
Therefore the costs of the chip meant it was always going to be a temporary solution that would be replaced with a more cost effective 32nm A6 as soon as was feasible. I believe that was the plan all along and is why the third gen iPad was just called "the New iPad" and the fourth gen is called the "iPad with Retina display" to avoid blatantly incrementing the version number twice in one year. That Apple also had a new dock connector to help justify updating the model is probably just lucky happenstance.
Re: iPad Mini Mega
How about iPad XL/L(regular iPad)/M/S(iPad Mini)/XS instead?
Re: I for one am waiting...
Downvoted for posting a link to a geolocked video. Fail.
surprised?
this is a niche product - those that want a full tablet will already have an iPad. If you don't then you've got an iPhone. There definitely seems to be a market for the iPad mini, but if the highly unscientific sample set of people in my office is an indication, then the market is about 1/5th that of the full size iPad and a tiny fraction of that for the iPhone.
small market
I only know a few fanbois who will be out buying them because they just have to have it. Got an ipad, don't need a smaller version. That's what my phone is. If apple don't get their stuff together I'll be swapping out for android when they are no use.
Hang on - you take the piss when there is massive queues and genuine idiots queuing for devices. Now you are slating them because there isnt a big queue and no idiots to laugh at?
And your point is?
One is the failure of the masses and one is a failure of the asses.
Both are failures for different reasons.
Re: Because it's Apple:
It's the usual Leach crap article to be honest.
Perfectly reasonable...
Massive queues = opportunity to point and laugh at the fanbois/iSheep/whatever you want to call them for being sad gits.
No queues = opportunity to point and laugh at Apple because even the fanbois don't seem to give a toss about the Mini.
Win-Win!
"Now you are slating them because there isnt a big queue"
When there are no queues for an Apple launch, it is not because Apple have stopped marketing massively overpriced, overhyped tat to fashion victims. It is because their naked greed has risen to the point that their customer base can no longer afford to buy all the tat - that, and the tat is so much tattier that even fashion victims won't buy it.
Apple: "You MUST have Retinal display!"
How about a GPS chip?
How about the latest processor?
How about an iPhone 5 aspect ratio?
No sale.
Re: Apple: "You MUST have Retinal display!"
To answer your points...
not everyone wants a device with a widescreen? My desktop is 2 24in 1920x1200 monitors with them rotated by 90deg giving 2400x1920., almost 5x4.
Would anyone (geeks apart) notice if the CPU is not quite the latest 'hot-rod'?
Many people already have GPS on their phone.
(I do but I have disabled it from day 1. I don't want any stinking location based adverts.)
Ok, so I own a MacBook Pro and an iPod Touch. both are several years old and do their jobs perfectly.
I didn't get an iPad mini but a Kindle HD Fire. Nice but still not as good as the company iPad I had in a past job.
Having to use iTunes does not bother me either.
The HD fire ebooks are good but there is an iPad version as well so meh!
Friday Lunch Beer Time and yes I can find my way to the pub without needing GPS
Re: Apple: "You MUST have Retinal display!"
"Apple: "You MUST have Retinal display!"
How about a GPS chip?
How about the latest processor?
How about an iPhone 5 aspect ratio?
No sale."
How about a transformer! There, MUCH BETTER!
Re: Apple: "You MUST have Retinal display!"
GPS on wifi only - really - guess you might get lost going from the bog to the lounge?
Re: Apple: "You MUST have Retinal display!"
I didn't get an iPad mini but a Kindle HD Fire. Nice but still not as good as the company iPad I had in a past job.
Errrr....aren't those two things at massively different price points?
Re: Apple: "You MUST have Retinal display!"
"GPS on wifi only - really - guess you might get lost going from the bog to the lounge?"
There is such a thing as off line maps you know, like what all those sat navs use...?
The WiFi Nexus 7 has GPS enabled.
Re: Apple: "You MUST have Retinal display!"
"not everyone wants a device with a widescreen?"
Don't Apple devices have long screens rather than widescreens?
Re: WiFi Nexus 7 has GPS enabled
Upvoted just for mentioning that simple fact. And Nexus costs $230 vs iPad S's $330. And it doesn't require you to use iTunes.
Re: Apple: "You MUST have Retinal display!"
>There is such a thing as off line maps you know, like what all those sat navs use...?
Do you really think apple want you to have anything offline - especially maps?
GPS + wifi is useful because, you normally use your phone as a hotspot (one 3g contract), but you may want a larger screen than your phone. Or you may want to geolocate photo's - perhaps edited in iphoto.
Or you may be on holiday in your hotel room and be planning your day's schedule. You'll use your phone on the move, but plan stuff on the bigger screen.
Re: Apple: "You MUST have Retinal display!"
Tether the iPad to an iPhone and the iPad uses the iPhone GPS. Clever.
Sir
iPad Mini sounds too much like a sanitary product for women.
Picture the scene in Scotland then, man walks into office and proudly announces that he has just bought his first iPad mini.
The response would be : <El Reg readers fill in the blanks here>
Re: Sir
It would have been better if they had changed the name of the regular iPad as well... to the iPad Maxi
Bah dum... tsssh
Re: Sir
... or the Max iPad... or is there a trademark issue there :-)
re:
I suspect Samsung users have lives. If I had five hours spare I'd rather spend it with my loved ones, or writing, or at a concert, than shivering alongside a bunch of identity-deficient virgins.
Apple's choice
If you had a big expensive high margin product, would you want your customers to know that you also make a smaller cheaper low margin product? I can understand Apple keeping quiet about the iPad mini and only mentioning it to customers who say a full sized tablet is too big.
It does look a little bit gloomy there. Maybe they didn't want to go out in the cold and wet.
Perhaps Apple are on the way down and people don't get excited anymore, or maybe they have saturated the market with slightly different products that overlap in function?
Two of my friends have asked me if I knew anything about the iPad Mini in the last week or so. (Disclaimer: they already know I don't like Apple) I spared them the anti-Apple rant but just asked if they had seen/considered the Nexus 7 or one of the Kindle Fires. Both of them have looked into it and are edging toward the Kindle Fire. (Just to further prove I didn't try to influence them: I would have gone for the Nexus 7 myself).
That's not scientific and probably not even relevant, but it will be interesting to see how the figures stack up after a while.
"It does look a little bit gloomy there. Maybe they didn't want to go out in the cold and wet."
It's Scotland, it always looks like that :o)
Personally I'm not that surprised. The mini only exists because the N7 and Kindle have proved so popular. Apple had to do a major u-turn on Jobs' famous "there will be no 7" ipad" statement and declarations the regular ipad is perfect for everyone. Nothing is perfect for everyone. They just seriously misjudged the number of people who wanted a smaller and/or cheaper device.
Unfortunately Apple's famously high profit margin doesn't fit well in the budget sector, so the mini ends up underspec'ed and over priced.
This means the only people who will choose to buy a mini are either:
1) Mad (crazy)
2) Already have a large investment in iOS apps
or
3) Non-tech savvy Guardian readers mislead by the hype.
This photo shows the former and latter categories have failed to show up. This is not good news for Apple. Especially if category two do the maths/math and realise just how many Android apps they could purchase with the price difference between a Nexus 7/Kindle and the mini.
"so the mini ends up underspec'ed and over priced....This means the only people who will choose to buy a mini are either"
How is that different to any other Apple products? They're all overpriced and under-spec'ed. Even the iPhone 5 has a lower spec than phones that launched 6 months before it.
Point taken.
Maybe I should rephrase...
"So the mini ends up so underspec'ed and over priced that even rabid fanboys starts to smell the coffee"
Better?
Re: the only people who will choose to buy a mini are
You know, iPad L (Large, i.e. regular version) is way too heavy at its 600 or 700 grams (my notebook which I use for writing this reply weights approx 500 grams), especially when you have something to compare to, like e.g. Kindle. Reading books on iPad is not that great experience, neither is it that unobtrusive when stuffed with its SmartCover into messenger bag etc. I'd like to have something lighter and smaller, but not that small as iPhone, so iPad S (Small, i.e. Mini version) would fit the bill (but only with GPS, and priced below $270).
Your friends do realise that there is a free Kindle app they can put on a Nexus 7 (or any other Andorid device)?
> 3) Non-tech savvy Guardian readers mislead by the hype.
3) Non-tech savvy Guardian readers mislead by the hype.
Fixed the tautology for you.
Tautology - Pleonasm
You meant a pleonasm. A tautology would be an illiterate analphabet, a free gift , RAM memory etc.
Re: Tautology - Pleonasm
Pleonasm (from Greek, pleon: more, too much) is the use of more words or word-parts than is necessary for clear expression: examples are black darkness, or burning fire. Such redundancy is, by traditional rhetorical criteria, a manifestation of tautology.
Re: Tautology - Pleonasm
So we can all conclude to agree that this is a demonstrating example of a tautological pleonasm?
Re: Tautology - Pleonasm
> So we can all conclude to agree that this is a demonstrating example of a tautological pleonasm?
So we can all conclude to agree that this is a demonstrating example of a tautological pleonasm?
Fixed the pleonasm for you.
Overpriced
This article is too expensive for me to read. I'm reading the Nexus article instead.
Wrong street
Looks like your picture is of West Nile Street in Glasgow.
Apples store and main entrance is one block over on Buchanan Street
Re: Wrong street
Can't you see the big glowing apple above the doorway? And the crowd control barriers stacked up as well.
Re: Wrong street
"Wrong street
Looks like your picture is of West Nile Street in Glasgow.
Apples store and main entrance is one block over on Buchanan Street"
Are you using crap maps app? iFail.
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