The iPad Mini: Does Apple really need to turn around to take on the hounds instead of trying to keep ahead of the pack?

The iPad Mini: Does Apple really need to turn around to take on the hounds instead of trying to keep ahead of the pack?

I discovered, very recently, that I have an actual, honest-to-goodness label: an iSheep. This was complete and utter news to me, I can tell you - I'm a sheep, now? That kinda hurt.

I mean, I know there are some pretty derogatory terms being bantered around from fanboy to fanboy - and, if you loiter around Google+ enough and mention that you have, in fact, gone out and purchased with your own money the latest in the iPhone linage, you'll get to hear them all. Loudly and repeatedly. Boy, that's a fun evening to spend, believe me.

I can't deny it, mind; I have them all. iPhones litter the house, dating back to the first one, somewhere in a drawer. iPad. Apple TV. (I have drawn a line at getting a MacBook, or an iMac for that matter. I'm not bloody loaded.). I have found myself, nursing a pint with my mates, defending the closed Apple ecosystem, finding the whole thing safe and comforting. As I tell them, I may be living in a 'gated community' but at least I know the  bins are collected regularly and the streets are clean. (Okay okay, when you can actually find the streets. Apple Maps. Yeah yeah. I know...)

The Apple device I find myself using the most is the iPad, something I feel was a true innovation on release. Not the concept of a tablet PC, mind; that had been around for donkeys years. But this was the first time we had something really sleek and appealing to hold in the hands. One button and it flared into life with no hesitation, and, with the established look and feel of the iPhone's iOS in place, something which anyone from tiny babies to my sixty-year old mum could instantly get to grips with.

I also find it really bloody useful, too. Apple detractors may lay into the iPad as a overly expensive plaything, incapable of being useful beyond dicking around on Facebook and play Angry Birds with. But, as a DJ and occasional blogger, I find the iPad a powerful and useful tool in what I do day-to-day, from playing out at gigs with Algoriddim's Djay and Vjay apps, from my accounts, paperwork and presentations with Apple's own iLife suite and scootiling around blog sites and rambling on, like I am here. (Yup, okay, it's also really good fun to screw around on, too - World Of Goo is always a giggle and the Avengers flick looks great on it.)

Which is why I'm very interested in today's iPad Mini / iPad Air / iPad Nano / ...Whatever release, to be announced at Cupertino,  6pm GMT this evening. The latest version is being given its existence under mounting pressure from the Android and Windows platforms, gaining huge wodges of market share with their various, ever-improving attempts at playing catch-up. So, why do I feel that releasing a smaller version of the iPad is a step backward for Apple?

Steve Jobs, on the iPads initial launch , jumped on the issue of the iPad's screen size right from day one, proclaiming 'the 10-inch screen is the minimum size required to create great tablet apps', that there are 'clear limits to how close you can physically place elements on a touch screen before users can reliably tap, flick or pinch them'. He went on to say, in various reports and interviews, that he didn't not feel that the iPad should be developed to be any smaller and wouldn't be, while he was at the company.

And, once I got my hands on one, I found myself agreeing. One of my favourite apps on the iPad is Photoshop Touch; it's not just a scaled-down version of the industry standard image manipulation software on the desktop, it's a powerful piece of productivity in its own right. I love the ease of just getting in there with my fingers, manipulating elements around, placing them where I instinctively want to. I can't imagine being able to do this on a smaller footprint.

Let's take the example of how I'm talking to you now. I'm not having to squint while I'm typing this out in Pages like I would have to do if typing this out slowly and methodically on my iPhone and I can take a second to pop to the loo, prop the iPad on my lap and carrying on working if required - brilliant! (Not that I'm doing that right now, of course. Oh no. No sirree.)

To have this screen estate at my disposal is liberating and unrestrictive, anything smaller would be like wrapping this seasons Christmas presents through a letterbox with chopsticks - ask anyone who's gotten into an intensive editing session on iMovie on the iPhone, something beyond a piddly little video involving their sleeping cat falling off the sofa, and they'll tell you, however fast the thing might run on the later devices, it's a difficult, frustrating affair.

Up to now, there hasn't been the need to change that footprint with the iPad either - previous attempts by Apple's competitors in the tablet market have been godawful, laggy affairs, like trawling through mud. Yes, these tablets can play Flash, if that's really something you feel is a benefit (note: it really isn't) but that pointless if you've already hit the Home button because the tablet has taken its time recognising you wanting to open the browser in the first place.

And then there's the size. To differentiate themselves from the behemoth that is the iPad, most tablet manufacturers have gone the smaller route, coming off as Fisher Price versions of the thing that you actually wanted in the first place - a compromise.

This is no longer the case, however; recent releases on both Android and Windows Mobile platforms have finally been able to perform quickly and reliably and be just as slick under the finger. The Galaxy Note with its stunning multi-tasking abilities and gorgeous screen screams along with its dual core 1.4Gb processor, matching the iPad 2 (still the affordable iPad of choice) for performance. And the Nexus 7 is very sweet, too - playing with one, I had a lot of fun and understand it's appeal. This is the machine that looks like it's well placed to be the 2012 stocking filler of choice with its impressive spec at a truly staggering cheap price.

(Although, even Google have admitted, this is going to come at a risky cost - to them - revealing this week that the Nexus range is being launched effectively at cost and that their revenue stream will come from content bought by the user. Great news for the buyer, something that could prove nerve-wracking for the shareholders...)

Both devices are the spear-head of a new breed - the 'tweeners'. Not quite big enough to be considered actual 'tablets' and too big to replace the smartphone in the pocket but powerful enough (and now, cheap enough) to just about be useful as either. But, c'mon, beyond tapping away at a small doc, it's not like you can actually *do* anything with them.

These new young Turks are snapping at Apples heels with devices that can finally go toe-to-toe technically and all are doing so with the smaller screens - and now, Apple are responding with their own. Against the ethos of their departed leader, Tim Cook appears to be wanting to establish himself his own man by responding to the 6" market with their own, stepping onto the fray... but, in the past, Apple has always had the fight come to them. Does it cheapen the company to turn around to slap down the hounds instead of trying to keep ahead of the pack?

Part of this adds, also, to my overall impression of Tim Cook as a stuffy bean-counter; more interested in spreadsheets and marketshare graphs than the actual devices themselves. Take the iPad 3. The updated retina display, itself a response to other tablets and their flashy specifications, came at the cost of the slimmest of increases to weight and thickness, taking away some of that 'magical experience' of a new iPad. Wouldn't have happened on Jobbo's watch.

And it's interesting to note that, on the very week that Apple take their first step into the 'tweener' market, the Turks decide that, okay, maybe bigger is better, with Nexus being joined by a 10" model as soon as possibly next week, and the 'net getting all a fluster over Microsoft's 'post-PC' miscreant, Surface. (Dunno why. It's poorly spec-ed, too reliant on external architecture to actually do anything and apparently weighs more than a small hatchback. I'm holding off till I see one in the wild.)

So, this is why I'm going to be watching the launch of the new Apple device with much interest. Look, maybe they've managed to crack it. They've got the app infrastructure, they've got the reputation for quality. Maybe they've been able to bring the joy of actually using an iPad to a smaller form and maybe, just maybe, they can stem the tide of pretenders. But I just feel, to add one more analogy to the pile, that this might be the popular kid at school, responding to the jibes and backhanded comments from the lower-form kids and finally letting the playground twerps get finally under his skin. I'm not convinced they should - or even need to. Pudgy fingers be damned.

by Leonard Sultana