Year: 2012

Why Apple Brought Up the Nexus 7 During the iPad mini Keynote

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During yesterday’s keynote, Apple’s Phil Schiller burned the Nexus 7 several times. Here is a bit of copy from Apple’s site:

iPad mini is small enough to hold in one hand, yet it has a 35 percent larger screen area than a 7-inch tablet.

Apple also continues to make a big point out of the fact that there are 275,000 iPad apps out there, and that they are far more than blown-up phone apps. This of course is also a jab at the Nexus 7, which runs phone apps in the absence of a tablet interface.

There’s no getting around this is a problem in the Android ecosystem. Coupled with the fact the iPad mini is bigger and made of better materials, the Nexus 7 and its cousins look like toys compared to Apple’s new mini-tablet.

I’ve read a ton of things over the last 24 hours written by people upset that Apple spent so much time calling out the Nexus 7 and similar products. I’ve seen people call it unfair and even un-Apple-like.

Both accusations are wrong.

Apple’s done this before. When introducing the original iPhone, Steve Jobs showed this slide:

Jobs called out these phones as being inflexible, due to having keyboards sunk in plastic. He praised the iPhone, with its ability to show a keyboard and other buttons in software, as-needed.

(Jobs also preached the virtues of Multi-Touch and iPhone’s software.)

During the original iPad event, however, Jobs didn’t call out any products like this.

Now, Apple’s doing it again. What gives?

Well, it’s all about the market.

In 2007 with the original iPhone, Apple was entering a preexisting market. Smartphones were around before the iPhone, and Apple needed to build a case explaining why its product was different — and better.

With the iPad, Apple basically invented the tablet market. They were creating a new class of devices, defining the very market it is now commanding. Apple needed to build a case for the “third device,” but it didn’t need to compare it to other products already for sale.

(Apple did destroy netbooks in its presentation, but I don’t think it’s the same thing.)

Yesterday, Apple entered a market that was already up and running — the market for smaller tablets. Like with the iPhone, Apple built its case for a better product by comparing it to the competition.

I understand that people were uncomfortable watching Apple go after the Nexus 7 so viciously. Apple didn’t say anything that was untrue. That said, this isn’t not anything new, and nothing that Steve Jobs wouldn’t have done on stage.

‘The Clock is Ticking’ →

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Joshua Topolsky:

The promise of the Surface was that it could deliver a best-in-class tablet experience, but then transform into the PC you needed when heavier lifting was required. Instead of putting down my tablet and picking up my laptop, I would just snap on my keyboard and get my work done. But that’s not what the Surface offers, at least not in my experience. It does the job of a tablet and the job of a laptop half as well as other devices on the market, and it often makes that job harder, not easier. Instead of being a no-compromise device, it often feels like a more-compromise one.

There may be a time in the future when all the bugs have been fixed, the third-party app support has arrived, and some very smart engineers in Redmond have ironed out the physical kinks in this type of product which prevent it from being all that it can be. But that time isn’t right now — and unfortunately for Microsoft, the clock is ticking.

Microsoft needs Surface to a be a win, and this doesn’t sound like a win to me.

Concentration, Not Reduction

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Apple had an event today. With lots of new products, consumers have lots of options for the holidays, but as with most of the company’s events, it was about far more than just the new devices.

iPad mini

In the new iPad mini video, Jony Ive says:

There is inherent loss in just reducing a product in size. We took the time to go back to the beginning and design a product that was a concentration of, not a reduction of, the original.

The iPad mini — from what I’ve seen in the coverage, at least — is not a reduction of the full-sized iPad. It runs iPad apps, looks like an iPad and works like an iPad.

It is an iPad.

As Shawn Blanc said, it’s the 11-inch MacBook Air of iPads. Can everyone use an 11-inch machine? No. Is the small Air a full-featured Mac? Of course.

Do people love them? Yes.

The iPad mini has more in common with the iPod mini than the MacBook Air, however. While it doesn’t suffer from the same storage restrictions the iPod did, the iPad mini does take the full-sized experience and boil it down to something smaller, lighter and more fun.

I think it’s going to do great.

13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display

Apple’s MacBook Pro product matrix is now rather hilarious. There are four options: 13-inch and 15-inch, in Retina or not. While this is a temporary measure (I hope), it is weird. That said, the 13-inch Retina was inevitable.

With the Retina machines, Apple has stripped away what it deems unnecessary. Retina MacBook Pros are a concentrated version of their non-Retina cousins. They are simpler inside and out, thinner, lighter and more powerful.

(One way the Retina is more complex is in the fact that it has two internal fans. No other 13-inch machine, Pro or not, has shipped with more than one.)

The new iMac

While it’s not Retina, the new iMac is crazy thin, and features a newly-designed display..

Like the Retina machines, the new iMac drops the optical drive and a lot of weight and thickness. This graphic on Apple’s site really shows how much Apple has removed from its flagship desktop over the years.

One odd note: the 27-inch iMac doesn’t ship to December.

Wrap-up

Obviously, the news we will all remember from today’s event is the new iPad mini. However, the new full-sized iPad, MacBook Pro, iMac and more are all notable, and have on thing in common: simplicity. Apple’s moving its Mac product line in a direction of thinner enclosures with simpler internals. In doing so, they are removing features, distilling the products down to just the basics. The result is a more concentrated Mac, thinner and more powerful then ever before.

And that’s not a bad thing at all.

System Extension: October 2012

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The October 2012 edition of System Extension is here.

This month, I walk though how I capture things throughout my workday. My methods might be a little more old-fashioned than you would guess.

We also take a look at one of the most rare (and weirdest) Macs ever built — the 20th Anniversary Macintosh. The all-in-one machine is strangely beautiful, but super bonkers at the same time. I think you’ll enjoy learning some more about it.

This month’s edition is brought to you by Work Journal. Work Journal is a Mac app which helps you keep track of what you do on a daily basis. Think of it as a reverse todo list — the done list.

The guys at Work Journal have given me 6 promo codes to giveaway to System Extension readers. If you want to win, mention @512px in a tweet saying you want to win a copy, and I’ll select the winners over the weekend.

RSS Sponsor: Mutual Mobile →

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