by
Mark Ollig
“Honey,
I shrunk the iPad!”
It
wasn’t inventor Wayne Szalinski, using his electromagnetic shrink ray from the
popular 1989 movie this time; it was the engineering department at Apple.
Last
week, during a special event at the California Theater in San Jose, CA, Apple
unveiled their new, smaller version of iPad.
The
new iPad is called the iPad mini.
Doesn’t
it seem like the Apple iPad has been around for a long time?
It
was Jan. 27, 2010 when the late Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs, presented the
first iPad to the public.
As
I watched the presentation being live-streamed over the Internet, a smiling
Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook walked onto the stage to much applause.
He
stood facing the audience; behind him was a large mural of a white Apple logo
with a very colorful aurora surrounding it.
For
a moment, it reminded me of those tie-dyed T-shirts we used to make back in the
day.
Cook
first talked about the updates being made on the new iPhone 5, which became
available, last month.
He
said the first weekend they were available Apple sold out of them.
Cook
happily announced Apple has sold 5 million iPhone 5s.
Those
numbers made iPhone 5 the fastest-selling phone in history.
Cook
went on to say for the year ending in June, Apple’s Mac computers have
outnumbered the personal computer (PC) market by a factor of seven, and has
been outgrowing the PC market during the last six years.
He
then introduced Apple’s vice-president, Phil Schiller, to talk about MacBook
notebook computers – and to make the big announcement.
First,
Schiller told the audience that Apple’s best-selling MacBook (which also
happens to be the number one selling Mac) is their 13-inch display MacBook Pro.
In
keeping with a good thing, Schiller then introduced Apple’s brand-new 13-inch
display MacBook Pro.
The
audience cheered.
This
new MacBook Pro is .75 inches thick, which is about 20 percent thinner than the
previous 13-inch MacBook Pro, and it weighs 3.5 pounds (a pound lighter than
the previous model).
The
new 13-inch MacBook Pro also has the popular Retina display screen with more
than 4 million pixels.
Then,
the moment came for the spotlight to shine on the new Apple iPad mini.
“You
can hold it in one hand,” Schiller said as he showed the aluminum and glass
enclosed iPad mini to the appreciative audience. He went on to say, “iPad mini
is like iPad, but smaller.”
In
comparing the new iPad mini with the larger iPad with Retina display, the iPad
mini (which does not have a Retina display) is about 7.9 by 5.3 inches, and
weighs just a little more than one half pound.
The
larger iPad is 9.5 by 7.3 inches, and, weighs 1.44 pounds.
The
iPad mini is small enough to fit into one’s coat pocket, but large enough to
comfortably read an e-book, watch and record videos, and of course, surf the
Internet.
Battery
life is the same as on the larger iPad Retina display: 10 hours.
The
iPad mini has a 1080p HD (high-definition) video recording camera, iSight 5MP
(mega-pixel) camera, and FaceTime for two-way video calls.
It
comes equipped with the Apple’s dual-core A5 processor chip, and operates using
the Apple iOS 6 operating system.
An
LED-backlit Multi-Touch display screen shows 1,024 by 768-pixel resolution.
There
are 275,000 existing iPad applications (apps) that will work with the iPad
mini.
The
iPad mini is configured with 16, 32 or 64GB of internal memory and comes with
Apple’s Intelligent Assistant, Siri.
The
cost for a 16, 32, and 64GB Wi-Fi only iPad mini is $329, $429, and $529,
respectively.
The
price of a 16, 32, and 64GB Wi-Fi and Cellular iPad mini is $459, $559, and
$659, respectively (not including cellular carrier calling plans).
Cook
talked about the 200 million devices running Apple’s newest mobile operating
system; iOS 6, with 700,000 apps available for it. He said over 35 billion apps
have been downloaded onto all of Apple’s mobile devices. “This is
jaw-dropping,” Cook exclaimed.
So,
we come to the question: “Do we really need a smaller-sized iPad?”
I
read through comments pro and con about the new iPad mini on Twitter and other
social media sites.
The
number of those favoring the new, smaller-sized iPad did outnumber those
opposed to it. I believe it mostly comes down to personal preference.
No
doubt, Apple assumes we will want the new, smaller-sized iPad – especially
being this close to the holiday season.
In
any case, Apple will probably end up selling millions of these iPad mini computing
devices.
I
thought it was a nice touch when Cook gave a tribute to Apple employees by
saying, “These are the most talented and innovative people I know, and it is a
privilege to work with them.”
What’s
ahead for Apple? Why, the next Mac, iPod, iPad, and iPhone, of course.
To
learn more about the iPad mini, and to watch the 72-minute Oct. 23 Apple
special event video, go to http://www.apple.com/ipad-mini/overview.
