Just a scant few hours away, and the pre orders for Apple's iPad mini and the official launch of Windows 8 and Windows Surface, and I think it's about time that I came back to posting.
If I'm honest, no one really cared about the iPad mini despite it having overshadowed almost all of the new showings at the recent Apple event. Sure, everyone has seen/heard about the new Mac mini, the new iMac being thinner than most textbooks in the world, and the new retina display 13" Macbook Pro. However, the fourth generation iPad is overshadowed, by it's tinier, market catch-up of a brother.
Why IS the iPad mini among Apple's lineup? It's difficult to really understand from an outsider's point of view, but it's easy to see that Apple is playing catch up. Everyone else has one, and lots of people have been bugging Apple for a tablet that's smaller than the existing iPad. The long line of success could potentially boost it's already large market share in the tablet world. Why not give it a try?
Here's why : the iPad worked because of what it is. It was about the size of a piece of paper, yet it did more than any piece of paper could ever do. It was interactive, it felt right, it made sense, and it was comparable to the size of an average magazine, which was one of the many primary functions the iPad had and was highlighted by Apple, two and a half years ago, in the spring of 2010. So has Tim Cook proven to the entire world that the death of Steve Jobs really brought about a less innovative era for Apple? Is the tech giant that always starts new trends now doing the opposite and playing catch up?
No and possibly yes, respectively. Steve Jobs was backed by a team of hardworking engineers who come up with innovative designs. The entire OS X team is still running strong, and Jony Ive is still pushing out designs that make people drool at it's simplistic, yet beautiful designs. As I've mentioned in my obituary to Steve Jobs, I believed that he had done what many people hadn't been able to do, and bring Apple into something magical, and worthy of cult status, but he needed people working with him. What Tim Cook can do, is exactly what Steve Jobs can do. After all, both only want whats best for Apple.
So is the new iPad mini Apple's demise? I won't say so. Apple still maintains its quirky design and style with a smaller tablet, but they've done it in ways that makes all other 7"-range tablets seem like plastic toys. You get what you pay for, so for all Apple haters out there, there's a reason why your tablet cost less than half the iPad mini : it's dirt cheap, cause it was made with dirt cheap materials.
However, this is not to say the iPad mini is free of flaws. It is still utilizing iPad 2 guts, which makes it as powerful as a mobile phone at best, and hardly worthy of any praise especially when it comes to screen resolution. Personally, I don't see why this is worth getting unless it's to be used for corporate purposes. If you really want an iPad, and you don't already have one, then go for the third generation iPad. It's cheaper, and because the connector is going to be phased out, many people are willing to sell you spare cables/accessories for cheap.
Now, to diverge away from Apple and to actually make a proper comment on the launch of Windows 8 and Windows Surface. Windows Vista had left a lot of people with a terrible after taste of what Windows OS upgrades can be, that Windows 7 had it's work cut out since day 1. Amazingly, it didn't disappoint. However, with the launch of Windows 8, it's hard to see what they can do, without destroying the faith of people who finally decided to trust Windows again after the whole Vista fiasco.
It's a very interesting approach because Windows 8 attempts to catch the hearts of people who have put down their computers and laptops in favour of the tablet computer. Touch screen interfaces, small light and portable devices that are less bulky to carry around, and do not entirely rely on keyboards, big batteries and insane power cables. just to keep itself running is a hard thing to turn down. Windows 8 seems to have hit the right spot by making all of this a reality in basing an OS that isn't as computer-based as Windows 7. Sure, new hardware including touchscreen monitors has been developed (yours truly has one already), touchscreen laptops/ultrabooks have been developed, and even the new Microsoft Surface has been announced to make all of this work together.
Different design tweaks have been added, complete with many different usability habits have been analyzed. All of this culminates in a really new and awesome looking "Metro UI" that's garnered praise from all sorts of reporters. However, the average consumer might not be too happy with these changes as they really disrupt the status quo. Users tend to mold into the computer and systems they're used to, which made the transition from Windows XP and Windows Vista so difficult, as it was a huge leap from what most users are used to. The entire interface no longer made sense to some people, still hopped up on the joy and wonder of Windows XP. It was a fantastic operating system, and it's hard to really try to replace a classic. It's also the same reason why Sinatra can never be replaced, or why Louis Armstrong could never be reproduced.
So is the announcement of Windows 8 will instantly dominate the world this Saturday, and more amazingly, Windows Surface will also debut. Sure, it's Microsoft's late answer to the tablet market dominated by the iPad, and the still undeniably ridiculous excuse of copies from numerous manufacturers running the Android operating system, but it can't be totally ignored. The surface did what the Android tablets couldn't do, and it was instilling fear through beautiful designs and ingenious design. Windows Surface has been a huge hit with a lot of people since it was announced, because it wasn't just a tablet. It leaked great amounts of passion and a significant amount of pressure to the competition because it wasn't just trying to take a stab at the iPad market, and make a sizable dent in it. It wanted to change the way people used tablets. Back in late 2010, when Blackberry decided it was time for them to fight into the tablet market by introducing the terrible failure known as the Playbook, it seemed to have been filled with pomp and circumstance. Unfortunately, it was anything but, and it's demise as of Day 1 was also the advent for all other iPad copies to eventually meet their doom by even trying to exist on the market.
What made Apple's iPad successful was because it was built on an infrastructure that worked. It was simple to use and also had a great app store, which really propelled it to new heights. The iPad has such a great ability to instill upon so much imagination into many developers, it's virtually turned the iPad into (as Jony Ive puts it) "something magical".
Microsoft actually has a chance to replicate the success of the iPad because the Windows operating system was successful because it is the most popular in the whole world. Regardless of the high number of Macbook owners, Windows still has a large foothold. This loyal fanbase, complete with legacy that it cannot fight, including their large number of existing apps can easily make Windows 8 and Windows Surface a success. If Microsoft plays their cards right, they don't have to end up as cheap plastic touchscreen toys that are competitively slightly cheaper than the iPad, but hugely more unattractive. Windows Surface can be a major hit. Of course, time will tell, and it won't be too long before the results come out.
