iPad Mini: Thinking Small

Apple continues to be the only company taking the compact tablet seriously

Several years ago I was walking to a local convenience store. On the way there, I saw a relic that I thought had gone extinct: a payphone. When I was a kid, the payphone was everywhere. Especially in the age of the beeper, the payphone existed as a tool to make a quick phone call to whoever paged. This functional payphone felt like a remnant of a bygone era, a piece of living history right before my eyes. At this moment I recall thinking “I wonder if anyone uses this payphone”. I was reminded of this moment when Apple announced a redesigned iPad Mini at their fall hardware event. With this release, Apple is showing its commitment to the small tablet, a product category that has seemed to be long forgotten by its rivals.

The Forgotten Form Factor

There was a brief moment in time when the small tablet was the must-have gadget. Phones had not yet ballooned to the large sizes that we know today and laptops were just starting to get ultra-portable. The small tablet (usually ranging between 7–8 inches in screen size) solved this problem for many people. It had a large enough display to enjoy…