New poll suggests people not interested in an iPad Mini?
For some time now we’ve been seeing rumors of a 7” iPad Mini that is expected to be released this fall. It’s seems only natural in a way - with the rampant success of the Kindle Fire and the impressive early sales of Google’s Nexus 7, of course Apple would want to elbow in on the downscale tablet market, right? Maybe not, according to a study conducted by coupon-code website CouponCodes4u, which found that surprisingly large numbers of people aren’t interested in a pint-sized Apple tablet, and that those who are would still opt to purchase the next iPhone at the expense of an iPad Mini.
According to a survey of 1,873 Americans (76% of which already owned an Apple product of some type), 78% of respondents said they would skip purchasing an iPad Mini in order to purchase a new iPhone, despite the fact that 77% of those people indicated that they already owned an iPhone. That suggests that the timing may be off – releasing the smaller tablet at the same event, or even in the same month, as the new iPhone could hurt sales of the new tablet.
Also, nearly half of respondents who indicated they would skip the iPad mini said they just don’t think very highly of the idea, with 46% saying that a miniature iPad was “pointless”. That’s only around 1 in 3 people out of the entire sample, so there still might be a lot of people out there who do actually like the idea, but it was among the most enthusiastic supporters of Apple’s products (those who already own an iPhone and/or iPad) that were split on whether Apple should even bother releasing one.
We think there’s plenty of room for success in the 7” tablet space, and it’s hard to imagine Apple not finding some success if they can be somewhat competitive on price. But maybe that’s the problem – Apple has long defined itself as selling a defining new and premium experiences, while much of the appeal of the 7” tablet space is how accessible the price points are. So perhaps, much like the reactions we saw from some iPhone users against Instagram spreading to Android, there may not be much interest among current iDevice users for Apple to enter a crowded and "cheap" market segment.
Of course there are still lots of people who don’t own an iDevice, and they may feel differently. If Apple does release an iPad Mini this fall, we’ll be keeping an eye on how well it fairs in the increasingly competative 7” tablet market.
source: Cult of Mac via BGR
source: Cult of Mac via BGR
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