Tim Bajarin: The iPad Mini Is a Disruptive Technology

iPad mini

Remember this classic video of Steve Ballmer talking about the iPhone?

Here is a very interesting post by Tim Bajarin on the future iPad of the iPad mini. According to Bajarin, the iPad mini has taken over as his go to device, replacing his current 9.7-inch iPad.

Here is some of what he had to say:

Now that the iPad Mini has been out for a while and many of us at Creative Strategies have been testing them, it is becoming clear to us that this 7.9” form factor (or most 7” inch models) will become the most important tablets for consumers in the future.

There are a lot of reasons for this, but the main one is that these tablets are light, thin and, in the iPad Mini’s case, deliver a best in breed tablet experience. Also, these smaller tablets will always be cheaper than larger tablets because the bill of material (BOM) cost for smaller versions will always be less than the bigger models

More interestingly, Bajarin has echoed what Steve Jobs said at D10 some years back. Steve believed that in the Post-PC era (its here already) PCs are going to be doing the heavy duty stuff while the tablets and smartphones are going to be the devices most used by consumers.

Here is Bajarin take on this:

Now I realize that this may not be a broad trend, but we are hearing the same type of feedback in our early consumer interviews. Although fresh and not fully completed research, many people who have an iPad Mini are sharing similar stories. Almost all that we talked to told us that the role of the laptop has diminished for them significantly since they got the iPad, and were now using the iPad Mini more frequently than their larger iPads.

When I asked them if they were interested in buying a new Windows PC or laptop, their comments were pretty consistent. They said that if the PC were only used 10-20% of the time, they would most likely just extend the life of their PCs or laptops instead of buying new ones. And if they did buy a new PC or laptop, it would be the cheapest they could find. They could no longer justify a more expensive and powerful version if it mostly sat at home and was used infrequently for more data- or media-intensive apps.

So, watch this video below and tell me what you think. Do we have another Steve Ballmer’s blooper there?