http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20042738

Just for me personally, the Mini's price is ridiculous.

And I'd be furious at that iPad update after, what, 6 or 7 months?

Way too expensive.

Rather late coming to the party.

Between the new iPad, the iPad mini (or whatever it's official name is) and the new iMac, I'm hoping some of the demand for the iPhone 5 will be dented so I can get myself one for my birthday.

Mark

There was a new Mac Mini too?
And I forgot to mention the Retina Display 13" MacBook Pro too.

Mark

The new iMac is very impressive.

I suspect th wife will be buying one. I am waiting for the retina MacBook Pros to become more affordable.

Just seen the specs. for the iPad Mini.

A dual-core A5 chip
1024x768 screen (163ppi)
£70 more expensive than the Nexus 7.

It may be £70 more expensive but I expect it won't have any problems selling.

You know what they say about fools and their money.... :grin:

That's a somewhat limited analysis. Just as an example, I've got.. maybe £300 worth of iOS apps, about half of which are 'full' tablet apps (i.e. apps that are optimised for a larger-than-smartphone display). If I was considering buying a new 7 inch tablet (I'm not, as it happens) how would it be a smart move to buy a Nexus 7 for 70 quid less, only to then have to spend 150 quid to buy equivalent apps and subscriptions (assuming they are available)? Of course not. But if you have £150 worth of apps for your Android phone already, your choice is equally different, and equally valid.

The iPad mini is.. it's more expensive than it needs to be as a single object. That's pretty much unarguable. However the equation of value is more complex than just looking at the sticker price when you're looking at established ecosystems with millions of already invested users. The device is actually just a carrier for the content; you need to look at both the device and the content available on it, and evaluate that as a whole. That's actually why Apple are successful. The devices don't sell the content, the content sells the devices, even at a higher price than the competition.

I'd be willing to bet there will be more iPad minis sold on the first day than Nexus 7's sold so far since it's launch. Does it mean the Nexus is worse? No. Does it mean those people are fools? No. It means we make choices for ourselves. Believing my (or your) choices are right for everyone else is a basic mistake and one I thought you were smarter than.

On Twitter, Fraser Speirs gave an interesting stance on the price of such things:

Apple made something of a point in the show to emphasise the value in education of tablets combined with eBooks (well, iPads and iBooks but y'know). I honestly think it won't be at all long before the notion of a schoolkid with a rucksack full of books is a thing of the past and each child will simply have a bespoke design cheap, ruggedised, locked down tablet for when they start school and have to hand it in when they finish (i.e. when they leave school, not at 3.30 every day).

It will have all their text books on it. It will have all their homework on it. It will have copies of all their assessments and reports on it. They will leave it at the school over the weekend, when all the tablets will be charged up and backed up to a school data repository over wifi. The tablets won't be worth stealing since their resale value will be next to nil - you won't be able to load apps onto them or wipe them and they will be 'keyed' to the child. The only place they can be wiped will be the wifi network of the school and that will only happen at the end of term as kids graduate, so they can be used by the next intake.

This is not far away, not far away at all.

Jon

Having followed Speirs on Twitter and via his blog, that is here now, it is just not widespread.

From the BBC article comments:

Yes, it's inflammatory, but I still laughed.

iThink that particular joke actually stopped being funny around 1997, even assuming it ever was.