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Those sales, while not iPad league, aren't too shabby for a single Android device and, significantly, seem to be growing. Will be interesting to see what the i

Those sales, while not iPad league, aren't too shabby for a single Android device and, significantly, seem to be growing. Will be interesting to see what the iPad Mini might do to Nexus 7 sales. Certainly there are going to be a bunch of them that are people who specifically want an Android tablet, and there are going to be a bunch who are highly price sensitive (question there being are the newer Kindles having an impact) who aren't going to being looking at the new iPad, but there will also be people who just like the form factor for whom the Mini might be interesting. Short term though I suspect we'll see what we've seen in the smartphone market - plenty of overall market growth meaning plenty of unit sales growth for everyone (except RIM) which will keep the market interesting.

eumenides1 14y ago
FYI, Apple sold an average of 5 million iPads a month in 2012. From TechCrunch "On the Apple side, the company sold nearly 60 million iPads during its 2012 fiscal year. But that’s a different market, one that Apple forged itself. How the iPad mini performs remains a separate question, even though Apple on stage at its event last week framed this as essentially a way to replicate and continue that existing success. Still, the iPad mini goes on sale in many more countries with an ecosystem that’s much more globally available than its small tablet competition, so it’s fair to assume Apple will beat competitor device sales, but by how much remains a key question."
Shivetya 14y ago
I am looking to pick up a Nexus 7 this week to evaluate its gift potential. There are two areas where it falls behind the iPad mini for me. First is the Apple App store appears to be in much better shape. I can get around that pretty easily, the second is the lack of back facing camera. The reason the second issue stands out is that I would like to gift these to my niece and nephew. When using my iPad or their parents smart phones they love to use the camera to take pictures. So I am was a bit disappointed over the omission. The main point in the Nexus 7's favor for me is its price. So the make or break will be software, namely some learning apps and games. I would prefer to avoid buying an Apple product; I own many; based on their emphasis on lawsuits recently but they do have some features on their tablet that are hard to pass up and the old adage reworded for our age probably holds true, no one will be disappointed getting an iPad for Christmas. (the old adage of no one was fired for buying IBM)
- Tyrannosaurs 14y ago
  How old are your niece and nephew? One area Apple have a significant advantage is with kids who've grown up with iPod Touches (or iPods Touch for the pedants) and are therefore familiar with iOS and the apps available on the app store. If I were looking for a present (a very generous present I might add) for kids between 8 and 18, I'd be hyper aware that they may have opinions on what they want and be guided by that.
  - duck 14y ago
    My six year old can switch between my Transformer tablet and my wife's iPhone without even blinking an eye. Kids tend to not be set in their ways like us old people.
    - Tyrannosaurs 14y ago
      Agree with that (have actually just posted similarly above), I was more thinking if all their friends are making movies with iMovie or whatever, that's what they'll want to be doing. The learning curve is nothing at that age.
  - Shivetya 14y ago
    Niece and nephew are seven and nice respectively. I would like to encourage them to use the devices for something other than games. Having no children of my own I am not even sure where to begin when it comes to app selection. Being children their interests do change often but helping them in their schooling, something that is self directed so when mom isn't around to encourage them the software itself is engaging enough to do so. So I am up for recommendations. I am more than willing to load up apps for whichever tablet I give them and in fact would be much happier if I could deliver them experience out of the box.
- hospadam 14y ago
  As someone who owns both an iPad and Nexus 7 - they're both great devices. But, if you're looking for "learning apps and games" - the iOS App Store wins, hands down. The Android store is definitely growing with respect to games... but I've found the quality of "learning" apps to be quite low on Android. I'm not sure why, and I'm sure it will get better. If you're looking for "learning" apps for kids aged 2 - 14, I'd stick with iOS devices (for now).
mtgx 14y ago
The iPad Mini seems more like a product that iPad customers would buy instead of a bigger iPad, perhaps because they've always thought the iPad was too heavy, and they wouldn't mind the cheaper price (nor the slower performance and lower resolution that comes with it). But from what I've seen so far, people use it exactly like a bigger iPad. It seems too big to use it as a 4"-7" device, covering it from the back with your hole hand. You'll probably end up using either with 2 hands, or by the side, like the bigger iPad, so there's not much improvement over the bigger iPad there. It is lighter, though.
- ajross 14y ago
  My experience with the Nexus 7 (in comparison with light usage of my wife's iPad 2, which I never really warmed too) is sort of the opposite. A 10" tablet is a "small laptop". The 7" device is a "big phone". It's better than my phone for everything I want to use the phone for, and I love it. I'll grab it preferentially to the Galaxy Nexus in my pocket any time there's a choice. That wasn't true of the iPad, nor of the 10" Android tablet (a development board) I had at home for a while. With those, the choice was always between the big tablet and the laptop, and my experience was the laptop always won. Obviously, the one spot where a 7" tablet fails is the important use case of carrying it around while not using it. So the phone isn't going away. Nor, obviously is the laptop. But my surprise is that, unlike the 10" model, there was space in my life for a 7" tablet. It's really a very different kind of thing, and it's not surprising Apple wants to play in that world.
  - no_more_death 14y ago
    You might have missed his point. He's contrasting the Nexus 7 (7 inches) with the iPad Mini (7.9 inches). He's saying that the iPad mini is sufficiently larger that it doesn't feel like a "big phone" -- unlike the Nexus 7.
    - ajross 14y ago
      ... you're right, I misunderstood. Though frankly that's insane. The mini is 14mm wider, 2mm longer and actually slightly lighter. It's simply "the same size" to any sane observer. The attempt to argue that it's not is just Apple marketing, trying desperately to achieve market separation in a segment that doesn't really have much.

eumenides1 14y ago

FYI, Apple sold an average of 5 million iPads a month in 2012. From TechCrunch "On the Apple side, the company sold nearly 60 million iPads during its 2012 fiscal year. But that’s a different market, one that Apple forged itself. How the iPad mini performs remains a separate question, even though Apple on stage at its event last week framed this as essentially a way to replicate and continue that existing success. Still, the iPad mini goes on sale in many more countries with an ecosystem that’s much more globally available than its small tablet competition, so it’s fair to assume Apple will beat competitor device sales, but by how much remains a key question."

Shivetya 14y ago

I am looking to pick up a Nexus 7 this week to evaluate its gift potential. There are two areas where it falls behind the iPad mini for me. First is the Apple App store appears to be in much better shape. I can get around that pretty easily, the second is the lack of back facing camera. The reason the second issue stands out is that I would like to gift these to my niece and nephew. When using my iPad or their parents smart phones they love to use the camera to take pictures. So I am was a bit disappointed over the omission. The main point in the Nexus 7's favor for me is its price. So the make or break will be software, namely some learning apps and games. I would prefer to avoid buying an Apple product; I own many; based on their emphasis on lawsuits recently but they do have some features on their tablet that are hard to pass up and the old adage reworded for our age probably holds true, no one will be disappointed getting an iPad for Christmas. (the old adage of no one was fired for buying IBM)

Tyrannosaurs 14y ago
How old are your niece and nephew? One area Apple have a significant advantage is with kids who've grown up with iPod Touches (or iPods Touch for the pedants) and are therefore familiar with iOS and the apps available on the app store. If I were looking for a present (a very generous present I might add) for kids between 8 and 18, I'd be hyper aware that they may have opinions on what they want and be guided by that.
- duck 14y ago
  My six year old can switch between my Transformer tablet and my wife's iPhone without even blinking an eye. Kids tend to not be set in their ways like us old people.
  - Tyrannosaurs 14y ago
    Agree with that (have actually just posted similarly above), I was more thinking if all their friends are making movies with iMovie or whatever, that's what they'll want to be doing. The learning curve is nothing at that age.
- Shivetya 14y ago
  Niece and nephew are seven and nice respectively. I would like to encourage them to use the devices for something other than games. Having no children of my own I am not even sure where to begin when it comes to app selection. Being children their interests do change often but helping them in their schooling, something that is self directed so when mom isn't around to encourage them the software itself is engaging enough to do so. So I am up for recommendations. I am more than willing to load up apps for whichever tablet I give them and in fact would be much happier if I could deliver them experience out of the box.
hospadam 14y ago
As someone who owns both an iPad and Nexus 7 - they're both great devices. But, if you're looking for "learning apps and games" - the iOS App Store wins, hands down. The Android store is definitely growing with respect to games... but I've found the quality of "learning" apps to be quite low on Android. I'm not sure why, and I'm sure it will get better. If you're looking for "learning" apps for kids aged 2 - 14, I'd stick with iOS devices (for now).

mtgx 14y ago

The iPad Mini seems more like a product that iPad customers would buy instead of a bigger iPad, perhaps because they've always thought the iPad was too heavy, and they wouldn't mind the cheaper price (nor the slower performance and lower resolution that comes with it). But from what I've seen so far, people use it exactly like a bigger iPad. It seems too big to use it as a 4"-7" device, covering it from the back with your hole hand. You'll probably end up using either with 2 hands, or by the side, like the bigger iPad, so there's not much improvement over the bigger iPad there. It is lighter, though.

ajross 14y ago
My experience with the Nexus 7 (in comparison with light usage of my wife's iPad 2, which I never really warmed too) is sort of the opposite. A 10" tablet is a "small laptop". The 7" device is a "big phone". It's better than my phone for everything I want to use the phone for, and I love it. I'll grab it preferentially to the Galaxy Nexus in my pocket any time there's a choice. That wasn't true of the iPad, nor of the 10" Android tablet (a development board) I had at home for a while. With those, the choice was always between the big tablet and the laptop, and my experience was the laptop always won. Obviously, the one spot where a 7" tablet fails is the important use case of carrying it around while not using it. So the phone isn't going away. Nor, obviously is the laptop. But my surprise is that, unlike the 10" model, there was space in my life for a 7" tablet. It's really a very different kind of thing, and it's not surprising Apple wants to play in that world.
- no_more_death 14y ago
  You might have missed his point. He's contrasting the Nexus 7 (7 inches) with the iPad Mini (7.9 inches). He's saying that the iPad mini is sufficiently larger that it doesn't feel like a "big phone" -- unlike the Nexus 7.
  - ajross 14y ago
    ... you're right, I misunderstood. Though frankly that's insane. The mini is 14mm wider, 2mm longer and actually slightly lighter. It's simply "the same size" to any sane observer. The attempt to argue that it's not is just Apple marketing, trying desperately to achieve market separation in a segment that doesn't really have much.