Apple’s iPad Mini could be a hit in education, but its business appeal is more of a mixed bag by Doug Drinkwater

Doug Drinkwater writes, "A smaller iPad is bound to have success with consumers, but could well attract use in business, healthcare and education, according to market observers."


Photo: TabTimes

The iPad Mini rumor mill is in overdrive, and lips are salivating at the prospective rivalry between Apple, Amazon and Google in the lower end of the consumer tablet space.

If reports are to be believed, the iPad Mini will have a 7.85-inch display, 16GB of memory, run iOS 6 and will debut at $299 when announced alongside the iPhone 5 on September 12 (other reports say later next month).

Apple will most likely pitch this tablet as a consumer device, but given the enterprise success of its bigger brother, is it wrong to assume Apple won't attract business users once again? A number of industry experts think the iPad Mini might just have a chance.   

Smaller iPad could be big news in education

The consensus seems to be that of all the markets, a smaller and cheaper iPad could have significant impact in education.

“It would clearly have some traction in education based on a low price and small size. It might also have some applications for field worker for whom an iPad is too large to hold”, said Stephen Baker, VP of industry analysis at the NPD Group.

Ben Bajarin, TabTimes columnist and principal at Creative Strategies, thinks the tablet may appeal to young children, but reckons that success may be limited as schooling invariably becomes more serious.

“I could see 7-inch working in K-5 for example but once you start getting into text books I am not so sure.”
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Source: TabTimes