Apple's Leap of Faith-The iPad Mini

Recently, Apple announced the launch of the iPad Mini. This, in the interest of sales in absolutely genius, it provides an entry-level tablet for those who can’t afford the higher-priced iPad, can still enjoy the social benefits of having an Apple, but still have enough money for dinner. These should fly off the shelves into the hands of parents, singles, and college students. Those demographics are absolutely perfect for the iPad Mini, Parents can use it, save some money, and also not pull their hair out every time they lend it to their children. Singles and college students would buy it more for the ‘Apple for less’ appeal.   

Another plus about the Mini is that it could open a whole new market for Apple, the mid-range in between phone and tablet. Those have the potential to become the new big thing, the new tech that everyone has, and even more people could have it because it’s cheaper. Not only that but it makes so that they have a counter for the increasing popular Kindle Fire and the high potential Microsoft Surface.   

The kickback to the iPad Mini could possibly be just as bad as the sales are good. It could anger their main fan base, the wealthy lawyers. Before the Mini, Apple products were somewhat a way to “separate the boys from the men” meaning it separated the wealthy from the not so fortunate. However, with the Mini, this could lessen the gap even more and risk angering their main Apple users, however it does beg the question, where else could they get high-priced computers and tablets? In that sense Apple has them pretty much cornered.

The other issue is the cheapening of the brand. If Ferrari made a $16,000 car, they would make a huge amount of money, but that is a one-time trick. After that, if they make another cheap model, then the brand gets recognized as cheap, thus they stop wanting one so bad. The same applies to Apple, they’ve spend so much time building up a recognized high-end brand, but if they use this card twice, then all that hard work goes down the drain. If they over-use it, not only does their brand become know as ‘cheap’, but there are companies like Microsoft and Google that would love to get that niche that Apple has, and since the Chromebook isn’t yet established in the general publics’ eyes, they have the potential to easily slip in that niche that Apple currently occupies. The way we can tell how the Mini is affecting Apple is looking at the stocks, and how they are faring should indicate whether the Mini is a failure or a success.