Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/10/26/one_inch_makes_all_the_difference_says_apple_ceo/
iPad Mini vs Nexus 7: inch makes all the difference, says Apple CEO
Tim Cook and the mild-mannered inch
Posted in Tablets, 26th October 2012 08:18 GMT
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To Apple CEO Tim Cook, an inch is everything.
Apple’s iPad Mini has an 8in display - its closest Android-based rivals all have 7in screens. A big difference, says Cook.
"We would not make a 7in tablet," he told financial analysts and journalist eavesdroppers during a conference call last night. "We don't think they're good products."
Why? Because, he said, there’s not enough display space on the smaller tablets. That extra inch makes for a much more usable touchscreen, apparently.
We’ve argued that the larger panel’s 1024 x 768 resolution puts the Mini at a disadvantage [1] to other tablets’ 1280 x 800 panels because it makes for a less pleasant reading experience, and reading - not just e-books but web pages, email, chat messages, magazines, game info screens - is the activity tablet users perform more than than any other.
Having that extra inch only serves to reduce the Mini’s relative display pixel density - its ‘retina-ness’, essentially - even further.
Cook also dismissed Microsoft’s Surface tablet [2] as “a fairly compromised, confusing product”, though he admitted he hasn’t had played with one yet. But his take is that it’s trying to hard to be a PC and a tablet.
“I suppose you could design a car that flies and floats,” he said, “but I don’t think it would do all of those things very well.”
Tablets, he reckons, will outsell PCs, a claim he’s made before.
“It is already extremely compelling for many customers to choose a tablet, in particular an iPad, over a PC,” he said. “When you look at the PC market, there is an enormous opportunity for Apple there.” ®