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They also gave it the A7/M7.

This makes Apple's product line extremely confusing, and I would predict that the Mini will be the biggest seller by far.

$399 iPad 2 $399 new iPad Mini with A7 & M7 / 2048x1536 display $499 new iPad Air with A7 & M7 / 2048x1536

The Mini seems like the better device of the two, for less! And I don't understand why anyone would consider the iPad 2.

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Another thing to consider-- older people may prefer a physically larger screen and not care about the resolution. That way, they get the "cheaper" iPad, with a 10 inch screen.

"Older people" in this case being people who are 30 or older.

The only thing I can think of is it's for corporate or educational buyers who standardized on it for some reason. The 30 pin connector perhaps?

Apple has continued sales of old devices to corporate/educational buyers without making them publicly available in the past. The eMac and original iPad were both available to education markets far longer than public markets.

The eMac was, but that's because it had it's origins in education. That was also 8 years ago and Apple has changed.

I can't find any corroboration for your assertion about the original iPad. Every source I can find says it was discontinued immediately in favour of the iPad 2. Selling off old stock to the education market isn't the same.

My memories of the iPad 1 might be hazy—though I had friends in education that purchased them well after the iPad 2 was available. Perhaps they were getting bulk orders of refurbished (or third party refurbished) units.

The main point is that it's not unreasonable to think Apple would keep products around for enterprise/education markets without selling them publicly, or at the very least without mentioning them during a high profile keynote.

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> And I don't understand why anyone would consider the iPad 2.

The 30 pin connector comment was in reference to this.

If they had introduced the 7" mini before the full-size model, I don't think the bigger one would have been very popular. Once you go to the mini, it's hard to go back to the larger model, it just feels way too big.

I watch movies/netflix on mine, 10" (especially a lighter model) is not too big for me, or watching with another person.

Agreed. Also lighter (0.7 pounds http://www.apple.com/au/ipad/compare/). It does mess up their line-up to push the mini two generations ahead. Maybe sales were lagging? Maybe they really wanted to standardize on A7 64 bit and rogue graphics? Regardless of line-up problems, it's a fantastic device.

I think the reason to buy an iPad 2 (or indeed an iPad 5) is for the larger display.

  > And I don't understand why anyone would consider the iPad 2.

My guess is corporate and government/education use. They want to extend their existing fleets, with the same hardware as it is vetted and known and supported (by their IT departments, etc). Having a single SKU is likely seen as a big benefit to them.

I find that refurbished iPad3s are the better deal over iPad2. I think the iPad2 really needs to be at 299

Apple doesn't want to sell you an iPad 2. They want you to pick up an iPad 2 and then an iPad Air and buy the iPad Air.

By that logic they should have kept the iPad 3 which feels like a brick compared to the rest.

The iPad 3 is probably expensive to make.

I would imagine that the iPad 2 is typically purchased in bulk for business or educational uses and is not used by the average consumer.

>The Mini seems like the better device of the two, for less! And I don't understand why anyone would consider the iPad 2.

Bigger screen without paying $500?

Plus the iPad 2 is a phenomenal device that is just now starting to look dated.

What makes the Mini seem like the better device? Do you just mean if you ignore screen size?

It's the same resolution display in the Mini Retina and the Air so the $100 gets you physically larger pixels. It is an interesting line-up for sure (also that the Air is the big and heavy model...).

On a tablet, bigger doesn't equal better, and a very common sentiment is that the Mini is the ideal size, with the iPad full-sized being unwieldy for many uses (any situation where you hold it in your hand). So I'm not ignoring screen size, but quite contrary am saying that smaller, in this case, for many purposes == better. Obviously that is to a point, but for common uses the iPad Mini is very close to perfect.

To put it another way, now that Apple has equalized the hardware (same resolution, processor, accouterments), they could legitimately pitch the Mini as the more expensive, premium device (fitting more capabilities in a smaller space). Of course they couldn't only because they originally intro'd the mini as the discount device, but had they not it would be a legitimate angle.

The full-sized iPad is still a must if you want to use it to read PDFs (eg, tabletop RPG books), but otherwise I'd agree that the Mini is generally a more attractive option.

They are pixel to pixel the same in display so it really does not make much of a difference--no more of a difference than reading glasses would make at least. In your case perhaps that's worth the $100 and extra bulk, but you can tell where Apple thinks the future is.

The iPad Air is insanely light, which might change the equation. Based on weight, I might pick the Mini over the old full-sized iPad despite preferring a larger display. Now, all bets are off.

But the iPad Air is still 40% heavier than the Mini. When you're holding it in your finger, the larger length levers it to feel much heavier from an angular pressure perspective.

It is an amazing device in either form, it just seems like at most they should be the same price when the more compact variant is every bit as capable.

If you think the 8" screen is big enough then sure. But I happen to like the larger display. Could Apple charge more for the iPad Mini based on some kind of "smallness premium"? Well, in general 7" tablets are selling for dirt cheap, so it wouldn't play well.

You'll see the mix of iPad sales tilt back to the iPad Air after the next quarter. iPad Mini will still sell more but that % of sales will drop. The big reason why most people got iPad Mini over iPad was because the iPad was just way too heavy to hold compared to the Mini, that's not an issue anymore.

Very true, but it still feels reasonable to me for the larger version, which is likely more expensive to create, to be priced higher, even if more people genuinely prefer the smaller size regardless of price.

Don't forget the old mini at $299...

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