Smaller Tablets – New battleground

Ready or not, a new dimension to the tablet market place is here, and looks to become the next “hot” item … 7″ tablets.

Looking at the Advantages

It will be interesting to see how the smaller format does in the marketplace.  I know many people who simply love their full size iPads. However in my research I’ve found there are a number of groups that find the smaller format appealing.  For example, the technological savvy Baby Boomer generation.  The key differences mentioned?  Lighter weight, smaller size, easier to hold and easier to travel with.

Another example,  busy college students.  Not only is the price better, but it is an easier fit into a backpack (with protective covering of course!). An additional mentioned advantage is that scrolling seems to be faster on the smaller size.

Another group to keep an eye on is the mobile sales force.  The iPad has made significant inroads with this group vs the traditional laptop. And now that the IT department has become familiar with deploying and supporting tablets, introducing a different size should not be a barrier, as the initial tablets had to overcome. The size and weight are major factors in favor of the smaller size for the sales force. However the main obstacle could be readability, if the sales force is more mature (reading smaller type is harder for older eyes!).

It will be interesting to see if the smaller size creates a whole new market, or simply pulls users from the existing base.

Top New 7″ Tablets

So what are the hot new small tablets to keep an eye on?

• Amazon Kindle Fire
• Google Nexus 7
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0
• iPad Mini (rumored to be in the works)

Quick Comparison

* in a brief web search I did find a more reasonable market price of $250.
** unofficial but highly rumored!

Further Reading:

• Amazon takes on iPad with larger Kindle Fire – Yahoo News
• Apple iPad Mini rumor roundup: Everything (we think) we know – Digital Trends
• The New iPad Mini: Built to Compete – Forbes
• Amazon Kindle Fire HD vs Google Nexus 7: Specs comparison – IT Pro Portal (UK)
• Is the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 a better Kindle Fire than the Kindle Fire? – CNET
• Review: Nexus 7 is best Android tablet yet – CNN Tech (from Wired)
• Detailed comparison Kindle/Galaxy/Nexus – Tech Crunch