I received an iPad mini November 2nd and have played with it ever since. Well, actually, I played with it for a few hours and then my daughters have dominated the device ever since. When they reach for a device to practice math or work on their spelling, it is now the iPad mini. When I ask them why the mini over its big brother they say exactly that: size. The device is perfect for their little hands and bodies. It’s the right weight for them and doesn’t feel like a brick they have to lug around.

This is why the device will do well. I think schools will love this sized device [1] and anyone into media consumption and reading will love this sized device. It’s a little small, I think, for a productivity tool but then again that’s why we have bigger tablets and laptops to choose from.

For my own purposes I still prefer the bigger devices. Yes, I use mine for a lot of media consumption, especially reading. But I also want to be productive with it. Will that change in time? I can emphatically say maybe. With a quick trial I can tell you that I had no problem typing on the smaller, landscape keyboard instead. But before I will use it every day I’d like to see the fonts adjust a little bigger and the screen become a little better. I prefer the retina display.

So for now I will stick with the iPad 3. But I can see a day where a device small enough to stick in a back jeans pocket or inside jacket pocket will end up being way more attractive to me then the 10″ device. It already is for my daughters and, well, they are the future. 🙂

—

[1] I really like the Nexus 7 I’ve been playing around with, too.