Minimum fuss

Apple’s new iPad mini debuted last weekend with less fanfare than previous incarnations amid talk it might have come too late to the 7-inch tablet computer market.

The ghost of Apple founder Steve Jobs hung in the air two days after Halloween as the California-based company tried to lure shoppers with a slim tablet it insists is more than just a shrunken version of its coveted iPads.

The event stirred little of the excitement associated with previous Apple products, generating small lines of devotees at flagship stores around the world.

Tolga Arslan and his 10-year-old son were among the approximately two dozen people who queued outside an Apple Store in San Francisco’s hip Marina District to be among the first there to get iPad mini tablets.

Arslan bought two of the gadgets, one for him and another for his wife, to take home to Turkey on Saturday at the end of his holiday in California. "I like the technology," Arslan said, "It’s compact."

"It looks like an iPhone but it’s not an iPhone," his son added. "I’m going to play games on it."

In tech-mad Singapore numbers were well down from previous launches, while in Hong Kong around 30 people queued to collect their pre-ordered devices.

There was nothing like the days-long queues for prior Apple gadget debuts. Nevertheless, acolytes said they were impressed by the physical charms of the 20-centimetre touchscreen device that weighs less than half the original iPad, at just 308 grams.

Market analyst Loo Wee Tech, head of Consumers Electronics Research said the new tablets ‘failed to excite’ a sector that has grown accustomed to ever more amazing gadgets over the years but will still be the ‘best-selling electronic product for the year-end holiday season’.

"What iPad Mini offers is a form factor that is useable with one hand and fits easily into most females’ handbags," he noted.

Ahead of the launch analysts had warned the starting price of $329 (BD124) might seem steep to budget-minded shoppers who can buy Google Nexus or Amazon Kindle tablets for $199 (BD75).

But analysts at Sterne Agee brokerage noted that similar doubts greeted the introduction of the iPod nano, which wound up selling well.

Apple’s senior vice president for marketing Phil Schiller helped unveil the iPad mini last week, insisting that it was an entirely new design and not ‘just a shrunken down iPad’. Like later versions of the original iPad, the new Apple tablet features rear and front-facing cameras and also has stereo speakers.