Marco on the upcoming smaller iPad​

This suggests that the iPad Mini is, effectively, an iPad 2: an A5 with 512 MB of RAM and enough GPU power to drive the Gruber Display, but not a Retina Display. It’s a textbook Tim Cook supply-chain move: selling the last generation’s hardware at a lower price point to expand marketshare.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Marco is right. One of the reasons I felt Tim Cook was the right man to run Apple was that he was good at making strategic supply chain decisions and maintaining the profitability of the product line . Using the same internals Apple has been making for years to power the upcoming smaller iPad is in plain terms a wonderful business idea. Remember, the iPad 2 is still on sale and runs the current iOS well and it should continue to do so especially on a device with a smaller screen. Maybe with even better battery life?

I have been watching other companies continue to turn out new hardware after new hardware without streamlining anything especially the supply chain. Apple does it’s best to keep the components the same, keeping the manufacturing line from having to make huge changes and driving their costs down. This of course goes all the way up to design. I am sure they take these decision into account when designing new iPhones and computers. Look at the entire laptop line. Apple found a way to manufacture unibodies and slowly migrated that process to the entire line. They have perfected the process with each iteration and by using the same process for all their laptops have made it easier to manufacture using the same components, driving their costs down and profits up.

Hope we can learn something from Apple and if its anything it is how to manage the supply chain. Let’s see if this is the case when the smaller iPad is released.