The Compromise

Apple rumors were constant. A television was coming. Maps had been a joke that somehow escaped April Fools. Steve Jobs was definitely frozen somewhere deep under Cupertino, waiting for the iResurrection - a decade minimum. The usual noise. But back then, the iPad mini was supposedly real.

Supply chain sources said Apple was ordering ten million units for Q4 2012. Something between an iPhone and an iPad. Jobs had always killed the idea - couldn’t figure out who’d want it. Fair point. I didn’t either. But it came anyway.

That was twice the Kindle Fire’s production for the same window, and that didn’t even count regular iPad numbers. Somewhere in a factory, someone was about to find out what real exhaustion felt like.

The use case was obvious once you thought about it: an iPad was too big to pull out on the subway without looking insane, but an iPhone screen was too small for anything real. A compromise device for people willing to compromise. Or maybe just people with small hands - that was the joke anyway.

I’ve always been the type to worship whatever technology showed up - Nintendo, Apple, whoever was selling the dream. But watching actual people use tablets in public still felt strange to me. Just sitting there swiping at glass for no reason. Not working. Not going anywhere. Just touching a screen on the street. I could watch someone with a laptop all day. Phones were fine. But tablets held up at eye level in public, that looked odd. Maybe I was just odd about it.