The Opinion Cast: Is there a 7-Inch Tablet Market?

Ben Bajarin / July 13th, 2012

In this episode of our opinion cast Steve Wildstrom, John Kirk and myself discuss the potential for a 7″ tablet market.

We explore Amazon’s strategy, Apple’s potential entry with an iPad mini, and Google’s Nexus 7″. Business model issues were a key part of the conversation as well as whether or not Apple needs to make a 7″ tablet.

You can also subscribe to our opinion cast in iTunes here.

Ben Bajarin

Ben Bajarin is a Principal Analyst and the head of primary research at Creative Strategies, Inc - An industry analysis, market intelligence and research firm located in Silicon Valley. His primary focus is consumer technology and market trend research and he is responsible for studying over 30 countries. Full Bio

See all articles by Ben Bajarin @benbajarin

Rich

Audio levels are *drastically* different between the three of you. This seriously needs to be corrected if you’re going to do any more podcasts, as it makes the listening experience pretty awful…almost not worth hearing what you guys have to say! And I’d like to know who I’m listening to, at any give time. You may know each other’s voices, but we don’t, and I’m sitting here thinking “Who is this?” An introduction of each of you at the beginning of the podcast should be sufficient.
- benbajarin
  
  Good feedback Rich. I sensed that with the audio but I’m not entirely sure how to fix it. What software program would you recommend for someone with little audio editing experience such as myself?
  - Rich
    
    I’m seeing two possible situations. If you’ve got 3 separate sources coming to you (one for you, one for Steve and one for John) then just set the level for each one by meter or by ear so that they’re equal. If you’ve got one audio stream coming at you and they’re premixed with different levels for each person, you can use either a compressor or a limiter to equalize the levels. (See below for more information on this.)
    
    I’m a lifelong soundhead and I’ll be happy to discuss audio issues with you. Email me at audiorich@earthlink.net. I always answer emails, even though it may be a few hours before I respond.
    - benbajarin
      
      Ok, I will try a few things. I imported the audio file into iTunes and tried to normalize the volume between the sources. Its not perfect but it is better. Let me know what you think.
      - steve_wildstrom
        
        Ben–I can equalize in Soundbooth.
7-inch tablet

I have long referred to the ‘7-inch tablets niche’ and the ‘7-inch tablets market’
Peter Buckton

It was nice to hear you guys all talking about a subject de-jour. I would say though that in many ways it seemed to be not a lot more than a verbal rehash of things you have already written in your articles. So, not much new there…
pawhite524

I know I’m late to the party but am new to this exceptionally fine site and have some catching up to do.

I especially appreciate the dialog aspect where authors communicate with commenters or someone else dons the MOD mantle in order to re-comment or elucidate.

To Rich in this comment thread- It was great to read of your offering to pitch in and help with the audio discrepancies and to read Ben B’s dialog.

On a *whimsical* note, I have but one concern. The illustration of John Kirk makes him look too much like John Dvorak. Alas, John D’s writings used to draw my attention and respect but no more. He has degenerated to a caricature IMHO and not a fun or funny one, like the old comedy routines of the used car salesman on Los Angeles late night TV.
- benbajarin
  
  Thanks very much for the kind comment. I am glad you find our columns and other content interesting. I hope you continue to read and join in the conversation.
  
  Podcast was sort of a new experiment for us. Perfecting audio using tools is not something you generally have to do as an industry analyst but I have enjoyed learning some new tricks.
  I’ll relay your whimsical comment to John 🙂

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