On Twitter, I recently mused:

I'd estimate that 90% of mainstream outlet tech columnists were shuffled over from non-tech backgrounds. It's the only explanation.

That tweet was inspired by this article.

The author's wish-list:

A display at least comparable in quality to the Nexus 7 (which I'm sure Apple could easily meet or exceed, even at a low price point).

I think most of the speculation here is that the display on an iPad Mini will be around the same quality as the display on the iPad 2. Which is to say: Non-retina. It's certainly possible that Apple is done with non-retina displays, though. The point is, it seems fairly clear to me that this columnist has no idea what's going on in the tech industry and is out-informed by even the most-inconsequential of tech bloggers.

The idea that Apple could beat the Nexus 7 on display quality but match her expectation of a sub-$200 price point is just the icing on the crazy cake. 

The latest version of Apple's mobile operating system, iOS6, with a guarantee that it would also be able to run the inevitable iOS 7 update expected in the next year. (Or if not, a guarantee that I would be able to upgrade my iPad Mini in a year for $50 or less.)

This may be the dumbest, most uninformed thing I've ever read from a supposedly knowledgable tech writer.

If you're a tech columnist and you do not already know that no iOS device has ever been deprecated after one (let alone 2 or 3) cycles, you have no business being a tech columnist. Her parenthetical is just fucking idiotic and it's an expectation that no consumer electronics company will ever meet, let alone at the demand of a shill with a page view quota.

The immediate availability of a reasonably priced Bluetooth keyboard that would be no larger than the iPad Mini, or a combination iPad Mini keyboard/case (perhaps similar to this Targus product).

This is where Apple should just write this idiot off and tell her they don't want her business, especially since it's fairly clear that she doesn't really want to give them her business.

Apps designed for the iPhone that generally function reasonably well on the iPad Mini. So far, relatively few iOS apps that I would need (such as Freshbooks) have been reformatted for the standard iPad, and I've found that using them on a large tablet is unwieldy. But perhaps an iPhone app may feel less incongruous as is on a 7-inch iPad Mini.

Absurdity. She claims to be an android fan but faults Apple for "relatively few" tablet optimized apps? I'll leave the punchline to that joke in the hands of people who aren't ignorant.

Finally, all this is contingent on me demoing the iPad Mini hands-on and being satisfied with how it looks, feels and responds.

In other words: "I left this caveat in because I'm not going to buy an iPad even if all of the above conditions are met."

Any "tech columnist" who expects Apple to come in at a price point below $200 when margins are already practically non-existant at $250 should be fired from her job. That includes this one.