Many have hailed the rumored "iPad Mini" as a Nexus 7 killer, as the tablet has many features that may be very difficult to compete with. Last year, the iPad held a 62 percent share of the world-wide tablet market, according to market-research firm HIS iSuppli, which expects overall tablet sales this year to surge 85 percent to 12.6 million units. From its smaller size to its cost, it seems as though the supposed iPad Mini is set out to claim defeat over all the tablets out there.
Screen Size
Competitors like Google, Amazon and Microsoft will have to make way for a smaller iPad that Apple is prepping to take on other tablets. The "iPad Mini" will supposedly show off a 7- or 8-inch, reduced from the 9.7-inch screen on all three generations of Apple's existing tablet.
According to the Wall Street Journal, one person said the screen makers Apple is working with include LG Display Co. of South Korea and Taiwan-based AU Optronics Co. As stated by analysts, a smaller tablet could help Cupertino, California-based Apple maintain its dominance in a market that keeps getting more crowded.
Cost
For the full-sized iPads, consumers can expect to pay $499 and up, however, the iPad mini would compete with Amazon's Kindle Fire and the newly launched Nexus 7 tablet from Google, and possibly be priced at about $250 (a figure analysts at HIS iSuppli estimate). However, this is a figure that does not include development costs, packaging or patent royalties, according to USA Today. Therefore, this suggests Apple would price it at $329 or $349, which in essence is still money saved compared to the existing iPads.
"The first thing you always have to keep in mind is: Apple is not going to sell an unprofitable product," says Rhoda Alexander at iSuppli, in USA Today.
Shaw Wu, an analyst at Sterne Agee said in USA Today. "From a competitive standpoint, we believe an iPad mini with a lower price point would be the competition's worst nightmare," "Most (competitors) already have a tough enough time competing against the iPad 2, as well as the new iPad."
What Steve Jobs Thought
The late CEO of Apple made a rare appearance on an October 2010 earnings conference call to launch a rant against the 7-inch tablet Samsung Electronics Inc. that was set to launch as the first major challenge to the iPad.
"The reason we wouldn't make a 7-inch tablet isn't because we don't want to hit a price point, it's because we don't think you can make a great tablet with a 7-inch screen," Jobs said. "The 7-inch tablets are tweeners, too big to compete with a smartphone and too small to compete with an iPad."
"There are clear limits of how close you can physically place elements on a touch screen before users cannot reliably tap, flick or pinch them.This is one of the key reasons we think the 10-inch (25-centimeter) screen size is the minimum size required to create great tablet apps," he said.
All of this clearly suggest that Jobs was not fond of the idea of a "Mini iPad" and felt that Apple's tablet is the perfect size as is and anything smaller is essentially unusable.
Release Date
The launch of the unit will most likely be in the fall, around September or October, according to various reports.
According to the Wall Street Journal, officials at the component suppliers, who declined to be named, said this week that Apple has been told to prepare for mass production of the smaller tablet.
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