“As the rumored unveiling date for the iPad Mini steadily approaches – October 23 to be exact – speculation and rumors over Apple’s pricing plan for the product continue to pile up,” Yoni Heisler writes for Network World. “Now the iPad Mini, by virtue of its size alone, will be positioned to compete against smaller tablets like the Google Nexus 7 and the Amazon Kindle Fire. That being the case, Apple’s iPad Mini should be priced rather aggressively. Keep in mind that the Nexus 7 retails for $199 while the base-level Kindle Fire is about $40 cheaper.”

Heisler writes, “Some analysts believe Apple will go all out and disrupt the low-end tablet market with an aggressive pricepoint in the $199 range. Still, others believe that Apple, always keen on maximizing its profits, will price the device in the $250 range… I contend that there really is no pricing confusion to be had with the iPad Mini and the iPod Touch as they are two different products that serve two different purposes. The iPad Mini is a miniaturized tablet meant for mild media consumption and book reading. And as opposed to the iPod Touch, it won’t feature a crisp Retina Display or high-quality camera.”

“Tthere are a whole lot of people who want to get their hands on an Apple iPad but are simply priced out of the market under Apple’s current pricing matrix,” Heisler writes. “Right now, those folks are becoming Amazon and Android-based tablet users. Apple wants to avoid this dynamic at all costs and we imagine the highest Apple would price the iPad Mini is at $250. Unleashing an iPad Mini at $199, though, would really leave the competitors like Amazon and Google scrambling to stay afloat.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Yes. Unlike the last time around, Apple would be wise not to allow Android (or Amazon’s bastardized Android platform) get a toe-hold in the market. Apple has the money and this is an excellent example of the why the war chest exists – plus, once you get the vast majority of users on iOS iPads, they’ll naturally want their smartphones to match, so they can integrate all of their devices with iCloud. As those two-year contracts end, Android settlers will move to iPhones to match their iPads.

If Apple does this, expect some gnashing of teeth and rending of garments among certain “analysts” over margins, regardless of how many times or how clearly Apple CFO Oppenheimer and CEO Cook explain their rationale.

Apple announced shockingly low prices with iPad. With that came market domination. They’d be smart to do the same with iPad mini.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Fred Mertz" for the heads up.]