“Apple will be going forward with the 7-inch iPad, currently targeting an October 2012 release alongside the new iPhone, and — here’s the killer — at a $200 to $250 price point,” Rene Ritchie reports for iMore. “According to our source, which has proven reliable in the past, the reason for such aggressive pricing is to do to the tablet market what Apple did to the MP3 market in 2004 with the expansion of the iPod product line — leave absolutely no space for competitors.”
“We haven’t gotten a firm read on the exact screen dimensions, so we’re using 7-inches generically here. Our source has indicated, however, that the 7-inch iPad will be identical to the current 9.7-inch iPad, just scaled down. That seems to include a 2048×1536 resolution display, just like the new iPad,” Ritchie reports. “If accurate, that would put the pixel density at around 326 ppi, the same as the iPhone 4S (and higher than the 264 ppi new iPad) retina display.”
Ritchie reports, “It’s hard to imagine a device with a panel that large and dense that having a price tag of just $200 to $250, especially when the baseline new iPad comes in at $500, but one way Apple will be keeping costs lower is by providing less storage capacity. $200 to $250 will get you 8GB… Recently AppAdvice reported on the logic of 7.85-inch iPad, which makes a lot of sense. And both iMore and Daring Fireball heard Apple had that device in the labs.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s prices rarely end in “0” which is why our headline uses $199 -$249, more typical Apple product pricing.
For grins before hitting “Publish,” we ran this past our sources, the most accurate of whom said simply, “Don’t scoff at this one. Can’t say any[thing] more.”
BTW: Steve Jobs pooh-poohed a 7-inch iPad. He never mentioned a 7.85-inch iPad marketed as “8-inch.” He also dismissed products that he later shipped (for example: iPod with video), too.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
this is all about the new iPod touch aimed fir gaming rather than music
The world is not America-centric. Apple’s international revenues are already approaching 70%. Most people in this world don’t commute in their own cars. They use public transport. I was just in Seoul for 10 days and saw a ton of 7~8″ tablets and 5″ Galaxy Notes in subway trains and buses. I’m in China now and see tons of phones that are 4″ and up. To a lot of people here, the 3.5″ iPhone is too small and the 10″ iPad is too big.
I live in LA but travel all over Asia and Europe on business nearly half the time. Where I live the iPhone and the iPad are perfect and don’t see the need for a “tweener” at all, but getting around in cities like Seoul, London, Tokyo, Shanghai, Paris. Beijing, Rome, and Jakarta, I think I’d prefer some tweener type of device for the daily commutes in crowded subway trains and buses.
Eventually, Apple will care a lot more about the international markets than the US and I think that’s happening already. The US is Apple’s home base and still the most important market in terms of mindshare, but that’s changing fast. It won’t be long before 80% or more of Apple’s revenues and profits are generated fro outside of the US.