“Apple hasn’t officially confirmed plans to launch a smaller tablet, but the buzz is already building,” Lorraine Luk reports for The Wall Street Journal. “Some component suppliers to Apple in Asia say they have received orders to make more than 10 million units of the smaller tablets in the fourth quarter. That is roughly double the order that were placed for Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablets in the same quarter, these suppliers say.”
Luk reports, “The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that Asian component suppliers have already started producing the smaller 7.85-inch tablet. Apple hasn’t confirmed when the new device will be available, but AllThingsD, a sister publication of The Wall Street Journal, reported last month that Apple plans to unveil the smaller tablet later this month… ‘It makes sense for market leader Apple to extend its dominance in tablets with a smaller tablet,’ said Capital Securities analyst Diana Wu.”
“Analysts say the challenge for Apple will be to price the smaller tablet attractively in order for it to succeed,” Luk reports. “Amazon’s 7-inch Kindle Fire HD sells for $199 and Google 7-inch Nexus 7 sells for $199. ‘iPad mini will be a big hit if Apple prices it below $300,’ said RBS analyst Wanli Wang.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Comparing prices of 7-inch ecosystem-challenged tablets with a 7.85-inch iPad is the errand of fools.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
Woohoo!
The crow cake is sitting cooling in the pantry ready to be brought out and served to Derek Currie and a whole host of naysayers on here!
Make sure it’s served very very cold.
I believe that revenge is a dish best served cold. Crow is best at room temperature. 😉
Make it so!
Derek the Troll is nowhere to be found.
If the WSJ says it is true, we know it is not.
no iPad mini for us.
Actually I think that’s DigiTimes.
You simply have no clue what you are talking about.
Prepare to eat crow.
Whether true or not, the street is not too excited as Apple stock seems to be tanking everyday for thaw t 10 days or so. I know that Apple wants to buy back a huge number of shares so maybe the stock is being manipulated in order for Apple Inc. to reduce their per share costs but something is not right?
Apple managed its way to the top by maintaining a very limited amount of models for each device line that they offer and I am not sure that the 7.85 form factor will not simply end up eroding iPad sales. The proverbial well will run dry for Apple as it did and does for every company on the Globe since the beginning of time and this offering along with what we think might be a rushed 4.5″ iPhone 5s could be problematic in terms of product sitting on shelves for extended periods of time.
I’m not understanding your analogy of the iPad mini eating into full size iPad sales. If that were true Apple would never have brought out the MacBook Air line for fear of eating into MacBook Pro sales. They serve different markets – the Air serves people who want extreme mobility for their notebook & laptops.
The iPad mini serves a market segment that is distinct from the iPad, being targeted at in car navigation and entertainment systems (all the better to view the new iOS maps), and medical field where its pocketable size will serve housemen, doctors, nurses and medical emergency staff well. It has uses in the light aircraft industry which can serve as a navigation aid on board space limited smaller propellor engine aircraft.
And lastly but not least the education market will welcome the iPad mini with open arms as its lightness makes it ideal to tote around classes.
You just have no idea what you’re talking about because your mind is completely closed to the infinite possibilities and uses that the iPad mini can be put to.
Well… very eloquent attempt at circumventing the fact that Jobs ridiculed the 7″ form factor when RIM’s PlayBook came out. Not sure that this product intro can compare to the intro of the MBA.
Jobs ridiculed video on the iPod and we know where that went.
Jobs didn’t work in a vacuum. The form factor and technology didn’t work at the time for him and they were trying to establish the market and not confuse it. Retina Display and technology has caught up with the near 8″ form factor. Also Jobs changed his mind on a lot of things and he was probably alive when the decision was made to do this anyway.
Jobs ridiculed 7″. Not 7.85″. The 7.85″ actually turns out to be over 28% more tablet than the 7″. Jobs certainly did not ridicule the 7.85″.
I hope there is no Mini iPad. Steve was adamant about not getting too many product variants in the mix. And I hate how these people hype it up so much that if Apple DOESN’T come out with one THAT will be the big angry news story next, as though they were promised this device by Apple instead of by hit mongering, news hounds.
@MacRaven, plenty of ipod variants, shuffle, mini, nano, touch etc !!
Plenty of MacBook variants as well – MacBook Pro 13″ & 15″; MacBook Air 11″, 13″ & 15″.
It’s nonsense when people talk about the lack of variation within a product category as being a positive, much less opening up another product category.
The iPad mini cements Apple’s position as the purveyor of cars whereas the other competitors are still trying to move tractors, trucks and in some cases rickety rickshaws (Samsung Galaxy, I’m looking at you).
A spread of products priced sensibly never hurt the bottom line and in fact serves as a springboard to Apple nirvana.
Good point. But still… I fear getting stretched out like the old days after Steve was gone.
One more product establishing a size that’s popular and covering themselves competitively should not “stretch” Apple. Of course there have been some products ignored a little too much, mainly the Mac Pro for professionals out there. But Tim has promised us something great there next year.
With dozens of slightly different Android “smartphone” models, Samsung and companies like it are the ones stretching. Apple is selling tens of billions in hardware each quarter with 3 models of iPhones, 2 iPads, 5 iPods, 2 MBAs, 3 MBPs, 2 iMacs, 1 MP, 1 Mm, and 1 ATV, plus an assortment of software and accessories. Even OS X is down to one offering, not standard and server. I believe that Apple can risk another, smaller version of the iPad.
Hope you guys are right. I’d prefer to be wrong in this case.
MacRaven is just not happy about being made into a baked dish and eaten! 😉
Damn! Of course there will be an iPad mini. Who are these fools that doubt it? The stock price is in the toilet. This is a buying opportunity. Pick up some shares. The iPad mini will provide a big bounce in the stock price. No iPad mini? How foolish.
What is MDN saying? That it will cost more or less?…
Is it that commentators tend to think the iPm will have to be similarly priced or cheaper, when in fact it could be twice as expensive and still kill the competition?
Or is it that the iPm could be even cheaper than anyone realizes — far cheaper than the comparables?
It’s taking developers long enough to update apps for the iPhone 5. Only a Few non apple apps use the real estate of the iphone 5. It’s gonna be a real pain for iPad mini owners. If the rumors are true.
The iPad mini could have the same number of pixels as the iPad 2.
The iPad Mini will siphon most of its sales from other small tablets, rather than the full size iPad because there is a need for smaller easier to carry tablets, and the Mini will be the one best suited to supply the need.
I will get one the first day. I work in a school system where my job entails moving from classroom to classroom during the day observing and entering data. I have other things to carry, and the 10 inch iPad is larger and heavier than I wish.
Compared to carrying binders with paper in them, yes, I would use one, but the Mini comes along at just the right time. To the point where it is worth the price, and yes, I do pay for it myself. It makes my day that much easier, worth the cost.
The Wall Street Journal is not any more reliable than any other rumor source.
Thank you MDN. You spoke my thoughts exactly:
Comparing prices of 7-inch ecosystem-challenged tablets with a 7.85-inch iPad is the errand of fools.
If there ever IS any iPad ‘Mini’, it would not be junk sold at a loss. It would not be comparable to the Google and Amazon crapware OtherPads. It will be an Apple iPad.
There would be no: challenge for Apple . . . to price the smaller tablet attractively in order for it to succeed. I
nstead, there would be the challenge for Google and Amazon to actually COMPETE with Apple by creating comparable quality OtherPads. And they won’t.
Blatant DUH Factor. Wake up WSJ.