“A small iPad from Apple Inc. is likely to have big implications for Amazon.com and Google Inc., if the company does what everyone expects and launches a shrunken version of its best-selling tablet on Tuesday,” Dan Gallagher reports for MarketWatch.
“When Apple lifts the wraps on its expected iPad mini — or whatever the company decides to call its first entry into the 7-inch tablet space — the Cupertino, Calif.-based company will be throwing down a direct challenge to several competitors who have used that segment of the market to carve out a niche against the 10-inch iPad that still accounts for an estimated two-thirds of tablet sales,” Gallagher reports. “Most significant among these is Amazon AMZN +0.25% which launched its first tablet called the Kindle Fire last year as a low-priced, smaller entry into the market.”
Gallagher reports, “Google has moved into this space as well with its Nexus 7 tablet that launched over the summer for $200. Samsung KR:005930 +1.00% also sells a 7-inch version of its Galaxy Tab device.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: It is widely expected that Apple will introduce a 7.85-inch “iPad mini” with a 4:3 aspect ratio tomorrow, not a “7-inch” 16:9 device. Why Gallagher insists on calling a device with a display that’s widely expected to be much closer to 8-inches than to 7-inches is perplexing.
If the iPad mini debuts with the expected screen, we will fight the expected effort from some to equate a 7.85-inch iPad mini display with would-be rivals offering 7-inch screens or 40% less screen area than Apple’s “iPad mini.”