Apple rumored to counter Amazon Kindle Fire with 'iPad mini' in 2012 - Page 3

Originally Posted by Tharsman

what is definitely not going to happen is a "cheapo" 10" iPad. Apple does not join any commodity price race to the bottom.

Originally Posted by AjitMD

Selling the iPad2 at a lower price after the "iPad3" comes to market makes the most sense. Apple could discount the devices by $100-150. By next year component prices like the cost of the touch screen, Flash, etc will have dropped at least by a 1/3 on the average. This way, the inventory and manufacturing stays simple. The iPad3 could have a retina display, quad core ARM, etc to justify the usual pricing.

Apple does no see to like making Jr versions! Anybody here who has been around and remembers the IBM PC Jr with the chicklet keyboard?

Originally Posted by sticknick

This will not happen.

Originally Posted by Conrail

Do you really think this is anything other than a way to compete with budget android models?

Originally Posted by shen

Niche market? Non-sense! All old people are cheap!

...oh wait, I see what you... never mind then.

Originally Posted by Conrail

The iPhone 3GS is $0.00 with a new contract. Can't get much closer to the bottom than that. Do you really think this is anything other than a way to compete with budget android models?

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Spurred by the recently announced Amazon Kindle Fire and its $199 price, Apple is rumored to be exploring a new low-cost iPad for release in the first few months of 2012...

Originally Posted by Paul94544

hey idiot, I don't want a price reduction, It makes me feel good knowing i spent $600 on my iPad2. People around me look and figure there's a great guy who can afford to buy premium products. And the hot chicks hit on me more. Makes me look bad if its priced at a measily $200!

Originally Posted by Alfiejr

oh come on. that model is well over 2 years old now (but still very nice with the parts of the iOS 5 update it can run). but it doesn't stack up well against new Android smartphones, so no, it is not competing with budget android models.

but it definitely does compete very well with all the "free" featurephones that telcos still selling huge numbers, especially in other parts of the world. that's the target market and models to compare the 3GS to.

this article was suggesting Apple would come out with brand new but cheaper iPad tablet model - like the other OEM's are doing now. but of course tablet up-front prices are not subsidized by the telcos like phones are.

you're comparing apples to oranges to bananas.

Originally Posted by Wovel

I am sure if we can find the numbers we would see the 3GS is outselling most, if not all Android phones on carriers where it is available. This was verified a few months ago. I don't see why it would have changed.

I don't see anything coming from the Android OEMs that will change this. Seems like a lot of people give Android credit it does not deserve. An Android phone with the default OS install nightmare from the Manufacturer/Carrier just sucks. Any positive things you hear about Android come from tech nerds who completely replace the firmware.

Originally Posted by 11thIndian

Apple's solution to this would seem elementary.

Like with the iPhone line, when the iPad3 is released next year, continue to offer the iPad2 at a reduced price. A 16GB iPad2 priced at $350 [$150 off the current MSRP] would certainly expose Apple to a broader market. Why would Apple put it's energy into developing an entirely new low cost version of the iPad?

Apple will never try to compete directly with the Kindle Fire on price. Amazon and Apple's revenue model is COMPLETELY different. Amazon sells the Fire at a break-even or loss price because they're goal is to drive people to Amazon content. Apple is primarily interested in selling the hardware, and iTunes, iBooks, and the AppStore are in support of that.

The fact that these analysts can't grasp this basic concept boggles my mind.

Originally Posted by theoneaboveall

Dirty, rotten black lies! I seriously doubt Tim Cook would just say screw you Steve WE believe their is a market out there for smaller tablets. Thats just my take on it. Maybe a price reduction but even then I don't really see it unless the Fire really burns Apple in sales.

Then again I'd welcome a price cut or a lower cost iPad...either way WE win.

Originally Posted by j1h15233

They won't do this.

Originally Posted by Crowley

Obviously garbage.

Originally Posted by Crowley

They might continue selling the iPad 2 at around the $350-$400 price point once the iPad 3 is released.

Originally Posted by Tharsman

I can actually see a $299 iPad 2 with 8GB of memory and no cammeras, or at least only with a front facing cammera, existing alongside the iPad 3.

Originally Posted by irnchriz

iPad mini = iPod Touch.

Originally Posted by Shaun, UK

May get iPod Touch with a larger screen next year to combat the Fire, PSP, etc. Hope so.

Originally Posted by Alfiejr

..as several have noted, the iPod touch has always been Apple's mini-tablet. the iPod name was just a marketing ploy to get it launched successfully when "tablets" still could not be readily marketed. and it has gone on to assume a majority of the iPod market.

...at a $299 starting price, a "Big Touch" would compete well in the lower-end tablet market. especially given it would be far, far more powerful and capable than the Kindle Fire and its stripped-down cheap looking ilk from other OEM's.

and with a maximum 160G SSD it could also finally replace the iPod Classic.

what is definitely not going to happen is a "cheapo" 10" iPad. Apple does not join any commodity price race to the bottom.

Originally Posted by AjitMD

Anybody here who has been around and remembers the IBM PC Jr with the chicklet keyboard?

Originally Posted by tjwal

Us cheap old people are the fastest growing demographic.

If the iPhone is an example, Apple may very well drop the price of the iPad2 when the 3 arrives.

PS. Us old people don't want a dinky little 7 inch screen. The current 10 incher is barely big enough.

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Spurred by the recently announced Amazon Kindle Fire and its $199 price, Apple is rumored to be exploring a new low-cost iPad for release in the first few months of 2012.

Analyst Brian White with Ticonderoga Securities has been touring China and Taiwan and meeting with component suppliers, where he has heard rumblings of a so-called "iPad mini" arriving next year. The "mini" name doesn't necessarily refer to the size of the device, he said, but a lower entry-level price.

He said such a device is expected to arrive in the first few months of 2012, allowing Apple to tap into a "more price sensitive consumer segment," and also fend off the Amazon Kindle Fire, the retailer's first entrance into the touchscreen tablet market.

"We believe this lower priced iPad could be priced in the mid-to-high-$200 range," White wrote in a note to investors. "We expect this will be followed by a much more powerful, feature rich standard-priced iPad 3 in (the second quarter of 2012)."

If Apple were to address a lower cost market in 2012, it would come around the same time that Amazon is expected to introduce a more powerful touchscreen tablet with a larger form factor. The forthcoming Amazon Kindle Fire sports a screen size of 7 inches, compared with the 9.7-inch display of the iPad.

In October of 2010, late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs slammed rivals who were building 7-inch tablets, saying the screen size was too small for users. He said that manufacturers of those devices would need to ship sandpaper with their 7-inch tablets so users could file down their fingers to the point where they could hit smaller targets on the screen.

Still, rumors that Apple plans to release a new device with a screen size between an iPad and an iPod touch have cropped up on occasion. But White said Apple's goal in addressing the lower end market may be to build a cheaper device, rather than a smaller one.

He said a low-cost iPad could result in big sales in China and other developing parts of the world. he also believes there is a major market opportunity in developed areas like the U.S. and Europe.

Leading up to last week's iPhone 4S announcement, many analysts, including White, expected that Apple would build a new, low-cost iPhone model that could be sold contract-free, allowing Apple to tap into a huge prepaid smartphone market worldwide. Instead, Apple decided to keep the iPhone 3GS in its lineup, offering the GSM phone for free with a two-year contract, or for $375 unlocked.

Originally Posted by mytdave

9.7" iPad 3 w/retina display & A6 cpu

[*]iPad 2 16GB @ $100 less

5" iPod touch w/A5 cpu

4" iPhone 5 w/A6 cpu

3.5" iPhone 4S @ 50% less $

3.5" iPod touch w/A5 cpu

1.5" iPod nano w/video

Originally Posted by Crowley

Obviously garbage.

They might continue selling the iPad 2 at around the $350-$400 price point once the iPad 3 is released.

Originally Posted by j1h15233

They won't do this.

Originally Posted by ClemoLax

Think they might even lower further. First, they might switch to eg 8 GB.

Second, if indeed economy is moving towards shaky waters, Apple will react.

That happend some 2 years ago as well.

Originally Posted by charlituna

I wouldn't say that.

It is very very unlikely that Tim Cook is going to spit on Steve's grave if you will and release a different form factor (i.e. the 5 or 7 inch iPad) BUT when the iPad 3 comes out they might keep one model of the iPad 2 and drop the price in a move similar to how they do the iPhones. Say keep the 16GB iPad 2 in wifi only and knock $100 off the price and then have the iPad 3 in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB. or even drop the 'mini' down to 8GB and knock the price down $200

Originally Posted by Tharsman

Well, I guess now that the iPhone 4S has been revealed and is out, we must kickstart a whole new round of entirely madeup rumors about the next most likely product update from Apple.

If I may try my hand at it:

Originally Posted by Dr Millmoss

I don't think they will either, but keep two things in mind: (1) Steve often misdirected in public comments, so the fact that he once said that smaller tablet form factors were not useful does not mean that Apple would never release one;

and (2) any product Apple releases over the next few years will have Steve's posthumous fingerprints all over it.

Originally Posted by al_bundy

next year or 2 years from now expect the kindle fire or water or air or whatever it's going to be called to be 10 inches and $199. apple needs to release a cheap ipad just to keep amazon at bay

Originally Posted by Blastdoor

Look at what happened with the iPhone. Apple started selling it unsubsidized for a high upfront price. That plan did not work. Apple changed tactics and succumbed to the subsidy model for the iPhone.

Apple's history -- and Jobs' history -- is full of examples of pragmatic decisions like that.

Originally Posted by eightzero

I'll be the heretic. Without giving any credence to "analysts" or any speculation about this being a response to the Fire, I can see a market for a 7" iDevice.

But Steve's comments noted here already are well taken. Meaning the iOS that runs such a device would need some specific things in it to keep the need for sandpaper to a minimum.

The iPad is a hard cover books sized device. The iPod touch a pocket sized one. I saw someone with a 7" tablet and thought it kind of nifty. No idea what it was or what it was doing, but the size seemed somehow...right. And as we all know-size matters.

And my prediction on these eBook thingies is this: it is simply a matter of time before they are free. Yes, free. You've got a device that takes a credit card and at the touch of a button charges a customer anywhere they are. Think about that. Would you want *everyone* to have that? Give them away with 10 book purchases or something.

I can see Mr. Cook showing off His Stuff with a plan like this.

Originally Posted by minderbinder

I guess I'll be the one dissenting voice.

Personally I think the iPod touch is a decent competitor to the Fire (and better in a number of ways) except for people who want a larger screen.

If the Fire sells well (and particularly if it cuts into sales of iOS devices) then the question is whether it's selling based on price, or if there really is demand for the midsize screen. Apple can definitely keep the iPad 2 available and even cut it down a bit to bring it in at $299. But they could also make a 7 inch model by just slapping a bigger screen on the iPod touch. Really, if they can afford to sell the touch for $199, if they thought there was a market for it, wouldn't it make sense that they could make a model with a bigger screen but similar internals for not much more than that?