Samsung Securities says 7" 'iPad mini' coming in Q3 2012, Apple investigating flexible panels - Page 5

Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum

What if Apple announces a 7" iPad on March 7?

Originally Posted by Tallest Skil

16:9 sucks at 7".

How? You can't possibly reach the entire screen with one hand.

'Hood pockets, sure. Do you want that to be your main demographic?

You really think car manufacturers are going to let third party stuff where they could have full control?

They'd be brain-dead to make a 7" device.

Originally Posted by kingsmuse

If the Kindle Fires sales numbers are any indication there`s a market for a 7" form factor.
Those numbers would explode with an Apple device.

Originally Posted by SolipsismX

Possibly, but remember it was a new release in a holiday quarter and being sold at the cost of a 8GB IPod Touch.

Now Apple could surely make the Kindle Fire for less money than it costs Amazon but can Apple make a 7" iPad that doesn't have the HW limitations of the Kindle Fire and still returns a reasonable profit that doesn't eat into their iPad sales thus making their net profits larger than with no 7" device?

At $199 that seems impossible. At $249, the cost of the B&N Nook Color, that still seems unlikely. I think $299 would be the minimum.

What is the cost of the missing HW. The Kindle Fire is limited in function much the same way the iPod Touch offers a lot less HW than the iPhone, but the Touch still can register 11 inputs while the Kindle Fire can register only 2. Since Android can register more than 2 inputs i have to think this is a limitation of the HW. How much money does that save Amazon per unit?

Would a 7" iPad be a milled aluminium chassis? Would people be okay with 8GB storage?

Originally Posted by Gatorguy

Solipsism, I'm beginning to believe that these 7" tablets may not be costing as much to manufacture as we might think. Did you see Archos announcement of the Child Pad? A 7" slate running Android ICS on a 1ghz processor, and just $129 at retail. Wholesale would be less than that, so imagine how inexpensive it must be to produce. Granted it only includes 1GB RAM, but increasing it to 8GB would only have added $10 or so to the production cost.

Originally Posted by ShAdOwXPR

Flexible screens are not even close to the retina displays apple needs.

Originally Posted by tzeshan

This is to fool people that the Samsung 7" tablets is as good as iPad.

Originally Posted by addabox

As the most astonishingly successful company on the planet I think we can maybe at this point give the benefit of the doubt and assume their reasons for doing or not doing something are pretty sound.

Originally Posted by herbapou

This looks to me like an attempt by Samsung to pick on Sharp for Apple contracts.

Originally Posted by ShAdOwXPR

Flexible screens are not even close to the retina displays apple needs. Not to mention that for a flexible tab,et the other components will have to become smaller or flexible for a viable form factor. I have not seen concept that will truly work for daily use.

I mean batteries, motherboard/chips, etc... Will have to become flexible or a lot smaller it will take years IMHO.

Originally Posted by Gatorguy

Solipsism, I'm beginning to believe that these 7" tablets may not be costing as much to manufacture as we might think. Did you see Archos announcement of the Child Pad? A 7" slate running Android ICS on a 1ghz processor, and just $129 at retail. Wholesale would be less than that, so imagine how inexpensive it must be to produce. Granted it only includes 1GB RAM, but increasing it to 8GB would only have added $10 or so to the production cost.

Originally Posted by SolipsismX

There are certainly cheap tablets out there, even at 10", just as there are cheap PCs on the market. I don't think anyone is saying that you can't make a cheap product.

Is the 1GB RAM referring to NAND storage or the amount of RAM on the SoC? I can't find any info on the amount of storage. And note that simple specs like 1GHz CPU and 1GB RAM might look impressive but they only tell you two simple specs and they are quite inexpensive. For instance, the iPhone 4S only has 512GB RAM but that RAM is cutting edge for a smartphone.

Originally Posted by Gatorguy

EDIT: I think it's a safe assumption that the retailer is making at least 30% if selling at full retail, and with a distributor probably involved they'd be likely to take another 20% or more for themselves. That would leave Archos' wholesale selling price at less than $70. They aren't selling it at cost, so I personally believe the build itself before shipping and support costs couldn't be more than $45 or so.

IMHO, with Apple's greater economy of scale and aggressive price negotiations, I think a build cost of $110 or perhaps $120 for a quality 7" iPad including IPS display, 8GB RAM, camera and bluetooth/wifi is achievable.

Originally Posted by SolipsismX

But when I say the same thing you get your panties in a bunch.

Originally Posted by myapplelove

I didn't like the way your usual apologist persona here was splitting hairs with it being a larger iPod touch and not an iPad mini so as not to dilute the iPad brand. Whatever name they call it should they release it it's going to be a 7-8" tablet - which they claimed had no inherent benefit to it more than a year ago. I still don't think Steve's claim then was all marketing and no substance as this size has much more shortcomings than it has benefits, but some benefits for the form factor do exist, apple just didn't think it worth going against competitors at that stage in this format, before allowing the ipad to enter as many homes as it could, but now could very well be thinking that that iPad is already established enough to have a smaller cousin for different purposes, and that they shouldn't be allowing amazon and android's to enter their market from the bottom up so to speak by carving a nice segment for themselves with their cheaper smaller form factor before moving on to sell a later larger iPad like tablet to the same customers. If that's what they are thinking now, I am 100% with them and it will be good to see that there's still some foresight at apple after the os x debacles...

Originally Posted by SolipsismX

That's right, having distinct differences in design, HW inclusions, overall cost and marketing mean nothing because the iPad is just a large iPod Touch.

Originally Posted by myapplelove

The only reason you were splitting hairs and opted for a large iPod touch as opposed to a small iPad was that you did not want to implicitly admit that more than a year ago Steves claim that a smaller iPad would be a completely pointless form factor was a half truth, and a half marketing ploy to sell apple's product instead.

Originally Posted by addabox

Samsung makes devices in every size just in case. Not Apple.

Originally Posted by SolipsismX

If you had a solid grasp of English I don't think you'd start to comprehension language a little better and wouldn't add absolutes to comments that were never implied.

Originally Posted by SolipsismX

If you had a solid grasp of English you'd start to comprehend language a little better and wouldn't add absolutes to comments that were never implied.

Originally Posted by MHD

Apple makes iPod Touch, iPod Classic, Shuffle, and Nano.

They will make a smaller tablet.

Originally Posted by myapplelove

And I 've wagered they ll make an iPad mini and increase the iPod sizes according to the new iPhone display size. So we shall see what they choose in the end.

Originally Posted by Tallest Skil

You really think car manufacturers are going to let third party stuff where they could have full control?

Originally Posted by ascii

If other companies start to gain traction in the 7" space then Apple will make one. Otherwise they will just cater to the lower end market using last year's model.
Maybe the Kindle has already made them decide to enter this market.

Originally Posted by hmurchison

That puts Apple in a reactionary mode. I don't believe any changes to the iPad size are in response to anything other than "one size does not fit all".

I think iCloud is a bigger incentive to add another size versus any competitor.

Originally Posted by myapplelove

No matter what apple decides to call it -and I will wager it will be an iPad mini, and we are also going to see slightly enlarged iPod touches to match the iPhones- it will still be a 7-8" tablet.

Originally Posted by myapplelove

...if apple do release a 7" tablet they won't be flip flopping on their previous stance...

"The reason we [won't] make a 7-inch tablet isn't because we don't want to hit that price point, it's because we think the screen is too small to express the software," Jobs said on Monday's quarterly earnings conference call. "As a software driven company we think about the software strategies first."

"We know developers aren't going to deal well with these different sizes and they have to change their software every time the screen size changes," he added. "When we make decisions on 7-inch tablets it's not about cost, it's about the value of the product when you factor in the software."

You see what I'm getting at?," Jobs continued. "So we're all about making the best products at aggressive prices and that's what we do, and that's what we will do with the iPad and iPod."

Asked by an analyst how he would respond -- and whether Apple would lose share -- if the market suddenly moves to a lower price point with fewer features, Jobs said "You're looking at it wrong, […] looking at it as a hardware manufacturer who doesn't know much about software who assumes the software will take care of itself."

"Hm, how can we make this cheaper? Well let's put a smaller screen, slower processor, less memory, and you just assume the software will somehow come alive on this product but it won't," Jobs quipped. "Developers have taken advantage of faster processors and bigger screens to make better apps for customers."

"It's a hard one," the Apple co-found said of such a strategy, "because it throws you in the chicken-and-egg question to change assumptions on developers." Most developers won't follow that lead, he suggest. Instead, they're more likely to say, "Sorry, I'm not going to write a watered down version of my app just because you can sell this version of your phone for $50 less."

Rumors of a 7-inch iPad have come from numerous publications, but were first dispersed by Taiwan's DigiTimes. In addition, other reports, largely from the Far East, have alleged that Apple is working on a smaller version of the iPad.

Those reports suggested that the current iPad is too heavy for users, and that a smaller form factor and lighter weight would be more ideal for reading.

Jobs' comments on Monday come as a number of competitors are embracing the 7-inch form factor with their own touchscreen tablets. Samsung's Galaxy Tab is set to launch this year with all four major U.S. wireless carriers, while BlackBerry plans to release its own PlayBook in early 2011.

Earlier this month, it was suggested that Apple developed a 7-inch iPad alongside the current model, but eventually opted just to release the current 9.7-inch model. Jobs' comments Monday would support that rumor, as the CEO noted that his company has done extensive research on touchscreen interfaces and what works best for users.

"We really understand this stuff," Jobs said.

“While one could increase the resolution of the display to make up for some of the difference, it is meaningless unless your tablet also includes sandpaper so that the user can sand down their fingers to around one quarter of their present size,” Jobs said.

“The current crop of 7-inch tablets are going to be DOA, dead on arrival,” Jobs said.

Originally Posted by MHD

Loser terminates account?

Originally Posted by SolipsismX

I've been speculating that Apple might make a larger iPhone and iPod Touch for a couple years, including how they might best release it and when. I'm perfectly okay with you taking my ideas if it means you are actually reading.

Originally Posted by myapplelove

I am perfectly happy with your broad speculation of what apple might do,

but I am not so sure about your reading, so I ll remind you that I wagered on what exactly the will do by 2012, ipad mini, and new larger screen iPhone and touches.

Originally Posted by kingsmuse

Even worse than it sucks at 10"
Who really wants to watch movies on a tablet anyway?

Originally Posted by kingsmuse

Even worse than it sucks at 10"
I can easly hold a book and turn pages with one hand on a 7" tablet.
Can`t do it with an iPad

Originally Posted by kingsmuse

7" tablet fits nicely in my inside jacket pocket.
iPad might fit in my purse, if I had a purse.

Originally Posted by kingsmuse

I`d buy one in a heartbeat, I have no use for the current iPad form factor so I haven`t bought one.

Originally Posted by kingsmuse

If the Kindle Fires sales numbers are any indication there`s a market for a 7" form factor.
Those numbers would explode with an Apple device.

Originally Posted by kingsmuse

Just have to get the profit margins right and they`d be fools not to produce a 7" tablet.

Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody

Just to be picky ... the most noticeable feature of roll up projector screens is how almost no one rolls them up most of the time.

Originally Posted by MHD

Apple makes iPod Touch, iPod Classic, Shuffle, and Nano.

They will make a smaller tablet.