Apple to Ramp Up 7.85″ iPad Mini Production in September?

[bushido]

This should be the machine that cracks open the e-textbook market. Next fall, the college bookstores are going to be in for a whole bag of pain.

not really, i have an iPad 3 and still got a Kindle because u cant read shiat on the iPad display in the sun and it probably wont last for 2 months without charging either and the iPad has way too many great features to let me focus on reading for longer than 5 minutes

color displayes r also making eyes more tired after reading for too long

 

[OTACORB]

Amen. Apple better make a lot more than 4 million of these.

Well if the rumor holds true they are going to be making 4 million a month starting in September. 4 months times 4 million miniPads and you got 16 million of them available to folks to buy between Oct and Dec for the Christmas selling season.

If true this is a pretty darn good strategy. Between new iPhone 5 and miniPad sales Apple is going to be rolling in the Dough!

I am more interested in the miniPad than I am a new iPhone 5 myself. I have a new iPad, but I find it heavy and awkward. Played around with a Nexus 7 for a couple of weeks and totally loved the size.

 

[omenatarhuri]

Maybe I'll get one for the wife, she is constantly on mine.

 

[Klae17]

This is awesome!

I can get two iPads (@$299) for 600 vs. one 9.7 iPad. One for me and one for the kiddos.

 

[Confuzzzed]

Lets look at facts. We know the iPod touch is being update, we know there is a market for 5-7" tablets/MP4 players, we know Apple has in the past been dogmatic in the launch of a 7" tablet. Could it be that convergence happens in the iPod touch range, with an iPod touch maxi launched offering screen size of 5, 6 or 7" and watered down processor (A5, as there will be a surpluss of these whent the iPhone is refreshed), RAM and camera? I just can't see a 7" iPad mini with an A5X processor and retina display...

 

[carl0sian]

iPhone 5....yes! iPad mini....no thank you! I'm happy with my iPad 3.

 

[olowott]

Dont know what to believe anymore, damn the photoshop guys are getting very good at this.

 

[faroZ06]

Apple can do better than $200 for a 7 inch tablet? Apple doesn't go after the low market. I know we all wish for our own wallets that Apple will make a $200 tablet but it's just not gonna happen. Apple makes at least a 30% profit of of hardware, and it's always beautifully well-designed hardware at that. They even said when making the Air that they couldn't put out a subpar product just for the sake of price. I think everyone is setting themselves up for disappointment if they put out a 7.85 inch tablet for higher than $200. But we are on macrumors after all.

$200 iPad mini? No way! The iPod touch is $200. That would be ultimate market cannibalism.

 

[Morod]

This might make me upgrade from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion.
(I said might).

 

[skellener]

No 7" iPad.

They will update the current iPad to incorporate the new dock connector like the new iPhone. They will both ship with iOS 6.

No 7" iPad.

 

[macs4nw]

With the Apple eco-system, basically none really have a chance. I think this iPad mini though comes in at $299. Why?
Retina display and nice back camera. There is no way this thing doesn't have a retina display..the iPhone has one. The iPad has one. No way they release the one between without one. They also both have cameras. No way they release the one between without one.
So you will see a $299 price...I'd jump on that in a second...most will...because for $100 more, you get a better product, better design, better OS and better eco-system. Eddy Cue even said Steve warmed up to the idea of a 7" tablet for on-the-go.
That's why it will be $299...mark...my...words.
Plus, wouldn't be surprised to see the iPod Touch drop to $175 or even $150. It's niche is going away...probably the last swan song for it.

Apple can do better than $200 for a 7 inch tablet? Apple doesn't go after the low market. I know we all wish for our own wallets that Apple will make a $200 tablet but it's just not gonna happen. Apple makes at least a 30% profit of of hardware, and it's always beautifully well-designed hardware at that. They even said when making the Air that they couldn't put out a subpar product just for the sake of price. I think everyone is setting themselves up for disappointment if they put out a 7.85 inch tablet for higher than $200.

I'm with both of you on this. If APPLE does indeed release an iPad Mini, my gut feeling is that it'll be closer to the $300 mark than $200. And why shouldn't it be; people buying APPLE products go for the whole package: nice design, great ecosystem & user experience and not necessarily for the lowest price. You usually get what you pay for and most people understand that. Even at $299 they'll sell a gazillion!

 

[Macist]

I've no idea if I'll like this iPad Mini until I see it. But cheap 7" inchers like the Nexus and the Kindle Fire have FINALLY, AT LONG LAST given Spamdroid SOME traction in the tablet market.

The squarer iPad ratio will be more useful for web browsing than elongated displays. If they can keep the price to $200-$250 max. it'll be enough to stop people buying Spamdroid cheapies. I friend just got a Nexus and as he was showing it to me kept on mentioning the iPad - he's clearly bought this as a cheaper iPad alternative. When Apple can provide that alternative, Spamdroid will once more fade out of view in the tablet space.

Even if a $200 iPad Mini is a tough ask, I still think Apple could go for it. After all, the App Store is a huge money spinner and Apple takes their cut for every paid app. It's worth cutting their tradionally high margins to get people to buy these rather than a Nexus. It really does.

 

[gnasher729]

Sad that Apple is so quick to toss out Steve Jobs' opinions now that he's dead. Steve knew that the public wanted a 10 inch screen.... hence why iPads dominate the market and no one can even name an android tablet. He would have never let this 7 inch iPad happen.

Obligatory -10 downvote

You make it sound as if Steve Jobs was a petulant child and Apple had to follow his wishes. The reality is that Steve Jobs would have been the first one to toss out Steve Jobs' last year's opinions when the situation changed.

$200 iPad mini vs $200 iPod touch

Cupertino, we have a problem.

What problem?

 

[Mr Rogers]

Whilst talk of a smaller iPad is welcome news - particularly the fact that I got flammed on various forums when bring up the topic of a much larger iTouch, it would seem Apple's designers have fathomed that the iTouch form factor is outstanding - in my opinion the iTouch has been the most underrated of Apples products.

Having recently purchased a iPad 3 4 LTE, I can honestly say I prefer the Asus Infinity form factor over the iPad - its just heavy and really not as practicable as many suggest.

One thing all those recounting SJ's words about a 7in form factor should remember is that in 2009/10, the technology to make a slim user friendly tablet was not available and that the iPad was a trade-off - nearly three years later we have come quite a long way with ARM-based SoC's powerful enough whilst maintaining decent battery life - it also helps flash memory/ssd prices have fallen considerably.

I hope the new small form factor iPad is much akin to its iTouch brethren with a similar amount of storage - 16 & 32G does not really cut it anymore - and I think the cloud is overblown completely - particularly having met with senior MS reps in Redmond only a week ago.

So, I'm in for this item and will purchase for xmas for my daughter - me, given Apples aversion to storage expandability, I'll pick-up a Asus infinity for myself once its 3G/ 4 LTE enabled.

So guess I'll be running both the latest iOS device and Asus on Jelly Bean - now, where to get all this cash from!!!!!!!!

 

[Zunjine]

I hope that was sarcasm.

I don't think it was. It's a bit of a sad reality actually. For a while I was able to populate my ignore list by just adding anyone who a) complained that any given story wasn't a story about the thing they wanted it to be about, b) that Steve Jobs wouldn't/would do something, c) that all these leaks are just fakes and d) that Tim Cook isn't being secret enough.

Now, however, so many of the comments like this are sarcastic that it's hard to tell which people are the time wasting twits who fill the forums with predictable blather and which are making fun of them.

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$200 iPad mini? No way! The iPod touch is $200. That would be ultimate market cannibalism.

Really? Is a $200, 8 inch tablet really competing in the same market as a $200, 3.5 inch personal media player?

That's like saying the $80 jumper that the Gap sells cannibalises the market for the $80 shirt they sell!

They're two different products with two different markets. They overlap, sure, just like the jumper and shirt both cover the upper body of a human, but that doesn't mean they compete directly for the same buyer. Someone who wants a PMP will buy the Touch and someone who wants a tablet will by the iPad.

 

[imaginary]

One of the reasons Apple succeeded in Steve Jobs late days was because they focused on a few machines. I smell this is the beginning of the downfall and we will see even more additional devices coming in the following years.

But nevermind my opinion we will see if and how they release this and how it proofs itself in real life conditions. No problems here if they don't make the overall quality of the productline worse.

 

[champ01]

There will be no 7" iPad.
Also a bigger iPhone is not gonna happen.

 

[cambox]

Holidays?

Year end holidays?? Do you mean Christmas??

 

[nick_elt]

Sad that Apple is so quick to toss out Steve Jobs' opinions now that he's dead. Steve knew that the public wanted a 10 inch screen.... hence why iPads dominate the market and no one can even name an android tablet. He would have never let this 7 inch iPad happen.

Are you really that ignorant?? Do you think this was just decided after Steve's death?? Steve said he didnt like most ideas at first even when he did. Do you really believe your comment and all the ppl writing Steve wouldnt allow this?

Anyway he isnt running the ship any more so its hardly a constructive comment.

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There will be no 7" iPad.
Also a bigger iPhone is not gonna happen.

And the world will end in december i suppose?

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$200 iPad mini? No way! The iPod touch is $200. That would be ultimate market cannibalism.

If your not prepared to cannibilise your products someone else is.
Have a look at ipod v ipad sales figures and.....go figure

 

[Piggie]

If they launch the iPhone5 and the iPad mini with the new dock connector, where they will of course tell us how good the new dock connector is.

Then they MUST at the same time, upgrade the current 9.7" iPad with the new dock connector.

They can't sing the praises of the new connector on the two new devices and leave the iPad with the old connector till next March/April.

 

[jacespedes]

iPod touch vs. iPad mini

With a $250 price tag, wouldn't the iPad mini directly compete with the iPod touch at its current prices ($200; $300, $400) ??? What do you guys think is going to happen there???

 

[HMF]

Apple to Ramp Up 7.85" iPad Mini Production in September?

Funny there are no Hardware Leaks from the iPad Mini.

Also as I understood, the iPad Mini was supposed to be in production in brazilian Foxconn factory, but the didn't pass the quality checks yet.

I do believe that these kinds of leaks without proofs serve only the purpose of increasing the stock value of Apple on trade markets.

That's fine by me, that's how you do business

 

[locust76]

$200 iPad mini vs $200 iPod touch

Cupertino, we have a problem.

With a $250 price tag, wouldn't the iPad mini directly compete with the iPod touch at its current prices ($200; $300, $400) ??? What do you guys think is going to happen there???

I actually think they might "discontinue" the iPod Touch and reintroduce it as an iPad Nano, because really, the iPod Touch is so much more than an iPod, so it actually kinda deserves to bear the iPad Nano name.

From a marketing standpoint, the iPad is the new iPod, as far as status symbols are concerned, so just on the name "iPad Nano" alone, you'd probably generate a lot of appeal and interest in the product. iPad, iPad Mini, iPad Nano. It fits the lineup quite well, I think.

 

[Rogifan]

Steve Jobs approved it. He left them a 4 year road map. This was in the works for a while. On top of that Eddy Cue even said Steve warmed up to the idea of a 7" tablet for on-the-go.

Talk about reality distortion field. Steve left them a four-year roadmap? You make it sound as though the executive team are a bunch of dolts who can only follow what Steve Jobs told them to do. I call BS on this. Contrary to popular belief Steve wasn't the only one with ideas and often times he had to be pushed into doing things (like iPod/iTunes for Windows, app store on iPad, etc). I'm so sick of him getting credit for everything as if he designed and engineered the products himself.

 

[webman2k]

I seriously don't see how they can do a retina tablet of this size for $200-$250. What would the iPod touch cost then? I see this device more likely in the $300 range at the very least, with higher storage bumping up from there.