Wall Street Journal: Apple Has Begun Mass Production of the iPad Mini

[iapplelove]

I personally do feel the current iPad is the perfect size at least for me anyway,that's why I have owned all 3. I don't even feel the current one is that big but I assume a smaller iPad would be appealing for 2 types of people. Those that actually need or want a smaller device or those that can't afford the 500 dollar retina version

 

[Decorative]

Is there a market for a mini? For example, is there anyone out there with an iPad who wants a smaller screen? Especially if a typical ipad user also has an iPhone?

I think that there is. Surely, there are people out there who want an iPad but do not need/want features such as larger screen, "retina" display, or more advanced hardware specifications. These people cannot justify paying full price for the current "big" iPad but an iPad mini would be perfect for them. I've been waiting for something like this for a while and I am sure I am not the only one.

 

[Jobsian]

Except in genuine autism, I just don't understand why people keep complaining about the lack of "Mac" rumors as if the name of the site somehow confers an absolute necessity to report on only bits of hardware that Apple has decided to call "Mac".

 

[KPOM]

This rumor needs to be confirmed quick...as I'm ready to push the button on some refurb iPod touches for my twin toddlers for xmas, but if the iPad mini turns out to be real, I would much rather buy them that instead (for a fair price)

Once it's in the Wall Street Journal, it's essentially confirmed. They haven't yet been "wrong" with a prediction. In reality it sounds like the WSJ is one of Apple's outlets for controlled leaks.

 

[Sol]

With the new iPod starting at $299 and the iPad 2 still selling at $399 I can't see the mini selling for less than $349?

There will probably be some overlap of prices, like the maximum capacity iPad Mini costing more than the lowest capacity iPad. It would be great to see capacities double on the iPad to further differentiate the two lines.

 

[jpdunford]

iPad mini will have the same resolution as the ipad 3.

 

[mattopotamus]

The pricing will definitely be a huge factor. Maybe they will surprise us and go $199....but then they would have a hard time selling the normal sized ipads.

 

[scottness]

If you particularly wanted to demonstrate your bad grammar, you could indeed type that.

I'm not entirely sure what exactly constitutes a troll, but I'm just very angry with Apple's lack of respect for their customers and equally angry with all the consumers blindly buying Apple's under-par products. For a company that demands such a high price and has such enormous amounts of cash, I don't feel such a high number of mistakes are acceptable.

Angry... Twice.

I'm so glad I have a life.

I'll take an iPad Mini with Retina.

 

[Bigskygangsta]

iPad, iPad, iPad, iPad, iPad, iPhone, iPhone, iPad, iPad.

Where are the MAC rumours????????????

Ummmmm... we're in the post-PC era so don't be bringing up macs.

 

[Imac&SoShouldU]

Lol@everybody that said: it's not gonna happen...keep dreaming...etc.

 

[jpdunford]

This is all fake there will be no ipad mini

 

[Patriks7]

Why no Retina? If this is true there is for sure not a chance I'm going to buy it.
As they say: "Once you go Retina, you never go back".

The display is what the Ipad is all about. I hope these rumors will turn out false since I can't see Apple go back to a lower resolution. What's the reason?

Well the most obvious one would be to keep the price down.

 

[needfx]

My strong hunch is that the sources were from within Apple and that was an intentional announcement to the WSJ. Apple wants to let investors know that they should continue investing in Apple because it will go after every market segment it can.

It's hard to see what would motivate the WSJ to run this story for consumer interest based on leaks from a supplier, which would be difficult for the WSJ to substantiate; it's most likely for investor interest and sourced by Apple.

Apple says it won't pre-announce products because it doesn't want customers to make decisions on bad information, but I don't think it's as worried about information being incomplete when it comes to ensuring investors aren't worried.

Again, just a hunch. But a strong one.

spot on

 

[Thunderbird]

Can hardly wait for all the "it's not gonna happen" people to start eating crow.

 

[OutSpoken]

Considering Christmas is still a few months away, I think you have time

An iPad mini for a toddler? Wow. Not judging though

You're right, Christmas is a few months away, but that doesn't stop Apple from selling out of the refurb iPod touches, as they've already sold out of the white ones. So time isn't on my side.

...and yeah, I probably would get an iPad mini for my 3yr olds, why not? having seen them interact with my iPhone and iPad 3. They've proven to me they are now more than capable of using one under my supervision.

 

[gto55]

maybe the iPad Mini won't propose a retina display but it should offer at least the same characteristics and price as its direct competitors:
- Google Nexus 7 1280*800 / 16gb / 249$
- Kindle Fire HD 1280*800 / 16gb / 199$
- Nook HD 1440*900 / 8gb / 199$

 

[dempson]

On the one hand, I guess it's great that the iPad Mini will have Lightening. On the other, the only advantage it offers is that its more compact. Can somebody please explain to me why they didn't make the Lightening cable USB3? I mostly sync over wi-fi of course, but when I need to transfer a LOT of data between my Mac and iDevice (and this does happen occasionally), it would be so handy to have USB3 speed Lightening! Now that would have been something to really justify the adapter size change!

USB 2.0 is fast enough at present: the limiting factor for writing is the flash memory in the iOS device, which based on iPhone 5 benchmarks cannot do sustained writes faster than about 26 MB per second, which is a little less than what USB 2.0 can typically achieve. USB 3.0 would not improve the write speed.

Flash memory read speeds are faster, but much more data is written than read via the USB cable, so there isn't a lot of point supporting USB 3.0 yet.

As flash memory write speeds improve, or if Apple changes the architecture to boost write speeds significantly (along the same lines as SSDs), then USB 2.0 will become a bottleneck. I expect future models will support USB 3.0 via the lightning connector, and come with a USB 3.0 lightning cable. Those models would still be compatible with USB 2.0 (using either the USB 3.0 lightning cable or a USB 2.0 lightning cable).

I expect the iPad Mini would have the same flash memory write speed as the iPhone 5 (same generation of memory technology), so it also would come with a USB 2.0 lightning cable. It may be a year or two before we see USB 3.0 on iOS devices.

 

[mattopotamus]

You're right, Christmas is a few months away, but that doesn't stop Apple from selling out of the refurb iPod touches, as they've already sold out of the white ones. So time isn't on my side.

...and yeah, I probably would get an iPad mini for my 3yr olds, why not? having seen them interact with my iPhone and iPad 3. They've proven to me they are now more than capable of using one under my supervision.

are you in the US?...ships in 5-7 days is not sold out.

 

[mac jones]

Yikes, talk about 'stocking stuffer'.

Hot cakes baby

 

[BvizioN]

iPad, iPad, iPad, iPad, iPad, iPhone, iPhone, iPad, iPad.

Where are the MAC rumours????????????

These rumours are based on something. And when that something is missing, there is no rumours. You will start hearing about Macs when there is rumours about it. As much as I hate to say it, Macs have been overshadowed by idevices. I too need a new iMac.

 

[mrxak]

You know, I was skeptical about this mini iPad thing, but honestly, it may be what I'm actually looking for, in the lightness department. I'll have to hold these things side-by-side in an Apple Store if and when these come out. If the screen isn't retina, though, forget about it. I'll wait for the iPad 4th gen and see if they shaved off some more millimeters.

I've just about saturated my life with digital devices, but I have room for just one more if it's done right. Maybe it's a miniPad, maybe it's an iPad. Maybe it's something else. I'm looking forward to seeing what ends up coming out (if anything).

 

[iNotion]

Steve jobs would be so pissed at Tim Cook for letting this and iOS6 happen. crap~ main objective is purely about milking the consumers dry.

 

[SaxPlayer]

I know I'm in a minority but I totally agree with those posting comments asking where the Mac rumours are (rumors for my friends over the pond). I'm (still) waiting for Mac Pro news and there are many waiting on iMac news.

I get the whole "Apple sells loads of iPhones and iPads bla bla bla" and you're right about that but it's generally more tech oriented people who visit Mac Rumors and many of us are waiting for Mac news.

I feel sure iMac changes won't be long but for the Pro Tim said "later next year". I don't like the words "next year" and dislike the word "later" in that sentence even more.

Trying to stay positive, I feel sure that both desktops will receive design changes inspired by the latest tech updates and Apple's wish to ditch optical drives. Could be interesting. When it happens. Eventually.

 

[OutSpoken]

are you in the US?...ships in 5-7 days is not sold out.

I'm not in the US. White iPod Touch 8GB sold out in UK refurb store.

 

[cdmoore74]

iPad, iPad, iPad, iPad, iPad, iPhone, iPhone, iPad, iPad.

Where are the MAC rumours????????????

More like, lawsuit, lawsuit, lawsuit, iPad, lawsuit, lawsuit, lawsuit, iPhone, lawsuit, lawsuit, iPad mini, lawsuit. Pretty much sums up the year.