Apple may launch ‘iPad mini’ in early 2012 to fend off Kindle Fire

By on Oct 12, 2011 at 9:40 AM
Tablets October 12, 2011

Apple may be working on a new entry-level tablet scheduled to launch early next year. In a note to investors on Wednesday, Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White recounted numerous meetings with technology supply chain companies at a trade show in China this week. White noted a general ominous environment, with the majority of the companies he met with commenting on weakening demand across the industry. “The whole world is shrinking,” one company representative told the analyst. Read on for more.

White’s meetings with Apple suppliers has turned up an interesting note, however. “Our research is pointing to the unveiling of a lower priced iPad in the first few months of 2012 that is aimed at expanding the company’s market potential by tapping into a more price sensitive consumer segment,” the analyst wrote. “Essentially, this ‘iPad mini’ will also fend off the recently announced Amazon (AMZN, $235.48, NR) Kindle Fire that addresses the low-end tablet market with a $199 price tag but could lead to bigger tablet ambitions from the online retailer in the future.”

White continued, noting that the “mini” moniker refers to the tablet’s lower price and not necessarily a smaller screen size. “We believe this lower priced iPad could be priced in the mid-to-high-$200 range,” White said. “We expect this will be followed by a much more powerful, feature rich standard-priced iPad 3 in 2Q12.”

White reiterated a Buy rating on Apple stock with a 12-month price target of $666.

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  • http://profiles.google.com/dayton818 Andrew Dayton

    No they won’t, and I am 99.9% positive they never will.  BGR didn’t you learn from the “we are certain Apple will release the iPhone 5.  Apple never changes, they do the same thing all the time!  Stop posting this garbage.

  • http://twitter.com/khtse Ka Hei Tse

    Will they come with sandpaper like Steve Jobs once comemented?

  • http://twitter.com/simoncabron Simon Cabron

    The number of the BEAST!!!! m/

  • Alvin A. Smith

    Apple doesn’t make a lot of defensive moves.  But they ARE interested in increasing profit and moving units.  By next Spring Apple will have likely announced the iPad 3.  This leaves the market with three generations of iPads to choose from at varying prices.  The original iPad could still be useful in the same way that the iPhone 3GS is useful.  Perhaps they even make special iPads with only 8GB hard drives.  In this way Apple has a built in strategy for providing “value” tablets at low cost.  They will be technically inferior to their competition, but Apple is also offering an entire ecosystem to back up the hardware whether you have the value tablet or the luxury one.

  • Nosoundrain

    If there is an ipad mini with e-ink hybrid screen… would be a swift kick in the nuts for google.

  • Anonymous

    A mini ipad, otherwise known as an iPod touch.  Yeah, this makes sense.

  • jvon6

    For Gods sake. who the hell are these “analysts” and “experts”… I’m not an apple fanboy – don’t have any apple products and not a droid fanatic. That being said Apple does not go with the trends nor does it create something because some other company does. If they followed the “logical” path that 99% of companies then their revenues, cash flow, and assets would fall in those same categories – in which case they don’t. Who the #### cares what the above said analyst says…APPLE Sure as hell doesn’t.

  • Anonymous

    Yeah… and the iPhone 5 is coming out this Friday.  Gotta get the eyeballs-to-ads somehow ;)

  • zacamandapio

    iPad mini or iPhone XL?
    Ohhhh, what to choose?

  • Anonymous

    Why is the stock value 666? Devil’s number lol. That being said this is good news for us consumers as it will force prices down even more.

  • http://twitter.com/sethoscope1 seth merritt

    Did amazon patent the kindle fire price? Might have a case here…

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Fuller/584626026 Mike Fuller

    But but But but I thought jobs said a 7 inch tablet was DOA.

    Ooops.. I guess not apple..   Next thing we will hear is that they created a 7 inch table and begin suing Rim and Amazon for IP infringement.

  • Anonymous

    More rumors and more lies! BGR is pathetic.

  • Paul

    So if they make a smaller iPad wouldnt that just be an ipod touch?

  • Anonymous

    Isn’t a “ipad mini” an “IPod Touch?”

    Seriously I think Apple might make this work where RIM failed.  The Playbook was really a complement to BB phones but they could never articulate that in a coherent way.  Perhaps Apple with “e-reader +” stripped of it’s cameras and GPS, paired to an IPhone might make an unbeatable combination.  Only issue is if carriers considering that tethering: RIM was spanked severely over that (a bridged Playbook is invisible to carriers) but Apple has the clout to force the issue.  Full access to content on the phone and limited data access (perhaps maps, email, texts but no to browsing and streaming video)  via the bluetooth 4 might be something Apple could get the carriers onboad for.

  • Guest

    This is BS. Apple didn’t release a new “cheap” iphone and they won’t do so with the ipad. It would just degrade the brand.

  • Zack

    ipad 3 will finish this kindle crap.

  • Anonymous

    But wait…I thought tablets smaller than the iPad were “pointless”?

    • Anonymous

      “…the “mini” moniker refers to the tablet’s lower price and not necessarily a smaller screen size”

      Headlines are sometimes misleading. Shocker, isn’t it?

  • Jervay Wright

    Make zero sense. This is the same BS rumors you and others stated about the iPhone 5 and low cost iPhone 4s. This site is like TMZ of tech news. Just throw anything out there just to have something out there. But never pay attention to the current market strategy of Apple. Thats the news you should post.

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