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iPad Mini Release Date, News and Rumours
Published Oct 15, 2012
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The new iPad has been and gone, sporting a chunkier and heavier build than the iPad 2, which left some wondering: what's with all the extra weight?
However, it looks like Apple may be about to aid those conscious of extra grams in their bags, as rumours hot up about a potential iPad Mini (or iPad nano, if you prefer) arriving later this year.
As the Amazon Kindle Fire, Google Nexus 7 and Nook HD steal the budget tablet show, Apple may well want a bite of the, well, apple.
Back in 2010, former Apple CEO Steve Jobs said that smaller screened tablets were not "sufficient to create great tablet apps" and would be "dead on arrival", so rumours suggesting a new iPad mini is in the works reveals a potentially new direction for the firm in its post-Jobs era.
Believe it or not, there's certainly a lot of chat surrounding the iPad Mini, so we've scooped it all up, mushed it all together and expelled it into a handy round up, allowing you to keep track of every twist and turn.
A new report has examined the prospects for an iPad Mini - and how it might contribute to the company's bottom line, particularly with gamers and the educational market.
According to analyst Ben A. Reitzes, the iPad Mini would not be a threat to Apple's current domination with the New iPad, and is likely to be a favourite among gamers as well as educational institutes, particularly with the electronic textbooks introduced earlier this year.
And if you were ever wondering, will Apple really go with the iPad Mini name, an "Asian source" quoted by a Japanese site seems confident that yes, it really will be called the iPad Mini.
iPad Mini release date
There's not even an official sign from Apple that the iPad Mini/iPad nano is in the works, so a release date for the tablet is even more up in the air.
However, if the rumours turn out to be true, we can expect Apple to start rolling out the iPad Mini very soon after an extraordinarily over-hyped launch event. Most rumours suggest it's likely to happen well before Christmas.
Analyst Shaw Wu says the "exact timing" for an iPad mini release date "is difficult to predict", but said its launch is a "question of when, not if." Pretty confident are we, Shaw?
When Apple announced its annual WWDC event running from June 11-15, which sold out in just two hours, there was some speculation that we could see the Cupertino firm announce the iPad mini there, but no new iPad broke cover at WWDC.
Rumours claiming we'd see Apple take to the stage on September 12 to show off the new tablet, alongside the iPhone 5 - have turned out to be false.
October has been mooted by an AllThingsD source as the month which the iPad Mini will arrive - "Only after the next generation iPhone is out the door and on sale will Apple announce the smaller iPad it's been working on. That device, which is expected to have a display of less than eight inches, will be uncrated at a second special event, which sources said is currently scheduled for October."
Or... the iPad Mini may be getting its own launch event in November, because stock of the tablet won't be ready for a September release.
News has broken suggesting that Foxconn, the only manufacturer of iPads, as lost between 50 and 60 percent of iPad Mini production to Chinese manufacturer Pegatron. This could signal production of the pint-sized tablet getting stepped up as Apple looks to launch the device next month.
The latest piece of false-hype came at the start of October, when reports suggested invites for the iPad Mini launch event would go out on October 10, with Apple taking to the stage of October 17 - October 10 has come and gone, and we're yet to see any form of invitation land on our desk.
According to analyst Brian White from Topeka Capital Markets, Apple has delayed the launch of the iPad Mini, originally scheduled for September, due to complications in Apple's supply chain.
White goes on to claim Apple will struggle to meet demand when the product launches, saying: "we believe that supply constraints will initially hold back the full sales potential during the first month or so of the launch."
A component supplier for the rumoured iPad Mini has revealed that Apple has ordered 10 million of the pint-sized slates in preparation for the run-up to Christmas, further fuelling claims that we'll see the tablet soon.
October 23 - that's what the latest rumour is saying regarding the iPad Mini launch event, with a release date potentially on October 26. This news comes from "people familiar with Apple's plans" - hmm, we've heard that before - but we'll wait and see if an invite arrives.
Posted by
VMD - [Virtual Marketing Department]
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