Apple's iPad 3 is unlikely to make an appearance in 2011, according to an analyst. The iPad franchise continues to dominate the tablet category.
Apple will continue to
dominate the tablet market this year, with or without an iPad 3 entering the
market, according to an analyst.
"We do not expect iPad 3
this year, but there's no rush," J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz wrote in a
Sept. 19 research note excerpted by
Fortune.
"The other tablet entrants have stumbled. Offerings by [Motorola Mobility] and
[Research In Motion] have been the latest disappointments. Also, we had the
opportunity to demo Sony's tablet before its launch. We were not impressed."
He also jumped on the
current pundit-and-analyst bandwagon in suggesting that Apple will release two
new iPhone models in a few weeks: a higher-end "iPhone 5" alongside an updated
variant of the iPhone 4 targeted at midrange consumers. "As for the current
iPhone 4, we expect it to subsume 3GS as the lower-end offering."
Rumors of Apple prepping a
next-generation tablet for release sometime in later 2011 have circulated for
some time, although without much evidence to back them. For its first two
versions of the iPad, Apple stuck with releases early in 2010 and 2011,
suggesting the next one could come in February or March 2012.
Meanwhile, Apple is locked
in battle with Samsung over its as-yet-unreleased smartphone: a
Sept.
18 article in the
Korea Times quotes an unnamed source, apparently a
Samsung senior executive, as saying Samsung will "take Apple to court" to block
Korean sales of the iPhone 5.
The battle with Samsung has
proven particularly vicious and wide-ranging, with courtroom drama taking place
all over the world. Both sides claim their rival's products violate existing
patents, but Apple has taken its complaints one step further by accusing
Samsung of outright copying its designs.
Samsung recently filed a
legal complaint in France against Apple. "The complaint focuses on three
technology patents, and not on the design of the tablets," a Samsung
spokesperson told
Agence
France-Presse, which reported that the first court hearing is scheduled for
December.
Apple is also undergoing a
seismic transition with the resignation of longtime CEO Steve Jobs, who handed
the reins to former COO Tim Cook. At this point, analysts generally view the
disruption from the transition as minimal, at least when it comes to the
product pipeline.
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