Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Apple
    • Apple
    • Mobile
    • PC Hardware
    • Small Business

    iPad Mini Increasingly Likely, as Industry Runs Ahead

    By
    Michelle Maisto
    -
    July 16, 2012
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Apple’s iPad inspired what is now an industry of touch-based tablet devices. With the company now readying a smaller iPad, that industry has run out ahead, introducing several devices clearly intended to compete against a smaller iPad€”and secure some market share before it arrives.

      Breaking tradition, Microsoft introduced its own tablet, the Surface, in June, and on July 13, Google began selling its own tablet, created with Asus, the 7-inch Nexus 7.

      While Apple has yet to confirm the existence of a smaller tablet€”and if history is any indication, it won’t until CEO Tim Cook stands on a stage with one in hand€”analysts and media outlets have been pointing to such a device, expected to be called the iPad Mini, since at least February.

      The New York Times, in a July 15 article, barely bothered to refer to the device as something speculative.

      “The company is developing a new tablet with a 7.85-inch screen that is likely to sell for significantly less than the latest $499 iPad, with its 9.7-inch display, according to several people with knowledge of the project who declined to be named discussing confidential plans,” The Times reported. “The product is expected to be announced this year.”

      The report went on to say that a smaller-screen iPad is a natural fit for Apple, which has experimented with the touch-based interface on screens as petite as those on its iPod.

      Apple controlled a nearly 63 percent share of the tablet market during the first quarter of this year, according to the NPD Group, and by many accounts is expected to hold on to at least a 50 percent of the market through 2016, as competitors nip away at that tantalizing chunk.

      While in the tablet market Apple has held on to the lion’s share of what it helped create, the smartphone space€”which the 2007 introduction of the iPhone breathed new life into€”is another story. Apple’s strategy of one-new-phone-each-year has left it with piles of money and an intensely loyal fan base, but not the majority share of the market.

      “[Google’s] Android continues to lead the smartphone market in the U.S., with a majority of smartphone owners (51.8 percent) using an Android OS handset,” Nielsen reported July 12, citing new research. The company added that less that 54.9 percent of Americans now use smartphones€”leaving plenty of folks for the various phone makers to still woo.

      Some of that wooing is also done with Apple’s iPad€”and soon, no doubt, its iPad mini. NPD has found it to have a considerable “halo effect”€”the process of users extending their pleasure with one product onto the larger brand. In April, the firm reported that 25 percent of consumers said the iPad was their first Apple product.

      €œiPad sales are growing much faster than any other Apple product has this soon after launch,€ Ben Arnold, NPD director of industry analysis, wrote in the report. €œIn fact, one-in-five Apple owner households has one€”nearly equivalent to the number that own an Apple computer. This demonstrates the appeal of both the new form factor and Apple€™s app ecosystem.€

      Follow Michelle Maisto on Twitter.

      Michelle Maisto
      Michelle Maisto has been covering the enterprise mobility space for a decade, beginning with Knowledge Management, Field Force Automation and eCRM, and most recently as the editor-in-chief of Mobile Enterprise magazine. She earned an MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University, and in her spare time obsesses about food. Her first book, The Gastronomy of Marriage, if forthcoming from Random House in September 2009.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Big Data and Analytics

      Alteryx’s Suresh Vittal on the Democratization of...

      James Maguire - May 31, 2022 0
      I spoke with Suresh Vittal, Chief Product Officer at Alteryx, about the industry mega-shift toward making data analytics tools accessible to a company’s complete...
      Read more
      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Applications

      Cisco’s Thimaya Subaiya on Customer Experience in...

      James Maguire - May 10, 2022 0
      I spoke with Thimaya Subaiya, SVP and GM of Global Customer Experience at Cisco, about the factors that create good customer experience – and...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      GoodData CEO Roman Stanek on Business Intelligence...

      James Maguire - May 4, 2022 0
      I spoke with Roman Stanek, CEO of GoodData, about business intelligence, data as a service, and the frustration that many executives have with data...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Yotascale CEO Asim Razzaq on Controlling Multicloud...

      James Maguire - May 5, 2022 0
      Asim Razzaq, CEO of Yotascale, provides guidance on understanding—and containing—the complex cost structure of multicloud computing. Among the topics we covered:  As you survey the...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×