After launch of Nexus 7 tablet by Google with its nifty features at half the price of the cheapest iPad and the media labelling it as iPad killer device although iPad is on different level, yet Apple is not taking this development lightly. Not only Google, but Apple is also facing heat from amazon.com’s Kindle Fire and soon to be launched Surface tablet of Microsoft.
As reported by Bloomberg, Apple plans to debut a smaller, cheaper iPad by year-end to help maintain its dominance of the tablet market, two persons with knowledge of the plans said. The new model will have a screen that is seven to eight inches diagonally, less than the current 9.7″ inch version. The product, which Apple may launch during holiday season, will not have the high-definition (HD) screen featured on the iPad that was released in March.
The smaller screen would allow Apple to keep the costs in check, and the “iPad Mini” may be priced around the $199 mark. If Apple is able to maintain the price of $ 199 for its small iPad then it will make life difficult for Google’s Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire of amazon.com. “It would be the competitors’ worst nightmare,” said Shaw Wu, an analyst at Sterne Agee & Leach.
A smaller, less expensive iPad could undercut the ambitions of Google, Microsoft and amazon.com to gain traction in the advancing tablet market, added Shaw Wu.
Apple is the market leader in tablet market and it will not allow any company especially Google to gain foothold in this fast emerging market. Apple is aware of the fact that only Android O/S can challenge its supermacy and it is fighting grim battle with Android smartphones worldwide.
The Nexus 7, manufactured by Asustek Computer, has a faster processor and better battery life than the Kindle Fire, as well as a front-facing camera. Still, competing with a lower-priced iPad will be more challenging, Wu said. Apple benefits from having more than 225,000 apps that have been tailored specifically for the current iPad.
Tablet market is going to be very interesting in the months to come and after arrival of Nexus 7 tablets in some countries by mid of July and in India by October when Apple’s small iPad will also be round the corner, the buyers will have plenty of choices to go in for a tablet as per their likings and budjet size. Wait till October/November if you can hold on, to get economical and good tablet.
