Displaying items by tag: iPad Mini

The last information that came through the Korean media said that the iPad Mini with Retina display will not see the light of day for a while longer due to problems in production.

For many years Apple has existed in something of a bubble. The bubble was created by their PR and Marketing division (arguably one of the best on the planet) and was designed to put Apple on a higher platform. Part of this was to paint the hardware and software used in Apple’s products as “higher-quality” which commanded a much higher price. This has allowed Apple to push their products on the market as significantly higher prices than their competition and still maintain great sales.

It appears that Apple has a really good friend over at the US Patent and Trademark office. After rejecting a trademark for the iPad Mini based on legitimate objections the USPTO has withdrawn those and is granting the trademark with a few minor limitations on how Apple will be using the word Mini. Originally the objections were that the Trademark was not descriptive enough so it was out. Now 7 days later all of those objections are gone.

The U.S. Patent Office rejected Apple's request for registration of the name iPad mini. The reason is because the name does not describe the product well enough. Apple has already registered the name iPad, and the addition of the suffix "mini" is almost no different from the original name, according to the patent office.

Gene Munster, an analyst from the Piper Jaffray, believes that Apple will simply redesign their larger iPad to make it look more like the iPad Mini. He says that Apple has, on average, a four month gap between big events, and usually they roll out new versions of tablets during the spring. Given that the iPad Mini was launched in October last year, it is expected that in the next few months they will introduce a redesigned larger iPad. But, Munster said he does not believe that Apple will introduce a smaller iPad with a Retina display with the current problems in supplying the market with sufficient equipment.

In March of this year (2012), Apple launched the iPad 3. That was the company's first tablet with a so-called Retina display that brought a much high resolution. Few expected that Apple would go ahead and launch the fourth generation iPad only eight months after the launch of the third generation and then follow with the iPad mini so quickly. The Fifth generation, they say, is just around the corner.

One of the things that was most criticized about the new iPad Mini was certainly the lack of the Retina Display, but it seems that this will no longer be the case.  Just days after Apple officially started selling the iPad Mini, rumors about is successor have already started to spread.

iSuppli, now part of IHS, has again thrown themselves into dismantling devices, identifying the manufacturers of individual components and estimating how much these components would cost. This time it was iPad mini's turn iSuppli went after the basic 16 gigabyte model without WiFi which sells for $329, but has a relative production cost around $ 188. Of course, this is only the cost of materials and the difference between the selling price and the cost of materials is not pure profit. This is because companies spend a lot of money on the development, marketing and software support for the device. At the same time, they must pay the people who have made the devices.

Often times consumers are duped into the allure of Apple on the grounds that they are supposedly getting superior product. There is an assumption that because it is an “Apple” product, rather than Android or any other competitor, it is made out of superior parts. What if customers found out that the differences between these products are really only skin deep?

Google’s tiny 7-inch tablet with Android has launched a new trend in this market. Although not completely a new idea, having Google’s official stamp on the 7-inch device and Apple’s inadvertent support of the form factor with the iPad mini have given the smaller tablets a boost. With a starting price of $199 it was a very interesting trade for customers, but so far no official sale numbers have been released. Now Asustek’s CFO has finally given a hint about the figures and they are pretty good for the Nexus 7. With decent competition coming from the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD ($199) and Apple's 7.9-inch iPad mini ($329); Google will not have an easy time in the market, but at least customers will have decent choices.