Apple iPad Mini to be pitted against Kindle Fire 2, Nexus 7
Long rumored Apple iPad Mini tablet is set to be pitted against Amazon Kindle Fire 2 and Google Nexus 7 that has been producuced by ASUS
There are increasing rumours of Apple coming out with iPad Mini very soon. So far, there are no confirmed reports, but analytical study of the tablet market and the life cycle of any electronic product shows that it matures into slimmer and smaller versions. So, even if iPad Mini is no confirmed news, it is very much there, looming over the horizon, and whenever it is here in the tablet market, the tablet war will intensify like never before.
Apple has always managed to enjoy and maintain a star-like status, almost like the celebrity company among the rest of the public companies. It was watched and scrutinised with interest when Steve Jobs was at its helm and then it maintained the same kind of interest among the market watchers after him. The firm has done wonderfully well in developing a loyal customer base. The strong customer support and product quality assurance from the company ensures and maintains the motto of “once a customer, always a customer”.
A major cause of such customer loyalty and general interest generated by it is the product quality. Apple products are high priced but undeniably over the rest in the market. It makes sure it stays ahead of others through development in its hardware products, software and iTunes offering. This effort has in turn changed the way in which consumers buy products and the ways in which they use them.
Before Apple the consumers of Music industry used the products differently. It changed after the iPod and iTunes. Before the iPad and the iPhone the concept of apps did not exist and when it did, Apple defined it and turned it into mainstream business.
Then there is the promise of hardware development and lifecycle of an electronic product. Each electronic product goes through a cycle in which it becomes better and undergoes changes that make it get slimmer, smaller and then easier on the pocket.
Apple products have fulfilled the promise of upgrdation with alacrity and have managed to stay ahead of the masses in the market. Apple desktops have seen slimmer monitors and smaller CPUs. The iPhone has lost weight wonderfully well and happens to be one of the slimmest in the market. The iPad has slimmed down as well – and now is the perfect time for it to shrink down in size and cost.
With the shrinking in size comes the reduction in price of any hardware product. So far iPads cost twice the amount the other tablets in the market cost. But most of these products happen to be smaller. If Apple decides to reduce iPad’s size and comes out with an iPad Mini, this will reduce the price of the iPad and also force the rest of the tablets in the market to bring down their prices.
This will effectively wipe out the smaller players in the tablet market. The reduction in size reflects the increasing competiton in the market. With size reduction, cost comes down. Lower cost means expansion of the target customer base and taking it beyond the high end consumers to the everyman. Bingo! Better sales and thus more competition.
With the eradications of smaller players, the competition between the major tablet-manufacturing firms would intensify like never before.
This more intense competition would in turn benefit the manufacturers and suppliers of components used in the tablets. The business of tablet display makers, chip manufacturers would boom.
It would be interesting to watch the stocks of companies like Qualcomm, Corning and Skyworks rocketing up in the second quarter of this year!
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