Articles about iPad mini

Suddenly, I feel sorry for the folks over at Apple. Chicken Little bloggers and Wall Street analysts run round crying "The sky is falling!" Strangely, they are believed. Apple shares are down 38 percent from September's all-time high. On Friday, the company's market cap fell below Exxon's. Suddenly, the world's most valuable company isn't. I just don't feel right kicking fruit as it falls down, so as a gesture of goodwill my boycott ends today.

That's not to say I have plans to buy any Apple products. I'm more than satisfied with Chromebook and my three Nexus devices. That said, as an act of solidarity, I let Apple auto-charge my credit card for iTunes Match renewal today. I don't own a single device that supports the service, but, hey, what's $24.95 between friends? I was a loyal OS X and iOS user until my boycott started in June 2012, protesting aggressive patent lawsuits -- unaffectionately called innovation by litigation.

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Today, after the closing bell, Apple answered the question analysts have asked for weeks: How many iPhones and iPads shipped during the holiday quarter? The answer: A colossal number -- 47.8 million and 22.9, respectively.

Apple also shipped 4.1 million Macs. Analyst consensus was around 50 million, 23.5 million and 5 million, respectively, for the three devices. But the big reveal is iPad and whether the mini sapped sales of the larger tablet. In the previous quarter, iPad's average selling price was $535. Three months later, with iPad mini widely available, ASP is $467. Apple launched the slate on November 2nd alongside iPad 4. The company touted 3 million early sales, without breaking out which device. Now we know something.

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I'm not an investor or financial analyst. But I do have a measure of commonsense. Lots of people are asking about Apple's falling stock price and why it is. You don't need a MBA or ponder price-earnings ratios to, by commonsense, see what's happening. Apple is undergoing a long-overdue course correction. It's the new normal, baby, get used to it.

Analysts making wild-eyed predictions just months ago about $1,000 a share or bloggers banging keyboards about $1 billion market capitalization are nutty fruitcakes. Apple cofounder Steve Jobs is gone, so they made their own Kool-Aid and spiked it. They're the only thing getting high here. Apple is laid low.

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There is no shortage of new tablets being announced at this week's Consumer Electronics Show -- Acer Iconia B1-A71, Polaroid M7 and M10 and VIZIO 11.6" Tablet PC, among many others. Meanwhile, NPD DisplaySearch forecasts that global tablet shipments will surpass notebooks this year. But what's interesting is a dramatic shift in size preference, which is why I want to know: Which is right for you?

DisplaySearch predicts that tablets with 7-to-8 inch screens will overwhelmingly dominate the market, with 45 percent share. Meanwhile, 9.7 inches -- the size Apple popularized with iPad -- will fall to just 17 percent share. Yet many of the slates debuting at CES are in the larger categories, typically between 10.1 and 11.6 inches. Does size really matter that much, and is smaller better?

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Tim Cook smiled as he pulled up the blankets and shook his toes against the cool sheets. Christmas Eve had come and the last Apple Store closed. Preliminary sales were gangbusters. Wall Street analysts betrayed him with lowered share price targets and projections iPad and iPhone sales slowed. But he knew! Cook laughed and kicked his legs under the covers. The best fourth quarter for sure! Occasional giggles broke the silence until at last -- long last -- sleep became him.

But briefly, for rattling chains startled Apple's CEO from slumber. Chunk. Chunk. Chunk. The clanking grew louder and an ominous dragging sound with it. A frightening wail followed. Pain. Great pain! Then through the wall pushed out an apparition. Ghastly yellow eyes squinted behind a face sullen, sunken and seemingly familiar. Tattered black turtle neck and blue jeans -- the uniform worn by his predecessor and mentor. Realization pierced Cook, and he felt a burning hot fire in his solar plexus. Steve Jobs!

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If you’ve tried an iPad mini, or just seen one, you’ll know the screen is a decent size and well suited to using like a tablet. It’s not quite so good for using as a laptop/netbook replacement (unless you have really good eyesight or like peering at things in a hunched-over manner), but that hasn’t stopped Belkin from rolling out a portable keyboard folio for it.

The Portable Keyboard Case connects to Apple’s device via Bluetooth and is a scaled down version of the keyboard the company sells for the full-sized iPad. If you’re the sort of person who likes to pretend you’re a giant, you’re going to love it.

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This afternoon I got my first look at Microsoft's Windows RT tablet at the company store here in San Diego. I wanted to drop by for two weeks, but simply couldn't make time. Today, my daughter needed a ride to Fashion Valley Mall; she's got a new job there. That gave me 90 minutes free time for Microsoft Store -- oh, and four doors down Apple, too.

I am pleasantly surprised by my initial reaction, which quite simply is "wow". This starkly contrasts with my negative response to iPad mini. (But the Apple Store jaunt to see the tablet can wait a few paragraphs.) Surface's display is bright, clean, clear and crisp. Font rendering is superb, particularly given resolution is only 1366 by 768. The tablet is fast and touch-response exact and fluid. Presentation of default apps, such as MSN and weather, pop. They look exceptionally good, and Microsoft serves up lots of rich touchy, feely additional content throughout. Presentation gets A-plus.

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This morning, Apple issued a press release touting 3 million iPad 4 and mini WiFi sales over the first three days (cellular models aren't available yet). Both products went on sale November 2. But that's not the data I waited for. Apple didn't break out iPad mini, which is suspicious. Rumors, and enormous buzz, preceded the launch for most of the year. Hell, I posted a buying poll in February. The first tell: No big, pre-order announcement, which is atypical of a company that seizes every opportunity to boast about sales for marketing advantage. If early numbers were really good, Apple would say so.

By combining the sales of two products, Apple gets headlines across the InterWebs about a big launch that the company claims is twice iPad 3. Marketing value is still big, while avoiding answering question: What about iPad mini? Considering that the smaller tablet opens new pricing and size segments and, by Apple CFO's admission, is a considerably low-margin product that could impact profits, answering the question is quite important. Revealing: In a statement, CEO Tim Cook says Apple "practically sold out of iPad minis".

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Does anyone really like to be bullied? Is arrogance something most people aspire to achieve, or behavior socially embraced? You know the answers. But these qualities too much describe Apple since its sudden success starting in 2010. The company continually sticks a middle finger in the face of competitors, judges, partners, the patent system and pretty much anyone or anything else. The corporate attitude is a disaster underway that, unless checked, will ruin reputation long in the making.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company makes many of the same mistakes Microsoft did during the late 1990s. Apple's most valuable commodity is its brand, which is being squandered at alarming pace. For a company for which so much stock share value derives from perception, the risk is huge.

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To be honest, you really don't want to know which one. Some tragedies are simply too painful to see. But if you delight in car crashes, then do watch Darcy LaCouvee plummet the Apple and ASUS/Google tablets to the cement. Informal drop tests like this one aren't exactly scientific, if for no other reason than Chaos theory. But they're nevertheless revealing and entertaining.

Like the iPhone 5 vs Galaxy S III drop test, the Android Authority reporter waited until the Apple device starting selling in stores to drop-test the tablets. He's back again from Hong Kong, in this riveting 5:39 video.

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Today in more than 30 countries, new iPads -- fourth-generaton 9.7-inch and new mini 7.9-inch -- are available for purchase. In-store sales, direct from Apple and third-party retailers follow a week of pre-orders. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company unveiled both tablets on October 23.

iPad 4 is largely unchanged from its predecessor; the biggest difference being the new A6X processor, which Apple claims doubles performance. The mini is a fresh design and smaller physical size that lowers the entry-level price to $329. The company chose to preserve the larger tablet's user experience, including 5MP rear-facing camera, on its smaller sibling. Big difference, other than physical size, is dramatic lowering of screen resolution -- 1024 x 768 on the mini compared to 2048 x 1536 resolution on iPad 4.

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If you haven't been to Amazon for a day or so, do visit and check out the guerrilla marketing before it's gone. The online retail giant has revamped its ever-changing home page to directly take on iPad mini. A graphic compares iPad mini with Kindle Fire HD -- highlighting differences such as display resolution, HD playback and stereo instead of mono. Of course, the glaring difference is the price -- $329 versus $199, Apple's device being the more expensive.

Last week, Amazon boasted that the day after Apple announced iPad mini, $199 Kindle Fire HD had its biggest sales day ever, implying that many people waited to see the competition and then went for the Amazon product instead.

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Early results from BetaNews poll "Will you buy iPad mini?" are in, and they are grim. Nearly 80 percent of respondents say they won't by purchase the device. But it's the hidden story behind the numbers that reveals more. In February, I asked" "Would you buy 8-inch iPad?" More than 50 percent responded "Yes". Nine months later, the size is ever-so-slightly less (7.9 inches) but the price is considerably more ($329 to $659) than what many people expected. What a difference that bit of information makes.

Apple started taking pre-orders today, and iPad mini goes on sale November 2. If white is your color of choice, they're already back-ordered, with shipping stated as "2 weeks". But black is available in all three capacities -- 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. That's for the WiFi models. Apple plans to offer cellular radio minis in mid-November. The sell-out is no sign of demand, since Apple might simply have produced more of one color than the other. That the tablet didn't immediately sell out says much about interest that quite possibly -- I'll say likely -- resonates with our poll.

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Apple has a big problem. Android tablets are making huge market share gains against iPad, in part driven by attractive and affordable smaller models like Amazon's Kindle Fire and Google Nexus 7. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company won't admit the reason, but other things said, or even unsaid, during yesterday's earnings conference call reveal much.

Then there is the sudden slowdown in iPad sales taken against new analyst data showing Android device increases. iPad mini is a desperate attempt to stop Apple's bleeding market share, and the cost will hit company margins.

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Late this afternoon, Apple announced another blow-out quarter and closed fiscal 2012, ending Tim Cook's first full four quarters as CEO. The challenge ahead is to maintain or to even extend momentum as cofounder Steve Jobs' influence over strategy and product development grows more distant. He died a year ago last month.

On Wednesday, financial analysts got an unexpected October surprise, and not iPad mini. Cook revealed that Apple sold its 100 millionth iPad about two weeks earlier. Problem: By that reckoning most analysts had over-estimated the tablet's quarter. Philip Elmer-DeWitt sums up the impact: "As a group, these analysts lowered their iPad estimates an average of 2.67 million units. Most also lowered their revenue and earnings estimates, an average of $1.26 billion and $0.31, respectively". If you're an investor wondering why Apple shares declined most of the day ahead of earnings, there's a reason.

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