sábado, 12 de mayo de 2012

Baby iPad for £155: Apple to launch 7-inch version this year - Mirror.co.uk

APPLE hopes to crush its main Android tablet rival by releasing an "iPad Mini" at a loss-making price, it was claimed yesterday.

The baby tablet will feature the same display as the regular iPad but is expected to have a seven-inch screen and cost just $250 (£155), will launch in October.

Sources said they hoped the new product would appeal to people who want an iPad for browsing the net but don't want to shell out £400 for a big one.

The news was warmly greeted by iPad fans.

Mum-of-two Lynda Rogers, of Tolworth, south west London, said an affordable Apple tablet was long overdue.

The former model, 52, said: "Since it was launched the cost of the iPad has for many people been too high.

"Finally Apple has seen sense and created a device much more affordable.

"It's great news for consumers."

The dramatic price cut is expected to help Apple fend off competition from the growing Android tablet market, which vary in price but can be as cheap as £139 for an eight-inch touch screen.

Apple fansite iMore reported the launch, saying: "According to our sources, the reason for such aggressive pricing is to do to the tablet market what Apple did to the MP3 market in 2004 with the expansion of the iPod product line - leave absolutely no space for competitors...

"Our sources have indicated that the 7-inch iPad will be identical to the current 9.7-inch iPad, just scaled down."

The website said the new tablet is expected to have the same number of pixels but less storage capacity.

It adds: "Today's claim says that Apple is going to step-up the pressure on Android tablet manufacturers with an iPad mini that will sell for a surprisingly low £155.

"That's a bit hard to accept in the light of the other major claim this rumour makes, that the iPad mini will keep the full-sized iPad's 2048x1536 resolution."

The move comes despite the fact that Apple's late co-founder Steve Jobs, who died of cancer last October aged 56, was dismissive of seven-inch tablets.

He said in October 2010: "7-inch tablets are tweeners: too big to compete with a smartphone and too small to compete with the iPad...

"These are among the reasons that the current crop of 7-inch tablets are going to be DOA - dead on arrival."

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