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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| iPad Mini: new Apple tablet may pose a major threat to Amazon and Google | iPad Mini: new Apple tablet may pose a major threat to Amazon and Google |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Apple's expected launch on Tuesday of an "iPad mini" – which some think could also be called the iPad Play, iPad Air, or iPad U – will find an eager market seeking smaller, cheaper tablets, according to research from the British analysis company Context. | Apple's expected launch on Tuesday of an "iPad mini" – which some think could also be called the iPad Play, iPad Air, or iPad U – will find an eager market seeking smaller, cheaper tablets, according to research from the British analysis company Context. |
| Salman Chaudhry, mobile computing analyst at Context, also warns that it poses a threat to Amazon's Kindle line, because it will be positioned as a content consumption device – and so could cut into expected sales of the Kindle Fire tablets, launched in September. | Salman Chaudhry, mobile computing analyst at Context, also warns that it poses a threat to Amazon's Kindle line, because it will be positioned as a content consumption device – and so could cut into expected sales of the Kindle Fire tablets, launched in September. |
| "Market figures point to a big opportunity in this segment," says Context, which says that in the UK alone 7in tablet sales rocketed from about 10,000 in the second quarter to the end of June, to more than 220,00 in the three months to the end of September. | "Market figures point to a big opportunity in this segment," says Context, which says that in the UK alone 7in tablet sales rocketed from about 10,000 in the second quarter to the end of June, to more than 220,00 in the three months to the end of September. |
| Apple is expected the unveil the device, along with updates to its desktop and laptop computer lines, at an event in San Jose on Tuesday. Market and supply chain data suggest it will have a 7.85in screen, giving it roughly half the screen size of an iPad. | Apple is expected the unveil the device, along with updates to its desktop and laptop computer lines, at an event in San Jose on Tuesday. Market and supply chain data suggest it will have a 7.85in screen, giving it roughly half the screen size of an iPad. |
| Google's Nexus 7 has sold an estimate 1m units worldwide since its launch at the end of July, helped – according to Context – by selling it to retailers are prices below wholesale cost in the first month, at least in the UK. The Nexus 7, made for Google by Asus, had a starting price of £159 for a version with 8GB of storage, and £199 for a 16GB version. A 32GB version is expected to be unveiled at an Android event next Monday in New York. | Google's Nexus 7 has sold an estimate 1m units worldwide since its launch at the end of July, helped – according to Context – by selling it to retailers are prices below wholesale cost in the first month, at least in the UK. The Nexus 7, made for Google by Asus, had a starting price of £159 for a version with 8GB of storage, and £199 for a 16GB version. A 32GB version is expected to be unveiled at an Android event next Monday in New York. |
| Amazon is also launching its 7in Kindle Fire in the UK, as well as the US, creating a wave of smaller tablets that will be attractive to cash-strapped consumers who may not want to spend the £350 or more required for larger, 10in tablets. | Amazon is also launching its 7in Kindle Fire in the UK, as well as the US, creating a wave of smaller tablets that will be attractive to cash-strapped consumers who may not want to spend the £350 or more required for larger, 10in tablets. |
| Some analysts have suggested that Apple could sell 10m cheaper "iPad minis" in the months to Christmas. | Some analysts have suggested that Apple could sell 10m cheaper "iPad minis" in the months to Christmas. |
| So far BlackBerry-maker RIM's Playbook and a number of Android tablets such as Samsung's Galaxy P3110 have been the principal offerings in the 7in market – but without having much impact on the market. | So far BlackBerry-maker RIM's Playbook and a number of Android tablets such as Samsung's Galaxy P3110 have been the principal offerings in the 7in market – but without having much impact on the market. |
| Chaudhry said that the spike of sales in 7in tablets in August and September was mainly down to price cuts in the Playbook, and the eagerness for the Nexus 7 and Samsung P3110. "Across western Europe and prior to Google's and Samsung's launches this summer, the market share of in tablets was around 7% in June. This skyrocketed to 36% in September," he said. | Chaudhry said that the spike of sales in 7in tablets in August and September was mainly down to price cuts in the Playbook, and the eagerness for the Nexus 7 and Samsung P3110. "Across western Europe and prior to Google's and Samsung's launches this summer, the market share of in tablets was around 7% in June. This skyrocketed to 36% in September," he said. |
| "Our figures show that there is now massive demand for this form factor. A 7in iPad should worry most of the competition in the tablet space, but most of all, we expect it to take revenues away from Amazon, as an 'iPad mini' will make the device much more of a content consumption device than its siblings. We expect to see Apple take sales away from the Kindle family of devices and the Kindle app itself, as Apple will be marketing the tablet as an iBook, iTunes consumption device. " | "Our figures show that there is now massive demand for this form factor. A 7in iPad should worry most of the competition in the tablet space, but most of all, we expect it to take revenues away from Amazon, as an 'iPad mini' will make the device much more of a content consumption device than its siblings. We expect to see Apple take sales away from the Kindle family of devices and the Kindle app itself, as Apple will be marketing the tablet as an iBook, iTunes consumption device. " |
| Comments | Comments |
| 16 comments, displaying first | |
| 23 October 2012 3:03PM | 23 October 2012 3:03PM |
| Does it come with free sandpaper? | Does it come with free sandpaper? |
| Link to this comment: | Link to this comment: |
| 23 October 2012 3:05PM | 23 October 2012 3:05PM |
| Don't worry, it's very good. | Don't worry, it's very good. |
| Link to this comment: | Link to this comment: |
| 23 October 2012 3:05PM | 23 October 2012 3:05PM |
| Isn't this the second Guardian article on this today? Apple haven't even started their press conference yet. | Isn't this the second Guardian article on this today? Apple haven't even started their press conference yet. |
| Link to this comment: | Link to this comment: |
| 23 October 2012 3:09PM | 23 October 2012 3:09PM |
| An iPad mini is unlikely to be able to compete with the weight of the Kindle Paperwhite, which is the reason I've just ordered one instead of the Kindle Fire at twice the weight but only £20 more. | An iPad mini is unlikely to be able to compete with the weight of the Kindle Paperwhite, which is the reason I've just ordered one instead of the Kindle Fire at twice the weight but only £20 more. |
| Weight does matter with these things - try holding a normal iPad for 3 or 4 hours while you read. | Weight does matter with these things - try holding a normal iPad for 3 or 4 hours while you read. |
| And a question - after all the bitching and whining about MS dominating the market with IE, and Windows, how come no-one's bitching about Apple's domination? | And a question - after all the bitching and whining about MS dominating the market with IE, and Windows, how come no-one's bitching about Apple's domination? |
| Personally, having recently bought an iPad 3, that domination baffles me. As bling for impressing the gullible, it's fine, as a computer for serious work it's total garbage! You can't even open two apps at once FFS. Or connect it to a printer (the HP app simply doesn't work). | Personally, having recently bought an iPad 3, that domination baffles me. As bling for impressing the gullible, it's fine, as a computer for serious work it's total garbage! You can't even open two apps at once FFS. Or connect it to a printer (the HP app simply doesn't work). |
| Most expensive paperweight I've ever had. My netbook, that cost half the price, has vastly superior functionality. | Most expensive paperweight I've ever had. My netbook, that cost half the price, has vastly superior functionality. |
| Link to this comment: | |
| 23 October 2012 3:11PM | |
| @Charles | |
| "Google's Nexus 7 has sold an estimate 1m units worldwide since its launch at the end of July..." | |
| This statement is incorrect as pointed out previously. On their earnings call, Google pointed analysts to Licensing and Other Revenue of $ 664 million of which $ 200 million is estimated by analysts to have come from Nexus 7 sales (directly by Google in their Play Store). At an ASP of $ 200, that indicates Google sold 1 million units through their Store. However, Google also used third party resellers including, in the UK, Tesco, Currys, PC World, etc and it is assumed that the direct revenue contribution to Licensing and Other Revenues was small because these sales were probably close to break-even. Google wants to get the Nexus device in as many hands as possible as the major source of revenues to them will be from content and apps rather than hardware, unlike Apple which is estimated to have a 50% profit margin on the hardware sale of the iPad. | |
| And here is where your analysis further falls down IMO. Google has said that its mobile revenues are currently at an annual $ 8 billion run rate, with the majority of these mobile revenues from ads (no longer is Google just a search provider!). The remaining portion comes from content sold and apps on the Google Play Store on devices such as the Nexus 7. So those Nexus 7's sold by resellers such as Tesco, Currys, PC World, etc carry such content and app revs to Google. Hence further confirmation that more than 1 million Nexus 7 devices were sold. | |
| DigiTimes has written last month that Asus will ship more than 5 million Nexus 7 devices by year end. At the time, DigiTimes did not know that Google was planning an extension to the product line next Monday in NYC when they are expected to announce a new 32 GB Nexus 7 WiFi only and a new 32 GB Nexus 7 with HSPA+ (3G). | |
| Therefore I believe we are talking about Nexus 7 sales by Google and by its resellers to date that probably exceeds 3 or 4 million units but the product line extension next week should put the Nexus 7 on a much more complete footing compared to Apple. With Google and Samsung also expected to launch the Nexus 10 next week, Google's range of Nexus tablets will compare very favourably to Apple's range--and at a much lower cost to consumers! | |
| Then it will be interesting to make predictions about Google and Apple. | |
| Link to this comment: | |
| 23 October 2012 3:12PM | |
| I hope Apple can do a "Macbook Air" here and actually introduce a quality device that is not only better than the competition, but is competitively priced. | |
| I still find it amazing that after 4/5 years after their launch, Ultrabook's are still inferior to the Macbook Air in terms of cost, design and specs. Along with the 10" tablet market, it's the one area where Apple actually are ahead of the competition in all aspects. | |
| Don't hold out hope though. | |
| Link to this comment: | |
| 23 October 2012 3:17PM | |
| 'Salman Chaudhry, mobile computing analyst at Context, also warns that it poses a threat to Amazon's Kindle line, because it will be positioned as a content consumption device ' | |
| This just about sums it up for me. Lots more money for apple, and a big loss to any sucker that buys one. | |
| I don't want (and never have) a content consumption device. I want a bit of kit that does something useful, and doesn't just line apples' pockets with my cash. | |
| I think that the line about google selling their product for below cost is quite interesting, as apple sell a product for 350 - 400 quid that costs them 200 to make. | |
| Link to this comment: | |
| 23 October 2012 3:20PM | |
| i Personally, having recently bought an iPad 3, that domination baffles me. As bling for impressing the gullible, it's fine, as a computer for serious work it's total garbage! You can't even open two apps at once FFS. Or connect it to a printer (the HP app simply doesn't work). | |
| I'm not sure it's meant to be a computer for 'serious work', to be honest. | |
| I bought one the other week almost by accident: I broke the screen on my macbook and was fully expecting to have to buy a new one. But in the end it could be repaired reasonably cheaply and so I would be without a computer for a couple of weeks. I didn't want to buy another laptop, so I bought the iPad to keep me going in the interim. | |
| Well, I'm amazed at how much I use it - especially considering I'd always thought it wouldn't be much use. I use the macbook for work still, but for browsing and so on I'm all about the iPad. | |
| Link to this comment: | |
| 23 October 2012 3:21PM | |
| i I don't want (and never have) a content consumption device. I want a bit of kit that does something useful, and doesn't just line apples' pockets with my cash. | |
| Watching a movie or whatever is 'something useful', isn't it? | |
| Link to this comment: | |
| 23 October 2012 3:27PM | |
| I don't want (and never have) a content consumption device. | |
| That's your TV, games console and hi-fi in the bin then | |
| (do people still call them hi-fi's ?) | |
| Link to this comment: | |
| 23 October 2012 3:32PM | |
| I've bought my folks (who have one ancient desktop running WinXP) a Kindle Fire HD, which they should get at the weekend. I'm not envisaging them using for a lot of content consumption, more looking at photos, browning the internet and sending the odd mail. | |
| In fact, given the fact it's probably being sold at or below cost, I suspect I'm sticking it to the man. Go me! | |
| Link to this comment: | |
| 23 October 2012 3:37PM | |
| Goodness me! How intriguing! What are you reading the guardian comments with? | |
| Link to this comment: | |
| 23 October 2012 3:39PM | |
| I bought a Blackberry Playbook 64 GB for £129 in Sept. | |
| Great piece of kit. | |
| Link to this comment: | |
| 23 October 2012 3:40PM | |
| LePendu 23 October 2012 3:09PM And a question - after all the bitching and whining about MS dominating the market with IE, and Windows, how come no-one's bitching about Apple's domination? | |
You must read a different Guardian Tech CiF than everybody else. | |
| Link to this comment: | |
| 23 October 2012 3:41PM | |
| I bought one the other week almost by accident | |
| looks like your opinion lost all credibility here. | |
| Link to this comment: | |
| 23 October 2012 3:43PM | |
| The online Apple Store is closed, so something new is coming. | |
| Link to this comment: | Link to this comment: |
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| Tech market braces for latest product from Apple, with analysts predicting new device could cut into sales of Kindle line | Tech market braces for latest product from Apple, with analysts predicting new device could cut into sales of Kindle line |
| Apple's expected launch on Tuesday of an "iPad mini" – which some think could also be called the iPad Play, iPad Air, or iPad U – will find an eager market seeking smaller, cheaper tablets, according to research from the British analysis company Context. | Apple's expected launch on Tuesday of an "iPad mini" – which some think could also be called the iPad Play, iPad Air, or iPad U – will find an eager market seeking smaller, cheaper tablets, according to research from the British analysis company Context. |
| Salman Chaudhry, mobile computing analyst at Context, also warns that it poses a threat to Amazon's Kindle line, because it will be positioned as a content consumption device – and so could cut into expected sales of the Kindle Fire tablets, launched in September. | Salman Chaudhry, mobile computing analyst at Context, also warns that it poses a threat to Amazon's Kindle line, because it will be positioned as a content consumption device – and so could cut into expected sales of the Kindle Fire tablets, launched in September. |
| "Market figures point to a big opportunity in this segment," says Context, which says that in the UK alone 7in tablet sales rocketed from about 10,000 in the second quarter to the end of June, to more than 220,00 in the three months to the end of September. | "Market figures point to a big opportunity in this segment," says Context, which says that in the UK alone 7in tablet sales rocketed from about 10,000 in the second quarter to the end of June, to more than 220,00 in the three months to the end of September. |
| Apple is expected the unveil the device, along with updates to its desktop and laptop computer lines, at an event in San Jose on Tuesday. Market and supply chain data suggest it will have a 7.85in screen, giving it roughly half the screen size of an iPad. | Apple is expected the unveil the device, along with updates to its desktop and laptop computer lines, at an event in San Jose on Tuesday. Market and supply chain data suggest it will have a 7.85in screen, giving it roughly half the screen size of an iPad. |
| Google's Nexus 7 has sold an estimate 1m units worldwide since its launch at the end of July, helped – according to Context – by selling it to retailers are prices below wholesale cost in the first month, at least in the UK. The Nexus 7, made for Google by Asus, had a starting price of £159 for a version with 8GB of storage, and £199 for a 16GB version. A 32GB version is expected to be unveiled at an Android event next Monday in New York. | Google's Nexus 7 has sold an estimate 1m units worldwide since its launch at the end of July, helped – according to Context – by selling it to retailers are prices below wholesale cost in the first month, at least in the UK. The Nexus 7, made for Google by Asus, had a starting price of £159 for a version with 8GB of storage, and £199 for a 16GB version. A 32GB version is expected to be unveiled at an Android event next Monday in New York. |
| Amazon is also launching its 7in Kindle Fire in the UK, as well as the US, creating a wave of smaller tablets that will be attractive to cash-strapped consumers who may not want to spend the £350 or more required for larger, 10in tablets. | Amazon is also launching its 7in Kindle Fire in the UK, as well as the US, creating a wave of smaller tablets that will be attractive to cash-strapped consumers who may not want to spend the £350 or more required for larger, 10in tablets. |
| Some analysts have suggested that Apple could sell 10m cheaper "iPad minis" in the months to Christmas. | Some analysts have suggested that Apple could sell 10m cheaper "iPad minis" in the months to Christmas. |
| So far BlackBerry-maker RIM's Playbook and a number of Android tablets such as Samsung's Galaxy P3110 have been the principal offerings in the 7in market – but without having much impact on the market. | So far BlackBerry-maker RIM's Playbook and a number of Android tablets such as Samsung's Galaxy P3110 have been the principal offerings in the 7in market – but without having much impact on the market. |
| Chaudhry said that the spike of sales in 7in tablets in August and September was mainly down to price cuts in the Playbook, and the eagerness for the Nexus 7 and Samsung P3110. "Across western Europe and prior to Google's and Samsung's launches this summer, the market share of in tablets was around 7% in June. This skyrocketed to 36% in September," he said. | Chaudhry said that the spike of sales in 7in tablets in August and September was mainly down to price cuts in the Playbook, and the eagerness for the Nexus 7 and Samsung P3110. "Across western Europe and prior to Google's and Samsung's launches this summer, the market share of in tablets was around 7% in June. This skyrocketed to 36% in September," he said. |
| "Our figures show that there is now massive demand for this form factor. A 7in iPad should worry most of the competition in the tablet space, but most of all, we expect it to take revenues away from Amazon, as an 'iPad mini' will make the device much more of a content consumption device than its siblings. We expect to see Apple take sales away from the Kindle family of devices and the Kindle app itself, as Apple will be marketing the tablet as an iBook, iTunes consumption device. " | "Our figures show that there is now massive demand for this form factor. A 7in iPad should worry most of the competition in the tablet space, but most of all, we expect it to take revenues away from Amazon, as an 'iPad mini' will make the device much more of a content consumption device than its siblings. We expect to see Apple take sales away from the Kindle family of devices and the Kindle app itself, as Apple will be marketing the tablet as an iBook, iTunes consumption device. " |