mini-iPad

Apple's next-generation iPad Mini will feature a high-resolution Retina Display, says KGI Securites analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

In an investors note detailed last night by MacRumors, Kuo projects that the iPad Mini 2 will come with the same Retina Display already offered by its larger counterpart.

The upgrade will be beneficial not only to consumers but to developers who can then design the same high-resolution apps to fit both iPad models. The next version of the 9.7-inch iPad will also lose some weight, get much slimmer, and take on the same thin bezels used on the Mini, according to … Read more

The iPad Mini is here! The 7-inch tablet market is going to be one of the hottest this holiday season, but did Apple do enough with the iPad Mini to justify its $329 starting price point?

iTunes 11 is pushed back to November, which is something to be thankful for after seeing what happens when Apple rushes out features like Siri and Maps.

The new fourth-generation iPad is also here, and it's a beast when it comes to performance. Plus, we'll break down Apple's big management shake-up and tell you how it might affect you. One thing'… Read more

For the second time this year, Apple is launching a new tablet, though the event looks to be dramatically different from last time around.

For one, Apple is actually launching two different devices: a new version of its full-size iPad that replaces the one Apple launched just seven and a half months ago, and its new iPad Mini. The launch is also larger, with both devices debuting in 34 countries -- more than triple the 10 countries in which the iPad launched back in March.

All this would suggest that Apple is set for a record sales weekend. But not … Read more

Leaked from today's 404 episode:

- CNET goes hands-on with the iPad Mini: $329, 7.9-inch screen.

- Apple updates 13-inch MacBook Pro, adding Retina Display, for $1,699.

- Hands-on: Apple updates iMac with gorgeous new display.

- Peeved? Apple will exchange your 3rd-gen iPad for the newer model.

- To Apple: Thanks for making my 'new iPad' obsolete.… Read more

Apple will remain king of the tablet market this year but its reign may be shaken a bit by the ongoing flood of Android devices.

The company will carve off a 62 percent chunk of the tablet market this year, according to a report out yesterday from TrendForce. But that will continue a decline from 66 percent last year and 87 percent the previous year.

Though the iPad's market share may be on the downswing, its sales are still headed in the opposite direction. Estimates from TrendForce call for global sales of about 59 million units in 2012, up … Read more

Apple employees will enjoy some healthy products discounts as thanks for the company's recent blockbuster quarter.

At an internal meeting yesterday, CEO Tim Cook announced that employees will soon be able to grab a $500 discount on the purchase of a new Mac and a $250 discount on a new iPad, revealed 9to5Mac.

Not scheduled to launch until June, the new discount program is saddled with a few restrictions. Apple workers must have been with the company for at least 90 days and can only take advantage of the discounts once every three years. The program seems to cover … Read more

Will Apple ignore Steve Jobs' decree that anything below 10 inches won't cut it as a tablet? The supply chain seems to be indicating it will.

Apple is "likely" to launch a 7.85-inch iPad before the fourth quarter of next year, according to a report in Taipei-based Digitimes.

Now, why would Apple go against Jobs' wishes? "In order to cope with increasing market competition [from]...the 7-inch Kindle Fire...and the launch of large-size smartphones," according to the report.

Displays will be provided by LG and AU Optronics (AUO), the report said, citing sources. … Read more

There's been a lot of talk in recent weeks about Amazon releasing an Android tablet to take on the iPad. But much less has been said about a smaller tablet, a 7-inch model, that the company has been rumored to have in the works.

Now Taiwan's DigiTimes, which we can't say is terribly reliable, is reporting that Foxconn will deliver the larger 10.1-inch Amazon tablet in early 2012 but that Quanta Computer has already begun shipping a 7-inch model to Amazon.

We've been hearing similar reports on that 7-inch model. A major app and content … Read more

As we reported, a recent New York Times blog post suggests that Amazon is looking into producing more hardware beyond the Kindle. Ironically, Lab126, the division of Amazon that is behind the Kindle, is located in Cupertino, Calif., not far from Apple. And Nick Bilton at the Bits Blog points out that the job board at Lab126 has "a flurry of listings related to electronics hardware, with titles like supply chain project program manager, hardware engineer and RF systems engineer."

While some of the positions will be devoted to future generations of Kindle devices that may integrate touch screens and color (last year, Amazon acquired Touchco, a multitouch hardware company), Bilton says "there's also a good chance these engineers will be recruited to build other gadgets that Amazon is prototyping in its secret labs."

The question, of course, is what sort of gadgets could Amazon be looking into building? Well, one of the anonymous sources in the article gives a small hint, saying that "more hardware products would be a means to an end and that Amazon wants to make more devices for consumers that would enable simple purchasing of Amazon content including its digital books, music and movie rentals and purchases."

I know from speaking to Ian Freed, Amazon's vice president of digital (yes, that's his title), that one of the things that Amazon loves about the iPad is that it allows users to access and purchase Amazon products, whether it's e-books or anything else Amazon sells. The article states that Amazon looked at entering the mobile phone business (again, according to anonymous sources), but that the project seemed "out of Amazon's reach."

So, in my mind at least, the most logical extension of Amazon's vision--and the product that it makes the most sense for it to build and sell--is a small Android-powered tablet that manages to undercut the pricing of Apple's competing iPad products. (I use the plural because Apple is rumored to be prepping a smaller iPad. Whether that's true or not is anybody's guess). … Read more