updated 11:15 pm EST, Wed February 29, 2012
Mini iPad gets late 2012 arrival date
Apple's long rumored smaller iPad was given a tentative production timeline in a rumor late Wednesday. Sample units were supposed by Digitimes' part supplier sources to be going out for testing, but production was still some distance away. It wouldn't start production until summer "at the earliest," according to the tip.
Even if accurate, the talk of the release plans would show a possible moving target as Apple tried to firm up its plans. One earlier rumor had Apple starting mass production in late spring. If production started in the summer, a release would be more likely either towards the end of the summer or early fall as Apple would need to build up supplies.
Although purely speculation, the suppliers thought this smaller iPad would slot in between $249 and $299, with a regular-sized but 8GB iPad 2 supposedly in the middle for $349 to $399. Such a price strategy would likely be meant to squeeze out Amazon's Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble's Nook Tablet, whose popularity is built primarily on giving some key tablet features at a much lower price.
Doubts have always persisted about a smaller tablet given that late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs famously dismissed the idea due to the number of interface elements that would have to be sacrificed to make it happen. At 7.85 inches, though, the future would be just large enough to avoid some of the conflicts coming from such a small size without sacrificing the size advantage over current iPads.