A research analyst claims Apple will respond to Google’s release of the Nexus 7 tablet last week with the introduction of a 7.85 inch iPad mini in October.
Pacific Crest analyst Andy Hargreaves suggests that the 7.85-inch iPad Mini with 8GB of memory will debut in Q4 and expects it to retail at $299. This is still $100 more than the nexus but will no doubt attract the attention of Apple lovers.
“We anticipate an entry-level 7.80-inch iPad with 8GB of NAND capacity to price at $299 with an initial gross margin of 31%,” wrote Hargreaves, in a research note posted last Thursday. This is likely to take some sales away from the more expensive iPad but it is clearly a price worth paying to take market share away from rival Google.
The 7-inch iPad has been expected ever since Tim Cook took the reins at Apple. Steve Jobs famously didn’t like the smaller tablet format and refused to countenance a 7-inch iPad. It’s another interesting development in the hardware war developing between Apple, Google and Microsoft in 2012.
