In an effort to break into the impulse-buy market, the iPad is about to get a little brother.
According to a Chinese website called NetEase, Apple manufacturing partner Foxconn is assembling components for a less feature-rich version of the iPad, which could retail for either $250 or $300.
It is by all accounts an answer to the growing popularity of Amazon’s Kindle Fire tablet. Analysts are looking to the Amazon device as the potential iPad killer that we’ve all been waiting for since last year.
Amazon was able to turn the world on its head with the Kindle, and it seems as though it is already making good on its plans to do the same to tablets with the Kindle Fire.
According to the report, the miniature iPad will have a 7.85-inch display, making it slightly larger than a Kindle Fire but not incredibly so.
The resolution is apparently 1024 x 768 and it would be capable of playing all the same apps that anyone can access on the iPad or iPad 2.
Obviously, apps that utilize the new iPad’s Retina Display technology would not be compatible. And thus opens what could be the biggest problem with launching an iPad mini.
One of the biggest problems with Android is fragmentation, and this could open to door to that on the iOS side of things. Apple is already beginning to struggle with that, with different iPhones that have different capabilities.
It’s a fine line to walk, but if Apple can make a splash in the low-cost tablet market, it could be huge.
