Apple’s recently launched 7.9-inch iPad Mini is selling out across the United States.
While this is undoubtedly good news for Cupertino, the iPad mini is likely causing sleepless nights for many Windows 8 tablet manufacturers. Indeed, one analyst believes the latest iteration of the wildly popular iPad represents “the worst [possible] nightmare” for Windows 8 tablet manufacturers.
“We continue to believe iPad mini is the competition’s worst nightmare and will likely slow down adoption of competitor tablets,” Shaw Wu of Sterne Agee explained in an industry note obtained by AppleInsider. “In particular, we believe this could end up being a very tough holiday season for Windows 8.”
According to Wu, competitive analyses comparing the iPad mini and Android tablets like Google’s Nexus 7 and Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD are somewhat misdirected.
Indeed, says Wu, Apple’s smallest iPad will likely have the most significant impact on PC vendors, as the unit’s $329 price of entry effectively undercuts many new Windows 8 products – including Microsoft’s $600 Surface RT, which the analyst ranked as “arguably overpriced.”
Wu also said he disagreed with analysts who believe the iPad Mini’s price point is set too high, comparing the product’s positioning to that of iPod mini and iPod nano.
“This controversy reminds us of what happened with iPod mini and iPod nano,” Wu wrote. “Both predecessors were criticized as being overpriced but went on to do much better than expected. The key reason being high quality at a reasonable price and we see something similar here.”
