Sources Say
It looks like the long-rumored iPad Mini will arrive just in time for the holidays. Apple will hold two events this fall: one for the iPhone 5 in September and then another one for the iPad Mini in October, AllThingsD first reported over the weekend. ABC News’ own sources have corroborated the widely cited report of Apple’s plans to hold two events.
While Apple hasn’t yet confirmed, the company is expected to hold a launch event for the next iPhone, or iPhone 5, Sept. 12 in California; the phone is expected to start shipping on Sept. 21. The launch date for the smaller iPad would come close to a month later in October.
According to previous reports, the smaller iPad is expected to have a 7.85-inch display, be less expensive than the current iPad, and have a smaller charging port. Although Steve Jobs had expressed that the smaller tablet category was “dead on arrival,” an internal Apple email revealed in the Apple v. Samsung trial revealed the Jobs had warmed up to the idea before his passing.
“I believe there will be a 7-inch market and we should do one,” Eddy Cue, Apple senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, wrote in an email to Apple CEO Tim Cook and other senior Apple executives on Jan. 24, 2011.
“I expressed this to Steve several times since Thanksgiving and he seemed very receptive the last time. I found email, books, Facebook, and video very compelling on a 7-inch. Web browsing is definitely the weakest point, but still usable,” Cue said in the same email.
The competition in the 7-inch tablet market has heated up significantly in the last year. Amazon’s and Barnes & Noble’s respective 7-inch tablets have been some of the more popular Android tablets around and in June Google released the 7-inch, $200 Nexus 7 tablet. Amazon is expected to release a new version of its Kindle Fire tablet during the first week of September at an event in Los Angeles.
"Only after the next-generation iPhone is out the door and on sale will Apple announce the smaller iPad it's been working on," it said.
"That device, which is expected to have a display of less than eight inches (20 centimeters), will be uncrated at a second special event, which sources say is currently scheduled for October."
The 10-inch iPad has long dominated the tablet market, but faces a growing challenge from smaller models like Amazon's Kindle Fire, the Google Nexus 7 and the Samsung Galaxy.
Apple declined to comment.
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