iPad Returns
The best-selling tablet from Apple, the iPad, has returned with greatly improved resolution and performance.
With Apple announcing the next model iPad, the “November Tablet Wars” among Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Google, and Amazon will reach a climax. Unfortunately, Apple has again excluded Korea from the list of countries for the first release.
On October 22 (local time), Apple introduced its 24.6cm (9.7in) iPad Air and the 20.1cm (7.9in) Second Generation iPad Mini with a retina display at the New Product Announcement Event held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.
Both products use Apple’s latest 64BIT A7 processor chip, and support Wi-Fi and LTE. A Retina display and iOS 7 are also included.
The large screen tablet iPad Air is 7.5mm thick and 453g in weight, which is thinner and lighter than the fourth generation iPad (9.4mm and 652g). The iPad Air’s bezel is 43% narrower than the fourth generation iPad, which maintains screen size but reduces product size. Its battery life has been improved to a maximum of 10 hours as well.
The second generation iPad Mini with a Retina display now has a resolution two times higher than its previous generation. Like the iPad Air, it has a resolution of 2048x1536, which allows nearly 326 pixels per inch (ppi). It supports full-HD video.
As for the prices, the iPad Air for Wi-Fi runs from US$499 to US$799 depending on memory, and the second generation iPad Mini for Wi-Fi goes from US$399 to US$699. With the announcement of the new product, Apple cut down the price for its original iPad Mini 16GB to US$299.
Other than these iPad products, Apple also introduced a new MacBook Pro and a desktop Mac Pro, and released OSX Maverick, the latest OS upgrade for Mac, for free. From the software department, a new business paradigm based on the cloud, called iWork, was released for free as well.
Apple’s free release of the OS is interpreted by some industry watchers as an announcement of war against the software giant Microsoft, which means the main character of the event is not the new iPads but Apple’s policy on software. Apple’s CEO Tim Cook said at the event, “Microsoft Office is priced at 99 dollars, but our iWork is free.” The New York Times reported, “Apple’s office applications have not given much impact on Microsoft Office, but the situation could be changed if they are provided free.”
Apple will be releasing the first round of iPad Air models starting on the first of next month and second generation iPad Minis around the end of next month, in silver and space grey. However, unlike last year with the iPad Mini, Korea will not be a part of the first release. From Asia, Japan and China have been chosen for the first release of the Wi-Fi models.
With the addition of new iPad models, the world’s tablet market competition will reach its peak in November. In fact, these tablet wars are coming down to Korea’s Samsung and LG Electronics versus the US’s Apple, Google, and Amazon.
The highly competitive 17.8-20.3 cm (7-8 in) tablet market is waiting to see how the other products catch up with the second generation iPad Mini’s reign. Apple showed a reduction in tablet sales in Q2 to 14.6 million, but still ranked first in the world market with a 29.2% share, powered by the iPad Mini. Considering the demand size waiting on the second generation iPad Mini, Apple’s Q4 sales will most likely skyrocket.
In response, Samsung Electronics is beginning to target the popular tablet market by releasing a premium model Galaxy Note 8.0 followed by a 20.3 cm Galaxy Tab 3 8.0 in late August.
Google with ASUS also released its strategic tablet Nexus 7 2 in late August, being noted as the dark horse of the 17.8 cm market. LG Electronics released its G Pad 8.3 last month, jumping into the premium tablet market. Amazon is in the competition, having released its Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 last month, the only tablet with the highest possible resolution of 2560x1600.
The competition in the large 22.9-25.4 cm (9-10 in) screen tablet market is narrowing down to the iPad Air and Samsung Electronics’ 2014 Galaxy Note 10.1. Starting with the US this month then in Korea later, Samsung will release the 2014 premium model Galaxy Note 10.1, in its rivalry against the iPad Air.