Apple gets ready to ship 10m iPad minis in Q4

8 Oct 2012

An Apple store in New York City

Apple is reportedly preparing to ship 10m iPad mini machines. Apple, which initially eschewed the 7-inch tablet form factor, has ordered double the amount of components from Asian suppliers that Amazon has ordered for its Kindle Fire.

According to The Wall Street Journal, production of the smaller 7.85-inch tablet has already begun in earnest.

Apple is expected to unveil the new tablet computer later this month.

The device will no doubt debut in time for Christmas and clearly Apple expects to do very well with the new form factor tablet computer.

However, it is a crowded market when you consider Google’s Nexus 7, Samsung’s 7-inch Tab and Amazon’s Kindle Fire 7-inch device.

It is understood the new tablet from Apple will also have a LCD rather than Retina-based display.

There is no doubt the device will adhere to Apple’s uncompromisingly high standards of user experience and design, but the key differentiator has to be the price of the device.

Another factor Apple will have to bear in mind is the slew of Windows 8 tablet-to-PC devices that will flood the market in a couple of weeks.

Apple is either expecting a bumper Q4 or it is hedging its bets for strong follow-on quarters into 2013.

It’s going to be a busy Q4 that could potentially propel the tech industry into the stratosphere or reveal dangerous gaps in its armour.

New York Apple store image via Shutterstock

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com