Apple CEO Tim Cook (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)
The iPad mini will be WiFi only. There’ll be no high-def screen. It will cost $250, give or take. 10 million will be manufactured, for a start. No--6.5 million. Whatever. Oct 10 will be the big day of the announcement and it will go on sale Nov 2nd. In the meanwhile, here are pictures of what it will look like, courtesy of 9to5Mac researcher Sonny Dickson.
So the rumors say about Apple’s latest creation, whose existence has yet to be officially sanctioned by Cupertino.
It seems as though there have been more leaks than usual about what Apple has been up to, which company watchers have been quick to note would never happen if Steve Jobs were still here.
Possibly--although Tim Stevens, editor in chief of Engadget, tells me that there have actually been fewer leaks about the iPad mini than there were about the iPhone 5, which as you may remember reached a fervor pitch. “We still know little about its internal components at this point or the different models that will be available,” he says. “So, while we have a good idea of what it will look like, we know relatively little about the details.”
An Out of Control Supply Chain
Still, though the perception is out there that Tim Cook has lost control of the supply chain, or at least the rumor mill—and after he promised to “double-down on secrecy” at D10 in June.
Apple, not to state the obvious, is probably the most closely-watched, most intensely-scrutinized company in the world. That doesn’t mean other companies can’t pick up a few lessons from its experiences with the leak parade. Namely, while leaks definitely can serve a purpose--like keeping consumers from buying another tablet before the iPad mini arrives on the scene—they also can create a backlash if the end-product is a disappointment.
That happened to Apple with the iPhone 4S, Stevens says. “There was a huge amount of negative reaction to the iPhone 4S last year, and it could be said that a lot of that disappointment was due to expectations for a totally different device: the iPhone 5.”
Apple’s reputation has clearly taken a hit from the avalanche of rumors with the scuttlebutt being that it has lost control of its supply chain. That is what Stevens thinks: the nature of the leaks--individual components that are being pieced together--point right back to the supply chain.
There’s another interpretation, one that is a bit for favorable to Cook, says Daniel M. Ladik, associate professor of Marketing at Seton Hall University.
Yes, Cook promised to double-down on secrecy but Ladik thinks he decided instead to deliberately making a break with tradition to leverage the business press to Apple’s strategic advantage more than ever before.
This would not be the first time either, Ladik says, pointing to how Cook handled the China controversy (a sit down in New York, public visits to China plants and Apple stores) and the Apple apology on maps. “These are clear examples of how Cook is putting his fingerprint on Apple.”
Also consider this, Ladik adds: ”it’s getting harder and hard to control leaks in the supply chain when Apple is ordering so many units in advance. iPhone 5 had 169 suppliers and manufacturers. iPad mini is something new and too many firms are involved to keep it tight lipped for more than a few months prior to launch.” Maybe Cook decided to use all this to Apple’s advantage.
Competitors Are Listening
Let’s face it, however—Apple would have to try awfully hard to produce something that would disappoint its fan base. The greatest risk all these leaks pose to Apple is not that they will disappoint customers but that they are tipping off Apple’s competitors.
In a research note Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu recently wrote that “we continue to believe iPad mini is the competition's worst nightmare … “
Attractive price points will be key, he says—analysis that Google and Amazon are making too no doubt.
Apple doesn’t have to price as low as $199 to match GOOG's Nexus 7 and Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD but it should come close. Wu believe a price point of $299 or $349 makes sense with its entry-level iPod touch starting at $199 and iPad 2 at $399. In short, if there is any wiggle room in Google and Amazon’s pricing, now’s the time to start thinking about specials and discounts.
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