What are the odds that Apple would release another new
Brand Watches iPad, the much-rumored iPad Mini, and the new iPhone all in the same month? Pretty good, according to Pacific Crest analyst Andy Hargreaves. In a recent note to investors, Hargreaves predicted that Apple will launch a 7.85-inch iPad Mini and a thinner, lighter update to the new iPad, and kill the $399 iPad 2 at the same time.
The when the new
android tv box iPad was introduced in March, the iPad 2 got a significant drop in price to $399. While the cheaper iPad has proven extremely popular, there is speculation that its popularity may come at the expense of the new iPad. If so, then killing off the cheaper iPad 2 makes a great deal of sense for Apple financially.
The other parts of Hargreaves’s predictions, though, are a bit tougher to swallow. Specifically, the part about the new
dapeng a7 iPad getting a refresh is unlikely in the extreme. Apple has held very closely to a 12-month product cycle for iOS devices, and that cycle has worked extremely well for them. Apple isn’t likely to launch in October a better version of the tablet they launched in March. That’s not a money making strategy, it’s a piss-off-the-customers strategy. Any rumor about Apple re-launching a product before it’s 12-month cycle is over goes straight into the “I’ll eat my hat” file.
