San Francisco (AFP) - Apple is expected to rev up its iPad
line Tuesday as the tablet market heats up with competition from devices
powered by software from Google and Microsoft.
Analysts predict that iPads will star at an invitation-only
event being held in San Francisco on the cusp of the prime year-end holiday
shopping season.
"Job One for Apple is to get something out there on the
large-size iPad that gets people excited, then obviously from a specification
focus, the Mini needs to catch up with what everybody else has done," NPD
analyst Stephen Baker told AFP.
"There are a lot of other things happening in that
large-size tablet space and there is a huge amount of choices in smaller
devices."
Tablets face mounting competition from touch-screen notebook
computers powered by Microsoft Windows software and priced between $350 and
$500, according to the analyst.
"Apple will... be number one in large-size tablets
probably for a long time, but the definition of competition will change,"
Baker said.
Apple is also under pressure to adapt to the popularity of
premium tablets with high-quality screens in the seven- to eight-inch (18- to
20-centimeter) range where the Mini competes.
Online retail titan Amazon.com on Friday began shipping new
seven-inch Kindle Fire HDX tablets with boosted display quality and computing
power at the starting price of $229.
View gallery."The new iPhone 5S with fingerprint
technology is displayed …
The new iPhone 5S with fingerprint technology is displayed
during an Apple product announcement at t …
"We can't wait to get this tablet into our customers'
hands," said Amazon Kindle vice president Peter Larsen.
Google's latest Nexus 7 tablet powered by its Android
software has been a hot seller at a similarly tempting price.
Emailed invitations to the Apple event revealed little other
than the time and place, and bore the message: "We still have a lot to
cover."
A graphic in the shape of an iPad showed Apple's iconic logo
under a shower of colorful leaves.
Unconfirmed reports are that Apple will show off a new
version of its full-size iPad that will be thinner than its predecessor and
boast improved camera capabilities.
Scrutiny of Apple's supply chain has industry trackers
thinking the new iPad will get "narrower, thinner, and lighter" and
possibly be built with processors at least as powerful as those used in the
freshly-launched iPhone 5S, according to Gartner analyst Van Baker.
An upgraded version of the iPad mini with an improved screen
is also expected.
Gartner's Baker will be watching whether new iPad models
have 64-bit processors as engines in a significant boost that would enable
tablets to handle more heavyweight programs and games.
View gallery."Customers look at the iPad mini at an
Apple store in …
Customers look at the iPad mini at an Apple store in Rome on
November 2, 2012 (AFP Photo/Andreas Sol …
"It has the potential to make tablets much more
compelling devices in terms of content creation; making devices more
sophisticated with more horsepower-hungry applications," the analyst said.
"It will increase the likelihood that tablets will
displace PCs (personal computers)."
Analysts agreed that top-end, full-size iPads may get a
fingerprint recognition security feature that has been a hit in the iPhone 5S.
Such upgrades would promise to entice buyers to pay a bit
more for full-size tablets from Apple instead of choosing lower-priced Mini
models, boding well for the company's bottom line.
The iPad remains the largest-selling tablet, according to
surveys, but its market share is being eroded by rivals using the Google
Android operating system.
"Mobile connectivity continues to grow and its impact
is much broader than business stories about which computer makers are selling
the most units," said Kristen Purcell, associate director for research at
the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project.
"We see mobile connectivity affecting everything from
the way people get news and learn to the way they take care of their health and
the way they share their lives through social media."
Apple was also expected to discuss its computer operating
system and its MacBook laptop line at the event.
The company is coming off a wildly successful launch of two
new iPhone models last month. It estimates selling a record nine million
iPhones in the three days after launching two new versions of the smartphone.
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