Although
Apple is often considered to have led the market in terms of defining new products with new form factors, the vendor is, for the first time, responding to market pressures and trends through the introduction of its new 7-inch iPad Mini tablet, according to analyst firm,
Ovum.
The iPad Mini, which was
unveiled overnight in the US (alongside a new full-size fourth-generation iPad), "reflects a fundamental change in the way Apple operates," Ovum said.
Essentially, the vendor is following suit and jumping on board with
Google and
Amazon in bringing a smaller device to market.
"Apple is assuming that a lower cost iPad will allow it to sell sufficiently more units to offset the dilution in ASP that a cheaper device is likely to cause," the firm said.