Digitimes is on a rumor rampage right now. Most of what it says is almost fluff – or it would seem like that. A recent rumor that has begun its rounds all across the cyber-space is three-fold. Of course, we do not believe in it completely and there are various reasons not to. Here we go:
- 14-inch MacBook for the Asian market
- iPad 2 to lose the 64GB Variant. iPad 3 will come in 16GB & 32GB versions.
- iPad Mini volume production in Q3
Let’s talk about each.
First off, would Apple consider demographic specific change of a screen-size for the 13.3” MacBook? That’s highly unlikely. The reason is Apple doesn’t have to focus on single zone markets at all. Besides, it isn’t productive for the company because here in Asia, even though MacBooks sell good, they aren’t the leaders of the market. There is no reason why Apple should focus on doing such a specific spec for the Asian market alone. Most probably Digitimes got a wrong source.
The iPad 2 64 GB has been doing good even though not as popularly as the other variants. The reason is of course the cost and the fact that not many people actually need as much space (the Mac, PC, Cloud help them store better). To think that the iPad will lose the 64 GB version is of course contestable. This is because there is serious talk about iPad 3 – the iPad 3 release date is not know but the launch is March 7 – and there are also rumors about cost-reductions in the iPad versions. If Apple thinks that getting rid of the 64 GB variant will help it in cut its cost and help promote other iPads better, then the rumor could be true. For now, there is absolutely no such indication. No past experience talks of such an incident either for any other device.
The iPad Mini volume production is something we already touched upon. It’s a good time that Apple brings out something smaller than the iPad – especially with Kindle Fire doing pretty good and with Barnes&Nobles deciding to bring out something similar – but Apple’s philosophy (more like Jobs’s) is that a 7-inch tablet is worthless. Let’s wait a bit more before speculating on this one. The iPad Mini release date has been slated to be Q3 or Q4 of this year.
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