Piper Jaffray expects iPad Mini to be available in the market by the 2nd of November. The research report from Piper Jaffray, estimates that for the year 2013, revenues from iPad Mini will represent 5 percent of the total revenue for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). The introduction of iPad Mini will help the iPad devices to play an important role in the company’s exquisite product line. “We believe that the bigger picture is that the smaller device will pave the way for iPad to become a bigger part of the Apple story”, report says. The iPad Mini, due to its affordable price ,will be highly popular “in education, emerging markets, and retail”. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has made a similar move with iPod i.e. introduced a smaller version of the device, which “resulted in inflection points in the story”. The report expects the iPad unit growth to slow down from 79 percent in 2012, to 31 percent in 2013, “we believe the iPad Mini will likely be a catalyst for measurable upside to iPad sales in 2013”.
The much awaited iPad Mini is expected to have a 7-8″ non Retina display, 8GB of storage at the base level, and be WI-FI only. The base model could come with a price of $249 to $299. As a result of the pricing, the iPad Mini will be in direct competition with Google’s Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) Nexus 7 and Amazon’s.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) Kindle Fire HD. Based on reports from AppleInsider, Piper Jaffray expects the iPad to be available in additional storage sizes and wireless capabilities. The iPhone maker’s previous four devices were available for sale within 9 to 10 days of their announcement, so expecting the same, iPad Mini may begin selling on 2nd November.
On the estimated price range of $249 to $299 for the base model, the report says that if Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) excludes Retina display and reduce storage to 8GB at the base level, then it could deliver the iPad Mini in the mentioned price range. The research report cites an example in support of the estimated price range, saying “We believe some investors do not believe that the smaller iPad will be priced below $300. As evidence, we point to the base level 5th generation iPod Touch, which is $299 at its base level, with 32GB in storage and a 4″ Retina display”. The report expects the device ASP of $350-$360, a 20 percent hike over the $299 base, which the report assumes “would be in-line with the increase on the base full-size iPad price”.
If iPad Mini is available by 2nd November, the report expects Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) to sell around 5 million devices in the December quarter; also the smaller iPad may snatch away one million regular iPad units in December, or “a rate of cannibalization at 20% (i.e. for every 5 million smaller iPads, you lose 1 million standard iPads), implying 25 million units for December from our prior 21 million”. For the year 2013, Apple could sell about 25 million smaller iPads, based on this, Piper Jaffray raised its iPad estimates for 2013 to 95 million units from an earlier 86.5 million. The iPad Mini may account for 25 percent of the total tablet sales in year 2013. The report also revised its estimates of the smaller iPad, saying “We previously expected ~15 million smaller iPads for CY13, but did not factor in the March quarter (assumed sales started in June quarter 2013) and also did not expect a full slate of options for storage and wireless, thus the next change adds 1% to our CY13 revenue”.
