How Will Amazon, Barnes & Noble Survive the iPad Mini?

redletterdave writes "For about a year, Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble were almost completely alone in the 7-inch tablet market. It was nice while it lasted. The past few months have seen Google and Microsoft unveil their 7-inch tablet offerings — the Nexus 7 and Microsoft Surface, respectively — and it looks like Apple is about ready to get into the mini tablet game, too. If Apple releases its first 'iPad Mini' next month, what can Amazon and Barnes & Noble do to keep the Cupertino colossus at bay, as well as the other new competitors in the 7-inch tablet game?"

Comments

Surface is 10 inch.

[Anonymous Coward]

"The past few months have seen Google and Microsoft unveil their 7-inch tablet offerings — the Nexus 7 and Microsoft Surface, respectively"

Nope. Surface is a 10 inch tablet.

Re:Eink

[Havenwar]

I'm almost ashamed to mention but you might not have noticed the slight flaw in your comment there. 12 is actually less than 30. The point of the E-ink devices are the longer battery life, specifically because they don't have to be recharged every night. You might be tied to an outlet yourself, but some of us actually leave such luxuries behind for more than 12 hours in a row at times, and then a less power hungry device for a very low-tech task is quite appreciated.

You can bring an e-ink device with you camping for a week and get a few hours reading in every day. Can't do that with a tablet. Plus you can read it in full sunshine! And yes, it doesn't have a backlight so it's useless in the dark... but then a separate little campinglight works quite well and uses a lot less energy per hour used than all the extra power a tablet uses just to keep that screen glowing.

So it's no contest, really, if all you want to do is read OR if you want to be able to stay away for a few days without having to hit a power outlet... then it's E-ink all the way. It's apples and oranges.

Re:Who cares?

[Papaspud]

iPod touches are $199 +, no way they are going to be less than that. I'm thinking more along the lines of $299+.........