Next-gen iPad mini will have Retina display after all

We’ve heard a lot of conflicting reports about whether Apple’s next-generation iPad mini will or won’t have a Retina display but The Wall Street Journal now tells us that the device will come with a Retina display and will likely launch in the holiday quarter. Citing unnamed sources, the Journal says that “Apple’s suppliers are gearing up for mass production of a new iPad mini in the fourth quarter that will likely feature a high-resolution screen from Samsung,” LG Display and Sharp. This means that Apple has indeed ditched AU Optronics as a supplier after experiencing component shortages last year with the original iPad mini.

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Will Nexus 7 beat iPad Mini by out-cooling it?

I want to take you to a world that some might never be able to imagine.

It's a world in which Google is cooler than Apple.

I know, I know. In this world, the devil must be ice-skating.

Still, you'll find quite a few sentient humans who'll tell you that the Nexus 7 is better than the iPad Mini.

They're talking about the new Nexus 7. I'm talking about the old one.

I chose a Nexus 7 over the iPad Mini for the simple reason that it felt better. No, this might not be the way you buy things. But I can live with that if you can.

I use it mostly to watch TV shows and movies, as I wander about the house searching for inspiration, last night's party guests, and my orange sneakers.

Yes, I put up with the user interface, which looks like it was designed by the same man who designed hieroglyphics -- except that the work he performed for Google was done late at night, with ouzo oozing from his pores.

Still, the product works for me.

So when the new one came along with its shiny screen and glorious reviews, I was fascinated to see how Google would market it.

The answer, at least so far, is one charming ad featuring a boy trying to get a girl by trying to conquer his fear of public speaking.

I fancy many won't have seen this ad.

It certainly hasn't adorned my sports watching over the last few days, and I'm wondering if that's deliberate.

You know that when Apple comes out with its next iPad Mini, it will offer advertising in so many breaks that it'll seem like a break only when you don't see an Apple ad.

Yet, in Nexus 7, Google has a product that even a human (as opposed to techie) consensus is impressed with and yet is being released more through the positive feelings it's engendered, rather than a vast marketing push.

This might be because more ads are coming, but, in the rush of these things, they just aren't ready.

It might also be that Google is trying to let Apple flood the market more and more with ads that aren't being well-received, while itself standing back and looking, can one even conceive it, cool.

That would be an interesting strategy. Over the last couple of years, Google hasn't been afraid of public speaking.

Google has never seemed entirely sure how to advertise its hardware products. Originally, the company thought it could sell Nexus phones without any real advertising at all.Its advertising has been far more cleverly focused on real humans and has often delivered a warm, modern glow. Even the latest ad for Chromecast shows a company that's actually interested in you, for a change.

And yet with the Nexus 7, it clearly has an excellent product on its hands.

Of course Apple isn't (entirely) panicking.

Because it's built a vast emotional well of commitment (as well as a severe emotional dependence on its ecosystem) from its customers over many years, those customers forgive more easily when a product isn't quite there -- or is even very late in coming.

Yet its ever-increasing global ambitions force upon it certain compromises that might cut into its public perception.

The Nexus 7 is a cool little thing. How might Google capitalize on that?

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Nexus 7 finds Apple napping

Second-generation Nexus 7. Apple has a little catching up to do.

Google has beat Apple at its own Retina-display-thumping game. Meet the Nexus 7, the eye-popping 323-pixels-per-inch wonder.

It is, in a way, the (rumored) iPad Mini Retina wrapped in Android 4.3.

Here's the deal: If you can find most of the apps you need on Google's Play Store and would like a small tablet with the highest resolution display on any tablet to date (i.e., higher than the 9.7-inch Retina iPad and way higher than the iPad Mini), then the second-generation Nexus 7 may be a good choice.

How did this happen? Well, Google, Asus (the device manufacturer), and Japan Display Inc. (the display maker) have managed, for the first time, to slap a smartphone-density display on a small tablet.

Maybe more ironically, Apple is considering the same technology for a future Mini Retina, according to Richard Shim, an analyst at NPD DisplaySearch. When that Mini would appear ranges from sometime in October (optimistic) to early next year (pessimistic).Without getting too technical, the second-gen Nexus 7 uses a display technology (called low-temperature polysilicon, for those keeping score) from Japan Display that has been used, to date, only on phones like, ironically, Apple's iPhone 5 (which has a pixel density of 326, just slightly more than the new Nexus 7).

Analysts have told me that the 7-inch 1,920x1,200 display on the Nexus 7 may be the upper size limit for Japan Display's ultra-high-resolution technology -- at the moment. In other words, JDI's tech is not quite ready to scale up to the larger 7.9-inch screen on the Mini.

Whatever the case, you can pick up the new Nexus 7 for $230 at some Best Buy stores as of Friday. That's about $100 less than Apple's cheapest Mini (which I also own) but with a much better screen and a faster (quad-core) processor.

That's a really tough hardware/price proposition for Apple to beat, in my opinion.

I like the Mini a lot. I'm not sure yet but I may like the second-gen Nexus 7 better. (I have to be careful, though. I've only had it for about 18 hours so the out-of-box wowness may be impairing my judgment.)

I will say this, though. Apple has its work cut out for it.

The second-generation Nexus 7 I picked up on Friday

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iPad 'losing ground,' says Citi

The iPad will lose market share to rivals, even as it launches the iPad 5 and an update to the iPad Mini in the second half of the year, according to comments today from Citi Research.

In a note to investors on Wednesday titled "iPhone Impresses but Questions Persist," Citi analyst Glen Yeung said the iPad is "losing ground fast."

Reported iPad shipments were down year-to-year "in stark contrast to overall industry tabletgrowth," which is up sharply, Yeung said.

Apple reported 14.6 million iPads were sold during the company's third quarter, down from last year, when Apple sold 17 million iPads.

The analyst also offered up this scenario for the quarter ending in December: even if Apple were to grow shipments in that quarter by 75 percent, "this implies 6% growth y/y in [calendar year 2013], well below industry growth of 58.7% (according to IDC)."And prospects for the upcoming quarter are not particularly positive. "In light of Apple's flattish revenue guidance...we note that [year-to-year] iPad units will decline -7%," Yeung wrote.

Citi reiterated that it expects an iPad 5 and new iPad Mini in the coming months. "We continue to expect iPad5 and a low-cost iPad Mini to be launched in 2H13 [second half 2013]," Yeung added.

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Hooked Up: The iPad-obsessed Christina Milian and her love of tech

In this week's Hooked Up episode, Kevin Frazier hangs out with Grammy-nominated singer, actress, and fashion designer Christina Milian. She talks about her love for technology, how she started off in AOL chat rooms during the early days of the Internet, and the technology and apps she can't go without.

She's also the social-media correspondent for "The Voice," and she talks about how it allows her to connect the performers to the audience in a genuine way.

Christina's truly a gadget girl and she's obsessed with Google Glass so I'll break down what it's about and some of the cool stuff you can do with it. The bigger question is if you'll wear it.

Christina is also just a little addicted to the iPad, so I'll show off three very different accessories that will add a whole lot of functionality to your tablet.

It's the fourth episode of Hooked Up -- the only show where the worlds of celebrity and technology collide.

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