Android tablet makers are quaking in their boots, and hoping that a report unearthed over the weekend isn't true. On Saturday, German tech blogger Florian Schimankeposted what appeared to be an inventory list of the various iPad mini models including prices.
The bottom line of the report (pun intended) is that the lowest cost iPad mini price would be 249 euros for a wi-fi only 8GB model. Sharp-eyed readers will note that we just wrote euros. However, as Gizmodo points out, for the third-generation iPad, Apple doesn't convert prices, it just moves them straight over (so the euro price is numerically the dollar price).
If Apple follows that policy - meaning a starting price of $249 - Android tablet makers could be in trouble.
Compare that to the 8GB Google Nexus which runs $199 and the Kindle Fire HD (16GB) at $199. While those would seem to have a price advantage over the iPad mini, assuming the prices are correct, remember that the iPad is the only device many consider when it comes to a tablet.
Without a significant, not just minimal, price advantage, the iPad mini could kill Android tablets, or at least decimate sales. Lower-priced Android tablets have proved somewhat successful against the iPad, but the mini - if truly priced at $249 - might prevent that.
On the other hand, speculation has been that the iPad mini would start at $349, and if the 249 euro figure were converted to dollars, it would be $320.
Another thing that is interesting, is that the price list includes a number of cellular iPad minis. It was also speculated that the iPad mini might come in wi-fi only form.
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