I have been writing about the iPad since before it was even announced. Months prior to the day when Steve Jobs stood on stage and presented the iPad to the world there were rumors galore that Apple’s next big product was going to be a tablet. And so it came to pass.

However, in all the time that has passed since then I haven’t purchased an iPad. The reasons are many and varied, but the iPad Mini 2 may just be good enough to make them all inconsequential. At least if the current (and fairly persistent) rumors are to be believed.

The leak suggests that the iPad Mini 2 will feature a Retina Display boasting 2048 X 1536 pixels. This is the same number the full-sized iPad boasts, but crammed into a 7.9-inch screen. The iPad Mini 2 may also feature a dual-core A6X processor, which would be a big improvement on the current model.

Furthermore, the iPad Mini 2 may have slimmer bezels, an 8-megapixel iSight camera on the rear and a 2-megapixel FaceTime camera on the front. Last but not least will be an improved battery and a slightly larger body to comfortably house it.

I’ve always argued that the 7- to 8-inch tablets are the most versatile and useful, and this would fit that bill. And with all the small annoyances and disappointments from the original iPad Mini corrected this could be a very easy tablet to sell to the masses.

The only sticking point may be the price. Apple is struggling to innovate in the way it was a decade ago, with incremental upgrades to its existing product line becoming standard procedure. But it has one trick remaining up its sleeve… a healthy price cut.

If the iPad Mini 2 is cheaper than the original then it could be the essential tablet to own. On paper it looks the business, but will Apple and Tim Cook deliver the goods?

A new report from Strategy Analytics has shone the light on the current state of the tablet market. As expected tablet sales as a whole are booming, with global shipments hitting a record 40.6 million units in Q1, 2013. That represents an incredible rise of 117 percent on the same period last year, with 18.7 million units shipped in Q1, 2012.

The market is growing, but also evolving as new tablets flood onto the market to challenge the dominance of the Apple iPad. While the iPad continues to be the biggest selling tablet, it’s being rapidly squeezed by tablets featuring both Google Android and (to a lesser but no less significant degree) Windows 8.

The iPad now has a 48.2 percent market share, with Apple having sold 19.5 million tablets through the first quarter. Whle still almost half of the market, Apple will likely be concerned that its share has dropped from a high of 63.1 percent during 2012.

A drop of 15 percent is significant, especially when most of it has been ceded to Google thanks to strong sales of Android tablet such as the Nexus 7. In total, 17.6 million Android tablets were sold during the quarter, giving Google a market share of 43.4 percent.

Microsoft also entered the tablet market in 2012, with Windows 8 tablets led by the Surface Pro and Surface RT devices. A total of 3 million units shipped gives Microsoft a healthy 7.5 percent share of the market. This despite the fact that the first-generation Surface tablets have been roundly given the thumbs down by reviewers.

I fully expect the tablet sector to carry on growing from here on in, and I suspect Android tablets will overtake the iPad and iPad Mini before the end of 2013. Unless Apple launches a cheaper version of its iconic tablet to bring it into the reach of more consumers.

High-resolution displays are rapidly becoming the norm. After seemingly running out of any real ideas, improving the resolutions on the displays of tablets and smartphones is a good way of ensuring people buy the latest products. And it looks to be working, fooling the masses into thinking their ongoing ownership of either of the aforementioned devices means they’re woefully out of date.

It’s not that better pixel resolutions are a bad thing, they just aren’t the be-all-and-end-all mobile device manufacturers would have you believe. This is especially true once the number of pixels sails past the retina display benchmark, because your eye cannot tell the difference anyway.

With that in mind it’s up to you to decide whether the news that a new Apple iPad Mini and Google Nexus 7 are in the works, both reportedly sporting high-res displays. This is according to CNET, which sourced its information from the supply chain… which means there’s a strong chance it’s complete bunkum.

Google and its partner ASUS is expected to show its hand first, with production of the second-generation Nexus 7 beginning in Q2 2013. The new Nexus 7 will reportedly boast a display with 1,920 x 1,200 pixels (323 PPI).

Apple is expected to launch its new iPad Mini with Retina Display in Q3 2013. The improved smaller iPad will reportedly boast a display with 2,048 x 1,536 pixels (326 PPI).

As someone who owns a 7-inch tablet with a display far below those mentioned above, I’m not convinced such high pixel counts are necessary for the form factor. But if demand is there, the tablet manufacturers will supply the goods.

Apple recently unveiled several new ads for the iPad. The ones released so far have been titled Alive, Together, and Hollywood (embedded below), the latter making its debut during the 2013 Academy Awards. They’re all OK, but just “OK” doesn’t compare to the quality of commercials Apple has become renowned for over the decades.

Part of the problem Apple faces is that for the first time in its history it’s absolutely on top. The world is changing, and the post-PC era has definitely arrived. This means that Apple, with its trio of iPad, iPhone, and iPod goodness, is at the peak of its powers.

This is a problem, though it’s obviously a nice one to have. Everybody has heard of Apple, knows what products it sells, and knows whether they want one and whether they’re ever likely to buy one. Which makes commercials much less important in terms of turning people onto the company and its wares.

The knock on effect of this is that the drive to innovate and be creative has been removed. When Apple was the underdog it took an incredible effort to get people to even notice the company. Now, it’s the other way around, with insipid and uninspiring commercials only likely to turn people off.

In other words Apple has become Microsoft, the company that never quite got advertising because it never actually needed to do so in order to make money. Microsoft has more recently broken out of this decades-long funk and released positive adverts with a strong message at its core. Because it’s had to in order to stay in the game.

The question that must be asked then: Has Apple got too big, too successful, and too powerful to really care what promotional efforts it’s pumping out into the ether?

The International Data Corporation (IDC) has released preliminary data which suggests a record number of tablets were sold during the final quarter of last year. In total it estimates 52.5 million tablets made their way into the hands of consumers, which represents a 75.3 percent increase over Q4 2011, and a 74.3 percent increase over Q3 2012.

It will come as no great surprise to hear that the Apple iPad led the way with 22.9 million shipments for a total market share of 43.6 percent. The number of units sold has increased on the previous year, but its market share has dropped from 51.7 percent. Samsung came in second with a 15.1 percent share of the market, up from 7.3 percent a year earlier. Amazon, ASUS, and Barnes and Noble complete the top five.

This is only half the story though. As identified by GigaOM, the second, much more interesting, takeaway from these figures is that 89.8 million PCs were sold in that same time period. 89.8 million plays 52.5 million. That’s not a huge gap between the two, and it’s one that’s closing all the time.

Tablets are undoubtedly eating away at the PC market, and that trend looks set to continue until the inevitable happens: tablets will surpass laptops and desktops to become the most popular form factor in personal computing. And deservedly so.

While tablets have some way to go before they’re capable of completely usurping a PC, they’re improving all the time. Cast your mind back to the first iPad and then fast-forward to both the latest iPad and the collection of simple, smart Android tablets that are now available. Oh, and there’s the Microsoft Surface as well, but the less said about that the better… at least for now.

It’s now just a matter of when, not if, tablets will become the dominant form factor.

I have neither an iPad or children, but if I did, I’d try and keep the two as far apart from each other as possible. An iPad isn’t exactly cheap, and kids aren’t exactly known for taking care of expensive gadgets. However, for those parents that can afford the risk, the iPad offers a possible learning tool for children that’s simple and intuitive to use.

The iPad is so simple to use that even the youngest children can get to grips with it quickly. To the point that it may even help to entertain them while they’re learning to use the toilet.

That’s the essence of iPotty, a new product from CTA Digital that was on display at the recent CES 2013 in Las Vegas. The iPotty is a normal potty with the addition of a stand designed to accommodate an iPad. The idea is that kids will be much happier to sit on a plastic toilet waiting for nature to take its course if they have a tablet loaded with apps in front of them.

There are no specific apps designed for use with iPotty, but there are existing toilet training apps available. Personally I’d put Angry Birds on there instead, or load the iPad with cartoons and press Play as soon as the child sat down to do their business.

The iPotty also comes with a screen guard and a seat cover so that it can be used on other occasions. According to BBC News the product is set to go on sale in March priced around $40.

Windows 8 is now out in the wild, and Microsoft needs to get the operating system in front of as many people as possible in order to show them that Windows can survive in a world dominated by mobile devices rather than dedicated computers. To do this it needs to offer multiple tablets powered by Windows 8 to the public, and HTC is the latest company to come on board.

HTC was shut out of partnering with Microsoft on the first run of Windows 8 tablets. Redmond believed that a combination of poor sales of its existing devices and a lack of experience in building tablets meant HTC was simply not up to the task. Something has clearly changed Microsoft’s mind, with Bloomberg reporting that HTC is working on two Windows 8 tablets.

One of the Windows 8 RT tablets would have a 7-inch screen and also be capable of being used as a phone. This would be a giant phablet, in effect, dwarfing the 5-inch Samsung Galaxy Note. The other Windows 8 RT tablet from HTC would sport a huge 12-inch screen, making it larger than the full-sized iPad. At least according to the rumor, with both HTC and Microsoft refusing to officially comment on the speculation.

Microsoft is ultra-keen to get more Windows 8 tablets out to the public, and, while it’s likely planning more of its own branded efforts to augment the existing Surface, it also needs other manufacturers to pitch in. HTC will likely see this as a new opportunity to enter the tablet market, having learned its lessons with the short-lived HTC Flyer.

A release date of Q3, 2013 is being eyed for both of HTC’s Windows 8 RT tablets. The company is thought to have scrapped plans to also build a tablet running the full version of Windows 8, mainly due to price it would have had to charge for the device.

Cook’s defence comes as a result of the iPad Mini being more expensive than many were hoping it would be. There were calls from both hopeful consumers and desperate investors for Apple to pitch the iPad Mini at lower than $199, but in the end it was handed a $329 price tag… which is too high to draw in mainstream consumers on a tight budget.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Cook stated:

“A great product doesn’t mean an expensive product. It means a fair price. The iPad mini is all the way down to $329. This isn’t an expensive product. What we wouldn’t do is say, ‘We’ve got to have something for this price, and then let’s see what we can do for it’.”

$329 may not be expensive for the likes of Cook, or even the average Apple fanboy, but it is a price that puts the device out of reach of a fair portion of the population. However, Cook’s second line about not making an effort to hit a particular price point suggests Apple isn’t going to change strategy any time soon.

In some ways this could be seen as a barbed comment against Google and Amazon, both of which are clearly aiming their tablets at the lower end of the market. Sure, hitting a lower price point does mean making some compromises, but both the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD are fine tablets gaining positive reviews. It isn’t as though either company is offering up trash and hoping people make do.

The big problem facing not only Apple but all tablet manufacturers is that tablets are still seen as a luxury item rather than a necessity. And this means price is an important deciding factor. Until tablets are legitimate replacements for desktops and laptops — and that day is approaching fast — it’s hard to justify spending hundreds of dollars on a product you may never use.

China is an important market for tech companies, with consumers in the country having a growing desire for the latest gadgets and the bulging wallets to match. Apple in particular is keen to maximize its growth potential in China, and so has moved quickly to release both the iPad (4th Generation) and iPad Mini in the most populous country in the world.

Apple issued a press release earlier today stating that the 4th generation iPad and the iPad Mini would both be launched in China on Dec. 7, 2012. Pre-orders and reservations will be taken from Dec. 6 onwards. These dates apply to the Wi-Fi-only versions of both devices, with no word yet on when the LTE versions will follow. The iPhone 5 will follow the release of the iPad and iPad Mini on Dec. 14.

Apple has previously stated that China is an increasingly important market for the company, with Tim Cook using the July earnings call to talk up its potential for the future. China is the biggest source of revenue for the company in the region, and has much more potential for growth than North America and Europe where Apple products are already insanely popular.

It should be noted at this juncture that the iPad, the iPad Mini, the iPhone, and every other Apple product is manufactured in China. So it’s surely only right and proper that those same products should actually be available to buy in China. Especially as when they’re held back from being released, cheap imitations flood on to the market instead in order to fill the void.

Demand for the new models is expected to be high from the start, with Apple’s own stores and its legion of authorized resellers likely to be busy for the next few months at least.

The iPad Mini is now out in the wild, with Apple announcing the long-expected smaller version of the iPad on Oct. 23 and releasing it in most of Apple’s markets on Nov. 2. We knew Apple was working on an iPad Mini long before it admitted as much, and most of the rumors turned out to be true too. Including my prediction that it will be more expensive than many were hoping, but that the high price tag won’t hit sales.

One factor people weren’t expecting was the poor quality of the screen. Apple has made a big deal of the Retina Display and how these screens (with too high a number of pixels to make individual ones visible to the naked eye) are the future. And yet the company chose not to include one on the iPad Mini.

The usual mob of Apple fanboys and apologists have tried to make excuses for this decision. John Gruber suggests that the iPad Mini will follow the same pattern as the rest of Apple’s hardware line-up, with a Retina Display added in the third or fourth generation devices. But that suggests the only reason Apple holds off from including the feature is to force people to upgrade every couple of years. Which is shameful.

Another argument suggests that Apple chose to give the iPad Mini a lesser PPI in order to keep power consumption down and avoid the need for a bigger battery. Which in turn kept the weight down. So how come the likes of Google, Amazon, and Samsung have tablets of a similar size with better displays which don’t exactly weigh a ton?

Whatever the reasons behind this decision, the question is whether Apple’s mindset will change in the future. I suspect it will, and the second-generation iPad Mini announced in late-2013 will boast a Retina Display. After all, Apple has to give its fans a legitimate reason to upgrade, or what would be the point?