However, IDC has indicated that this shift may not be permanent as the iPad Mini could help Apple pull back some of its customers and regain the lost market share. The only drawback could be the steep pricing of their 7-inch offering in the tablet market. The high price puts the iPad Mini all by itself as competitors have already started offering price cuts on their models. Barnes & Noble brought down the price of the Nook Tablet to $159 for the 8GB model and $179 for its 16GB model. To make matters more difficult for Apple, Microsoft entered into the tablet space with its own offering, the Surface, and we wait to see what other hardware partners of Microsoft will bring out with the latest Windows 8 and Windows RT. It just might manage to create a niche of its own in the tablet space – giving consumers a cheaper option to laptops with similar computing prowess.
