Apple Refreshes Ipad Lineup

By Author: qiong zhang
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At an event here Tuesday, Apple showed off a new full-size tablet—now called iPad Air—that is thinner and slimmed down to one pound. It also revealed an updated iPad Mini with a faster processor and a sharper display.Just as important, Apple's new holiday lineup lowers the entry price for the cheapest iPads to below $300 for the first time. Apple said it will sell a range of tablets starting with last year's iPad Mini for $299, up to the new iPad Air, which starts at $499. That brings Apple closer in line with

Apple also said it would offer for free access to its vocaloid cosplay costumes iWork productivity suite, which competes with Microsoft Corp.'s MSFT -1.17% Office, and iLife photo, movie and music making apps for customers buying new devices. The company used to charge between $4.99 and $9.99 for each program.

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Following the announcements, Apple's Chief Executive Tim Cook said the changes amounted to "the biggest iPad announcement ever, by a large margin."

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... technical specs, coupled with free software, may help Apple appeal to more customers, particularly students and small businesses, said Patrick Moorhead, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. "You're not paying extra money for the brand, you're getting real technology to back it up," he said.

The new iPads and changing software strategy come at a critical trafalgar law costume time for the Cupertino, Calif., gadget maker. For the first time, Apple sold fewer iPads in the three months ended in June than the same period a year earlier. Rivals including South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co.