Apple iPads launching on Thursday October 16th 2014 - Apple No. 2 in Gold with Touch ID as Chinese Tablets, Phablets, Microsoft Surface and Google Chromebook Competition grow

It’s official dear Reader, the Apple iPad Air 2 and Apple iPad Mini 3 are set to launch on Thursday October 16^th 2014 as per the invitation shown below that was sent on Wednesday October 8^th 2014.

This as announced in the article “Apple Sends Out Invites For October 16 iPad And Mac Event”, published 8th October 2014, by Darrell Etherington, TechCrunch. The Event is set to take place on at Apple’s Town Hall Theater in Cupertino at 1 Infinite Loop Drive and may see more than just Apple iPads being launched as stated in the article “Apple sets Oct. 16 event, with new iPad, Macs likely”, published October 8, 2014 9:05 AM PDT by Shara Tibken, CNET News.

It's smaller than the Flint Center for the Performing Arts where the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus launch as detailed in my blog article entitled “Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus - No Sapphire Screen but 128GB Storage and NFC-powered Apple Pay in Apple's Biggest iPhone Launch” took place and may be a more cozy, personal affair.

It's expected that some other products will be on display:

1.      Mac OS X Yosemite software for computers

2.      Macintosh PC

3.      iMacs

Apple iPads are coming - Gold Option and Touch ID as iPad Mini et al competes with iPhone 6 Plus

Last year when Apple had launched the Apple iPad 5, which got rebranded the Apple iPad Air and the Apple iPad Mini 2 on Tuesday October 22^nd 2014 as stated in my blog article entitled “Apple iPad Air, the World’s Lightest Tablet launched in Silver, Space Grey, White - Christmas smartphone and Tablet Battle Royale as Winter is Coming”, I was expecting Apple iPads with a Gold colour and Touch ID.

Instead, we were treated to a Silver and Grey and White Apple iPad which also had gotten a lot thinner to the point it got a new name; the Apple iPad Air.

Additionally, no Touch ID Sensor like the Apple iPhone 5S and 5C that had been launched on Tuesday September 10^th  2013 as stated in my blog article entitled “Apple has launched the Apple iPhone 5S and 5C on Tuesday September 10th 2013 - Apple iPhone Strategy is to Go Global to beat Samsung”, making this Apple iPad Launch the year that it definitely will arrive on the iPad.

I’m also expecting some serious hardware upgrades aside from the aesthetic changes as touted in the article “iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3: Apple issues invites to October 16 event”, published October 8, 2014 By Malarie Gokey, DigitalTrends falling in step with the Apple iPhone 6 and the Apple iPhone 6 Plus. These improved specs include:

1.      32, 64, and 128GB storage options

2.      Apple A8 dual-core, 64-bit processor

3.      Rear Facing 8 Megapixel Camera

4.      Front Facing 1.2 Megapixel Camera

5.      9.7" screen with 2,048 x 1,536 pixels resolution on the Apple iPad Air 2

6.      Apple iOS, the correctly working version on both iPads

Somehow, I just don't see Apple Pay or Apple Healthkit on the Apple iPad, being as its size makes it unwieldy and that already covered by the Apple Watch. Even more interesting is that the 5.5" Apple iPhone 6 Plus may also compete against the 7.9" Apple iPad Mini 3, being as they're very close in size, making them competitors more than separate products.

Apple iPad Sales falling - New Design to bolster their Second Biggest money maker

Smaller cheaper Tablets and the growing but unlikely trend of phablets are already eating away at Apple's Tablet marketshare based on the stats from IDC and NPD Group as state in my blog article entitled “IDC and NPD Group record Tablet Decline and Phablet Rise - “White Box” Chinese Tablets and Wearable Computing in First Quarter of 2014 making Tablets obsolete in the Year of the Sheep”.

In fact, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, the magical products record setting growth pace is now over, as these same “White Box” Chinese Tablets  and phablets sap its growth spurt as noted in the article “Apple’s iPad sales are not so magical after all”, published April 24, 2014 6:06 PM PDT by Shara Tibken, CNET News.

The Sales figures for the Second Fiscal Quarter of 2014 are telling:

1.      16.4 million iPads, less than the 9 million expected by analysts

2.      19.5 million sold in the Second Fiscal Quarter of 2013

3.      The Second Quarter of 2014, the most recent sales stats are below expectation already:

4.      9% decline in iPad sales

5.      13.3 iPads sold, less than the 14.4 million expected

In the Fourth Quarter of 2013, bolstered by Christmas sales, the Apple iPad sold some 26 million iPads. That's the last time the Apple iPad has seen such stellar Christmas figures; since June 2013 Apple's sales have been declining 4% year-on-year.

Apple iPad’s competition – Bigger Apple iPad to face Microsoft Surface 3 Pro and Chromebooks

So whatever Apple is coming with, they’re gotta pull out a cute fluffy White Rabbit with the Big Guns to wow the crowd just like Steve Jobs did back in 2010 when he’d first launched this “magical” device.

Some of these cheaper Tablets competition are well known brands priced below US$250 in price on Amazon as I'd pointed out in my blog article entitled “US$250 Tablets on Amazon – How 7” Tablets Trend means they’ll be your Christmas Gift”.

They also have to make the Apple iPad productive for more than just Graphics Arts people and those wishing to share documents without printing.

This as Microsoft Surface 3 is now looking more like a solid alternative to the Apple iPad and Laptops in general as stated in my blog article entitled “Microsoft launches Surface Pro 3 - Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 puts Kibosh on Tablets with Apple having to make a larger Keyboard iPad” , especially as its packing Office 365 and Microsoft OneDrive.

Apple may thus be planning to debut a third Tablet in the 14” to 15” range with a case that has a built in keyboard and preloaded with Microsoft Office 365 as noted in my blog article entitled “Apple rumoured to be making a Laptop sized Tablet with a Built in Keyboard - Windows 8 Microsoft Surface and Chromebooks Barbarians after Bill Gates Rising Tide”.

I would not be surprised, especially as they’ve done the same thing with the Apple iPhone 6 Plus, effectively placing themselves in the phablet market as noted in my blog article entitled “Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus - No Sapphire Screen but 128GB Storage and NFC-powered Apple Pay in Apple's Biggest iPhone Launch”.

Aside from Microsoft, they’ve got competition from the Google Chromebook, which may gradually be eroding their marketshare as they head for tripe their less than 1% of the PC market by 2017 as predicted in my blog article entitled “Chromebooks Sales to Triple by 2017 – How Rapid Sales Heaven for PC Makers means Apple iPad and Microsoft Surface Pro 3 under attack”

Such a product, though far-fetched, makes sense as Tablets sales are falling and making the Apple iPad productive would attract new users of the product.

Either that or they can gradually watch their No. 2 moneymaker after the Apple iPhone in terms of Sales and iTunes App purchases be eroded by smaller, nimbler “White Box” Chinese Tablets and Phablets this Christmas season.