Apple is developing a low-cost iPad, which could appear in early 2012, says Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White.

White calls it an "iPad mini," because he thinks it will be priced in the "mid-to-high $200 range." The size of the iPad mini could be exactly the same, White doesn't necessarily think it's smaller*.

The iPad mini would help Apple fend off the challenge of Amazon's $200 Kindle Fire.

Following the cheaper iPad, Apple is going to release an IPad 3 which will have to be more powerful and sell at Apple's traditional price points, says White.

He thinks the iPad mini comes out in Q1 of 2012 and the iPad 3 is out in Q2.

White picked up this iPad news while traveling around China and Taiwan talking to suppliers and Asian smartphone manufacturers. 

*His exact wording: "'The 'mini' refers to a reduced price point of this ipad and not necessarily the size of the device." Why use the word mini? Why not "lite"?
