>* And the main distinguishing feature of that new 9/12 device? A form factor very close to Samsung's last two flagship models.* You mean "a bigger screen"? W

>* And the main distinguishing feature of that new 9/12 device? A form factor very close to Samsung's last two flagship models.* You mean "a bigger screen"? Well, it could have had even less distinguishing factors and it would have been just fine in my books. They created that kind of design, it's not like they have to differentiate for the sake of differentiation. Incremental cpu/memory/storage/batter upgrades are OK too. >And that new iPad mini everybody's so excited about? Copying a form factor that Samsung pioneered and Amazon and Google validated. Maybe next Apple will copy the Note? They actually had prototypes in various sizes years before Samsung, Amazon or Google ever thought of going into the tablet space, or even the original iPad come out. Plus, Apple created the mass market for tablets. Before the iPad it was a wasteland with few inhabitants. Samsung taking the iPad and offering something similar in a smaller form factor is something original, really? And Apple making a smaller version of THEIR OWN PRODUCT is copying Samsung? That's some twisted logic. >So who exactly is copying whom here? Samsung. They copied the iPod in a smaller form factor, and now Apple will offer a small form factor themselves. Should Apple preemptively put out all possible form factors at once, to not be considered a copycat? That's some twisted logic here. It's not like Apple didn't already have a smaller form factor device that was similar. Remember when they called the iPad (mockingly) "a large iPhone"?