iPad Mini set to debut Oct. 23, arrive on doorsteps Nov. 2: report
Apple will likely take the wraps off the iPad Mini at an event in Calif. on Tuesday, Oct. 23. The Mini would hit store shelves a little more than a week after that.
A man uses his Apple iPad tablet as he sits at a restaurant in Rome in late September.
Reuters
All signs point to an iPad Mini, possibly as soon as soon as Nov. 2.
As we noted earlier this week, Apple has already sent out invitations for an Oct. 23 event at the California Theater in San Jose. Apple hasn't specified exactly what product it will show off at the press conference, although it doesn't take much to read between the lines. The invitation, after all, is emblazoned with a single line of text: "We've got a little more to show you."
Emphasis on the "little."
"We’re now hearing that [the iPad Mini, or whatever Apple calls it,] will ship a week and a half after that unveiling," Darrell Etherington of TechCrunch writes today.
That makes sense: Nov. 2 was the same date mentioned by Fortune Magazine and 9to5mac.com. Moreover, a late October unveiling and an early November launch would position the iPad Mini perfectly for the upcoming holiday shopping season.
As a bonus, it would also steal some limelight from Microsoft and the impending release of Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8.
The iPad Mini is widely expected to get a 7.85-inch screen and an A5 processor – but not the high-resolution "Retina Display" that was included on the latest iteration of the full-size iPad.
In related news, rumors continue to circulate about the introduction of a new 13-inch MacBook Pro with a Retina Display – a device that may also be unveiled on Oct. 23. But over at Gizmodo, Jesus Diaz warns Apple fanboys and fangirls not to get their hopes up.
"Apple has a history of focusing these events on one single major product, mentioning other products' minor updates in passing as garnish," he writes. "It's unlikely that they would deviate from their core announcement with something as significant as a 13-inch MacBook Pro Retina.We're betting that this announcement would come along side the news that all Macbooks are going Retina – probably next year. But you can always dream!"
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