Tablet Computer, Ipad Mini | featured news

Apple Inc's "iPad mini" will attract new customers but the higher-than-expected price will come as a relief to low-cost tablets such as Amazon.com Inc's Kindle, analysts said, in a muted reaction to the new tablet.

The full-sized iPad is like a hardback book. The new iPad Mini is the paperback version many tablet users have been waiting for.

The smaller device will officially be called the iPad Mini and be priced starting at $329, pricey when compared with popular 7-inch tablets like the Kindle Fire and Nexus 7, which start at $199. The iPad Mini will have a screen slightly smaller than 8 inches -- the original iPad has a screen just under 10 inches -- while having the same screen resolution of the larger version.

The rumors surrounding Apple's press event, scheduled for Oct. 23, are deafening. Will the Cupertino-based company announce a smaller iPad? (It had better.) Will the company offer up a 13-inch MacBook Pro with a Retina display? (Very likely!) How about an Apple-branded coffee maker? (No.)

Wow, tomorrow’s the big/little day when Apple will hopefully unveil the long-rumored iPad mini. Alongside the smaller tablet it’s speculated that we’ll see a few updates to the Mac lineup and a UI update to the popular iBooks app. What has been quietly whispering in the background is the possibility that Apple would tweak the current full-sized iPad by expanding 4G compatibility and swapping out the old 30-pin dinosaur dock in favor of the new Lightning connector debuted at the iPhone 5 launch event last month.

Apple has yet to unveil the iPad mini, but already, a report says exactly how many will be available in time for the holidays.

Rumor is that Apple will hold a very special event on Sept. 12. The general assumption is that Apple will announce the next-generation iPhone and a smaller iPad, but now some are suggesting that the Cupertino-based company will wait until October to talk about what's being dubbed the "iPad Mini" or "iPad Air."

Apple's rumored iPad mini with a 7.85-inch screen will look more like an iPhone than its larger-sized sibling iPad, according to various reports.

Steve Jobs was receptive to Apple Inc making a smaller tablet, a senior executive said in a 2011 email revealed on Friday, fanning speculation that Apple plans to make a mini-iPad and take on Google and Amazon products.

Anticipating huge demand for the Apple iPad mini – a device that the company has yet to announce – Pacific Crest analyst Andy Hargreaves today upped his EPS forecast for the September 2013 fiscal year to $55 a share from $53.