Today Apple announced that the iPad mini will be available for pre-order this Friday, October 26th and ship on Friday, November 2nd. What you may have missed is that this launch timeframe applies to Wi-Fi-only iPad mini models. If you want to buy an iPad mini that’s equipped with cellular data, then you’ll have to wait a few more weeks.
If you weren’t able to watch the entire iPad Mini keynote live, Apple has just added the video to their website and you can watch it at this link whenever you want. Another option is to download the video via iTunes at the following links:
There always seems to be an echo of people on the Internet that are disappointed after an each Apple event. Maybe it’s those people’s own fault because they hyped the products up too much in their minds before actually seeing them. Or maybe Apple’s under-delivered a little bit on the iPad Mini.
I plan to buy an iPad Mini on November 2nd (mostly because I just sold my iPad 3 last night), but part of me wishes the iPad Mini was just a little bit better. I wish it either had a better processor, a better display, or a better price. If Apple had improved just one of those three things a little bit then I’d be warp-drive enthusiastic about it. But after the unveil, the iPad Mini doesn’t look more compelling than a Kindle Fire or Nexus 7, other than that it runs iOS 6.
What do you think about the iPad Mini? Are you excited? Disappointed? Or is everything just as you thought it would be? We’d love to hear y’alls reactions, so head over to the forums and let us hear them.
Click here to share your reaction to the iPad Mini in the Cult of Mac Forums
Apple announced the iPad mini today, a smaller iPad model that starts at $329 for a 16G model. Along with the new form factor and a lightning connector cable, Apple is also making Smart Covers for the new iOS device. You can see them right on the Apple Store website.
As it says in the official Apple Press release, the iPad mini Smart Cover will be available in six colors, including dark gray, blue, green, pink, light gray, and (PRODUCT) RED. It will cost $39 and fit that sweet new Wi-Fi iPad mini you can pre-order on October 26, purchase in an Apple retail store on November 2. The Wi-Fi + Cellular models will show up mid-November.
Source: Apple
A few days after the iPhone 5 was released to the public – just a few weeks ago – people started commenting on how thin and light it was. “You really have to pick it up and feel it in your hands,” was a common thread of these comments. Sure, it looked amazing: but it felt amazing too.
Today’s announcements are a direct continuation of the theme that began with the iPhone 5, and set the tone for the next generation of Apple hardware. From now on, Apple’s message is clear: “No-one does thin like we do.”
It’s got to be tough making cases and other accessories for Apple products. While it may seem that everyone knows everything about the new iPad mini already, the truth is that the actual specifications of the product are unknown by anyone except Apple and its manufacturing partners in China.
An accessory maker who wants to create an iPad mini case, for example, is hard pressed to know what to make, what size and shape to make it, and what type of person is going to want it, especially at first. The stakes are high, considering that a well-designed case that makes it to market at the same time as the iPad mini will be the one that most people choose.
We spoke to Marware’s Director of Marketing, Ronnie Khadaran, who opened up about the process his company went through to design its new iPad mini cases and accessories.
Saying that it will allow users to use the iPad in places and environments they never could before, the iPad mini is the smallest and lightest device yet.
Apple switched gears for the iPad Mini event. Rather than holding it at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco they’re holding it at the California Theater in San Jose and the theater is amazingly gorgeous.
We wouldn’t mind if all future Apple keynotes were held here. Check out these pictures Apple’s been showing off on the live stream the last few minutes:
Apple isn’t expected to make the iPad mini available for sale until Friday, November 2nd, but that hasn’t stopped case manufacturers like HardCandy from already promoting their new cases for the rumored tablet. The HardCandy ShockDrop iPad mini case is set to ship on October 25th, which is more than a week before Apple is even expected to sell the tablet itself.
HardCandy also released an iPhone “5” case last year before Apple released the iPhone 4S, and the case didn’t fit the device at all. Here’s to hoping the leaked dimensions for the iPad mini prove to be reliable this time around.
Here it is: the iPad mini, shown in the flesh and fully constructed in this new video by E-Trade supply.
Disingenuously, the video is called a “Power-On” test but I’m pretty sure that this unit isn’t actually functional, since it looks to me like that boot-up logo at the end is simply superimposed.
Either way, though, this is a really good comparison video, and gives a great feel for what the iPad mini will actually feel like in your hand… where it will be very, very soon.
The iPad mini hasn’t even been officially announced yet, but we all know it’s coming, right? But here’s the bigger question of the morning – are you already planning on buying an iPad mini even though you don’t really know what it’s going to look like or how much it will cost?
The smaller form factor of the iPad mini is really appealing to me, so I’m already thinking I’ll ditch my iPad 3 for the iPad mini, but is it lunacy to plan to buy a gadget you know so little about? Is anyone here in the same boat? We want to hear about your iPad mini purchasing plans this morning, so come on over and let’s talk.
Apple probably didn’t invite you to today’s iPad mini event, but that doesn’t mean you have to feel left out. You can get your own novelty iPad mini event Passbook ticket right on your iPhone so you can feel like you’re totally legit.
To get the iPad mini event ticket, just open this link in Safari. If you’re opening the link from an iOS device, iOS 6 will automatically preview the ticket and allow you to import it into Passbook.
Here’s what the ticket looks like:
Apple is expected to unveil a new, smaller iPad today, October 23rd, 2012, at 10AM ET/1PM PST, with a launch of the device expected for sale on November 2. Invites to the event were sent out last week.
This is the most anticipated iPad release yet, bringing the apples-and-oranges competition between Amazon’s Kindle Fire and the newly-releaced Google Nexus 7 to a boil just in time for the holiday gift-giving season of 2012. We’re all extremely excited to see what this heavily rumored new form factor will bring to the table, and how Apple will position the device in its already spectacularly successful line of iOS devices.
The iPad 2 was announced in March of 2011, with the new iPad (not the iPad 3, as we all assumed) was revealed in March of 2012. The iPad 2 broke the thinness barrier of the iPad one, and brought faster CPU and graphics enhancements, while the iPad 3 upped the ante to Retina-quality resolution and a faster, warmer CPU.
What will the iPad mini do to convince us all we need yet one more of Cupertino’s magical devices in our households? In this Cult of Mac rumor roundup, we’ll examine everything we think we know about the iPad Mini.
Sharp has been hard at work on a new display technology known as IGZO which looks set to be a perfect solution for mobile devices. Not only does it offer higher touch sensitivity, but it’s so energy efficient it can triple the battery life of devices. We’ve been expecting Apple to use IGZO displays for some time, but reports have suggested that Sharp simply cannot make them quick enough to meet the demand of Apple’s consumers. However, it seems that’s all changed.
Just hours ahead of Apple’s iPad mini event in San Jose, Sharp has announced that it soon expects sales of its IGZO displays to surge.
Apple will hold a media event at 10AM PT/1PM ET today, October 23rd at the California Theatre in San Jose. Select members of the press will gather to see the “little more” Apple has up its sleeve for the holiday season. The rumored iPad mini is expected to be announced as well as new Mac hardware and iTunes 11.
Wondering what all Apple will announce this time around? Here’s what you can expect to see at tomorrow’s event:
The Apple Store is down. As usual, Apple’s replaced it with a blank page and a little sticky note that say’s “We’ll be back.” But if Apple ever decided to be a bit more honest, the sticky note would look a lot more like the one in the picture above.
Source: Reddit
It seems like every time Apple has an event we all go through the same routine and emotions. You load your browser with the all the regular sites. You tweet the same witty lines. You feel disappointment in the newest product. Then the reality distortion field kicks in and you start hungering for it all the sudden.
Joy of Tech created an excellent Apple Event Checklist that knows exactly what you’re going to go through tomorrow. It’s going to be great. It’s going to be horrible. Here’s the full list:
When two of the biggest companies in tech are hardcore frememies, it’s nearly impossible to find the middle ground to reconcile. Samsung and Apple are trying to break things off entirely, even though they need each other.
In the latest news on their breakup, Samsung has said that they will end their LCD panel supply relationship with Apple as of next year. The stated reason behind Samsung breaking ties with Apple is that Apple’s supply pricing strategy provides Samsung with insufficient margins.
When Apple unveiled the third-generation iPad earlier this year, it reduced the price of the iPad 2 to just $399 in an effort to provide fans with a more affordable option, and to stave off the competition from cheaper Android slates as much as it could. But with the iPad mini set to make its debut tomorrow, will there still be a need for the iPad 2?
One analyst thinks not.
Apple’s upcoming iPad mini media event will be held at an unusual location, the California Theatre in San Jose, California. Instead of typical locations like the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco or Apple’s own Town Hall, the company is branching out and presenting in a venue it hasn’t used in 7 years.
As usual, the venue was decorated for Tuesday’s event over the weekend. Here are some pictures of Apple’s swanky signage:
The iPad mini will be announced next October 23rd, but when’s it actually going on sale? Common sense and looking at what Apple has done in the past would dictate November 2nd, which is what previous internet rumor suggested. Now we’re hearing confirmation of that date from loftier sources.
Each time Apple releases a new operating system, or new product, they publish a digital support manual for that device relative to the newest version of iOS or OS X. When “the new iPad” was released on March 15th, Apple published the user guide. Ditto for the iPhone 5. And each time a new version of iOS comes out, those guides are updated and published again.
All Apple user guides are up-to-date, except the iPad user guide, which hasn’t been touched since March. Some eagle-eyed observers have wondered why a month has passed since iOS 6’s release without Apple updating it, and it’s probably because Apple’s waiting for the iPad Mini keynote.
Apple’s upcoming iPad mini is set to shake up the tablet industry for a second time later this month. Its 9.7-inch tablet is the king of premium slates, and the smaller model is expected to dominate the entry-level market. But it won’t just cost rivals like Amazon and Google — it’ll cost Apple, too. You see, for every five iPad minis sold, the Cupertino company is expected to lose one 9.7-inch iPad sale.
If we were to name our most anticipated iOS game, it would easily be Epic’s upcoming Infinty Blade: Dungeons, a spin-off of the popular franchise that takes Infinity Blade’s existing world and makes a Diablo-like action RPG out of it. Epic and Apple have been showing off Dungeons since May, and we even thought there was a good chance it would be released after the iPhone 5 keynote.
It wasn’t, and unfortunately, it doesn’t look like it will be released after next week’s iPad mini keynote either. In fact, it won’t even ship this year.
By the time the new iPad Mini is announced next week I’m sure someone is going to be able to almost assemble a complete model with leaked components and supplier parts, just like they did with the iPhone 5. The latest leak to hit the Internet claims to show the screen that will be used for the iPad Mini.
Some assumed that the iPad Mini would take after the iPhone 5 and use a 16:9 ratio, but the leaked iPad Mini LCD has a 4:3 ratio and is running on a 16.7Whr battery. Here’s a peak at the screen: