I’m sure that most of you already know this (heck, it’s been rumoured for months), so I’ll be brief. So Apple announced the iPad Mini today at a conference. It’s going to be released on November 2nd, at a price of $329 in North America. The unit itself is 7.9 inches (compared to the new iPads, which are 9.7 inches), and is about $100 cheaper. Apple says that it’s battery life is up to 10 hours, though your mileage may vary.
Personally, I find it a bit odd that Apple would release a version of their product that is of competitive price, because if you’ve read up on Apple, you know that they don’t do “re-imagining” of their products. They tend to release one product after another. Actually, it reminds me of what Nintendo used to do with their Game Boy line many moons ago (Game Boy Pocket, Color Game Boy, Game Boy Light, which were all essentially the same product, just priced at lower costs). It also reminds me of Apple’s Apple ][ line (Apple II Plus, Apple IIe, and the like).
With the competition from Microsoft (Surface), and Android tablets, it would make sense for Apple to release an iPad that was more competitive in price. Will this make me jump onto the iPad bandwagon? It’s hard to say. For one, it doesn’t have retina display, and it’s processor is a little slower (the iPad 2 A5 processor). Do I wait until the iPad Mini 2? I guess that only time will tell. One thing is for certain though: with the holiday season coming up, they’ll be no tablet shortage.
What do you think about the iPad Mini? Will you be buying it this holiday season?
The Game Babbler 