It’s been two days since October 10th – the day CNN Fortune claimed that Apple would be sending out invites to press members for their announcement event for the iPad mini. Now, a new report has emerged online on a related topic: the day Apple will actually be holding the event itself.
It comes from a very reliable online publication, so you will want to check out the details after the jump.
The report comes from AllThingsD’s John Paczkowski who cites “people familiar with Apple’s plans” who claim that Apple will be holding a special media event later this month on October 23rd where a smaller iPad will be revealed.
Paczkowski’s sources have been reliable in the past. If memory serves me correctly, he was the first to point towards October 4th, 2011 and the first week of March, 2012 as the date for the announcement for the iPhone 4S and iPad 3 respectively, which as we all know turned out to be very much true.
The sources provided no other information about the event; Paczkowski believes that the event will be held at Town Hall Auditorium on the company’s own campus in Cupertino, CA instead of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.
Based on rumors, reports and general speculation, the iPad “mini” – as most like to call it – will essentially be a smaller iPad 2. Think: dual-core A5 chip, low-resolution dual cameras, and a 1024 x 768 display. The size of this display, however, will likely be 7.85”.
At that size, the iPad mini will be directly competing around the likes of the Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire HD – the current kings of small, economical tablets.
Apple does currently sell a cheaper, $399 iPad 2 but it’s still a very significant $200 above what the aforementioned tablets sell for. The company will have to lower base price of its smaller iPad to around $249 or, at max, $299 to see strong sales.
This is the first time in many years that Apple is following a trend instead of setting one the way they did with the original iPhone and iPad (capacitive multi-touch display with easy to use interface).
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