Like this, only smaller. Image via CrunchBase
The iPad Mini might be coming sooner than we thought. We’ve recently heard that production of Apple’s smaller tablet computer might already be under way, which is a good thing if this recent report from AllThingsD is true: it’s saying that Apple plans to announce the iPad mini at a special event on Oct. 23. Not for nothing, that’s three days before the Microsoft Surface hits stores.
Early reports aren’t as complete as what we heard about the iPhone 5—for all intents and purposes, we had already seen that product long before its announcement. We do know that the iPad mini will, naturally, be a little smaller, maybe a little thinner, with a lower resolution and a lower price. This is clearly the wide net that Apple will use to father customers who don't want to shell out for a new iPad.
This isn’t the sort of announcement that’s likely to “blow our minds” or anything like that. This is the kind of product that expands Apple’s product line without fundamentally altering it, and I think we can expect to see more of these in the future. Now that Apple has established tent-poles, it stands to gain a lot by widening the customer base with products like the iPad mini. And so, while it won’t have tech blogs salivating, and won't provide the sort of wild stock fluctuations that the iPhone 5 did, I’d expect this to be a slow and steady win.
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