US Edition The iPad mini will start at £269 for a version with Wifi connectivity only and 16GB of storage, compared to £210 for Google's similarly-equipped Nexus 7 or £159 for Amazon’s matching Kindle Fire HD. Industry analysts had expected Apple, which currently dominates the tablet market, to mount a more direct attack on its rival with pricing from around £200.
The device has a screen measuring 7.9 inches diagonally, meaning it represents a U-turn on the views of Apple’s founder Steve Jobs, who died last year. He argued that a smaller tablet would be impractical for many software tasks and that people would have to “sand their fingers down to a quarter of their size”.
His successor Tim Cook and Apple’s long-time marketing chief Phil Schiller however insisted today that, unlike Google and Amazon's 7-inch devices, the iPad mini was still large enough for complicated computing tasks while being small and light enough to hold in one hand.
“This isn't just a shrunken-down iPad,” added Sir Jonathan Ive, Apple’s British head of design. “It's an entirely new design.”
The iPad Mini sticks to Sir Jonathan's strictly monochome color scheme, however.
Apple said the iPad Mini weighs only 0.68 pounds, compared to 1.46 pounds for the full-sized iPad, and is only 7.2 millimetres thick, versus 9.4 millimetres.
At £529, the top-of-the-range version has 64GB of storage and superfast mobile broadband technology, compatible with Britain’s first network, due to be introduced next week. It costs only £130 less than the top full-sized iPad, however, despite lacking the latter’s high definition “Retina” screen.
The apparently high price meant the new Apple device, which will go on sale next month, received a relatively cool reception on Tuesday night. Markets also appeared underwhelmed, with shares in Apple sinking in late afternoon trading after the device’s launch. The shares were down almost 3 per cent at one point, wiping as much as $17bn (£10.6bn) off the value of the tech giant.
“The iPad mini looks like it will probably be a great product, but at £70 more than the Google Nexus 7 and £110 more than the Amazon Kindle Fire, I'm not sure it's worth the extra money for the use you'll get out of it,” said Jason Jenkins, editor of the technology website CNet UK.
Apple also annoyed some customers by updating the full-sized iPad with a new processor and dock connector that is incompatible with most accessories currently available.
The previous, third generation, full-sized iPad was unveiled only six months ago, with many customers signing up to mobile network contracts lasting two years. Apple’s surprise announcement means their gadget has already been superseded, however.
The firm also introduced a new version of its iMac desktop computer only 5 millimetres thick at the edge, achieved partly by removing the DVD drive. Mr Schiller said people who still use DVDs in their computer were "stuck in the past".
Apple also updated its Macbook laptop range with a 13-inch "Retina" display version and improved the performance of its small Mac mini range.