The iPad mini is finally here. The device was launched in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s live event in San Jose, California. The new tablet has a 7.85 inch screen as opposed to the 9.7 inch screen of the regular iPad. The device was announced by Phil Schiller, VP of Worldwide Marketing, today. The sleek specs of the device include a 7.2 mm thin thickness, which is 23-25 percent thinner than its big brother. iPad mini comes with a light body, that weighs only 0.8lbs. The screen resolution is the same as iPad 2, at 1024 x 768, which assures that the same apps can run with equal efficiency and graphics resolution on the smaller screen. The available colors are black and white.
At the event, Phil Schiller unveiled the new product by saying, “This isn’t just a shrunken down iPad.”
The iPad mini runs on the latest iOS 6 version and the storage capacity is 16 GB. The price announced for iPad mini was $329, the regular iPad 2 is sold at around $600 so the price cut is a huge edge for the company. Shipping will start from Nov 2. The smaller iPad can compete with Amazon’s Kindle series and Google’s many tablets, which are priced at a lower range and have been posing serious competition for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). Google’s Nexus 7 tab is sold at $200.
The launch of iPad mini comes at a time when Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has been haunted by its map fiasco, which resulted in consistent deceleration in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s stock. Apple expects to sell large numbers of the iPad mini. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) sold 17 million iPads in the its last fiscal quarter, while the total iPads sold to date have now equaled 100 million units in just 2.5 years.
