Apple Introduces iPad Mini for a Price Higher Than its Rivals
Just six months after the launch of the third-generation iPad, Apple announced on Tuesday, Oct. 23, the release of iPad Mini which sports a thinner and lighter design.
It will be recalled that Apple’s late founder Steve Jobs expressed his objection for small tablets because he thinks the smaller screen would make it hard for the users to hit the buttons with their fingers. He once described the 7-inch tablets as “tweeners” that are “too big to compete with smartphones and too small to compete with an iPad.”
Now that Apple enters the small-tablet market dominated by Amazon.com Inc.’s Kindle Fire, does that mean the company is about ready to get into a mini tablet price war?
Apparently, no. That’s because Apple is selling its iPad Mini at $329 and up — a price higher than its competition.
According to Apple’s website, iPad Mini is available for pre-order at the Apple Online Store beginning October 26, and will arrive in Apple Retail Stores on Nov. 2.
The iPad Mini weighs 0.68 pounds, half the weight of the full-sized iPad model with the 9.7-inch screen. It sports a 7.9-inch display, FaceTime HD and iSight cameras, ultrafast wireless performance, and 10 hours of battery life. The screen resolution is 1024 by 768 pixels, similar to the iPad 2. Although it doesn’t have that superior Retina display, there’s nothing you can do on the bigger iPad that you can’t do with the Mini.
Another advantage of the iPad Mini, according to a report on India Today, is that it comes with better apps and easier to use than its rivals, such as Google’s Nexus.