Apple iPad Mini
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Apple Inc is expected to launch its much-hyped iPad Mini at an event in California on Tuesday.

Interestingly, Steve Jobs, the then chief executive of Apple was against the idea of coming out with a smaller iPad, but stiff competition from 7-inches tablets like Amazon's Kindle Fire and Google's Nexus 7 seemed to have forced the Cupertino giant to go against the wishes of the man behind the company's success.

iPad Mini Launch Information:

iPad Mini is expected to be unveiled at California Theatre, San Jose, on Oct 23. The presentation would start at 10:30 PM IST (10 AM PDT).

The Cupertino giant, which launched iPhone 5 last month, has invited the press for the event. It didn't mention whether its much-hyped iPad Mini will be released but its invitation which read "We've got a little more to show you" suggests that the company is launching something new.

iPad Mini Specs:

Apple is tight-lipped about its new smaller and cheaper iPad but rumours are doing the rounds that it will feature a screen measuring 7.85 inches (19.9 centimeters) on the diagonal with a retina display as against a 9.7-inch LED-backlit IPS TFT display of iPad 3. It is expected to run on iOS 6 and feature 3G and 4G LTE connectivity.

The new iPad Mini is expected to feature the new A6 chipset with a quad core processor, 8-megapixel rear camera, Wi-Fi, 3G versions, Thunderbolt port, NFC and others, according to Northern Voices Online.

Apple has not revealed the specs of its new iPad but the rumoured features are expected to turn out true like in the case of the recently launched iPhone 5. The pre-release speculations around the new iPhone, including the features and specs, were true when it was launched last month.

iPad Mini Pricing:

Apple sells iPad 2 for $399 and iPad 3 starts at $499. Its rivals like Kindle Fire and Nexus 7 start at $159 and $199, respectively. A survey by Baird Equity Research found out that the ideal starting price would fall in the $249-$299 range.

However, Mobile Geeks reported that it uncovered a screenshot of the leaked pricing of the iPad Mini in Euros, showing the WiFi-only iPad Mini 8GB priced at €250 Euros ($325).

The 3G and WiFi 8GB iPad Mini is priced at €350 ($450), 16GB WiFi model costs €349 ($450), 16GB 3G model is priced at €449 ($580), 32GB models at €549 ($710) and the 64GB model at €649 ($840), reported Mobile Geeks.