Why Buy?
Portability and affordability. Perfect for those who don't want to shell out $500 for the larger device. Affordable for kids. Potentially education-friendly depending on textbook integration from third-party publishers.
iPad Mini Form Factor
-7.8-inch Display (Existing iPad is 9.7 inches, and most notable iPad competitors including Google's Nexus 7 and the Amazon Kindle Fire are 7 inches)
-1,024x768-pixel resolution (similar to the iPad 2, but not as robust as the third generation iPad
-Up to 24 different colors. Candy varieties like the iPod series.
-Likely maintain the 4X3 Aspect Ratio of existing iPads. This means apps you run current iPads will display in similar form. This is different than the new iPhone, where apps not yet updated display "letterbox" framing to fill out the extra space.
Features:
-Front and rear camera
-1080p video recording
-Siri
-Jury is still out on Retina Display and 4G Connectivity
-Perhaps something exclusive to the device, to make Apple addicts feel as if they need to buy the product.
-New lightning connector found in the iPhone 5 and new iPod touch.
-New headphones
Release Date: Most indications pointing to November 2
Price
Could be as low as $249. (Existing iPad is as low as $499. Competitors like Nexus and Kindle Fire are $200). There will likely be multiple versions with more storage that will cost more.
Apps
-As noted above, virtually all apps that work on the iPad or are universal to the iPad and iPhone will work on the iPad Mini.
Market/Industry Implications
Even though Apple may be cannibalizing sales of the existing iPads when it introduces the iPad Mini, the company is more focused on preserving a dominant market share. Android tablets like the Nexus and Kindle Fire, and the new Microsoft Surface tablet have been slowly picking up market share primarily because of the significantly lower price. Apple believes that if people are going to want to pay less for smaller tablets, it may as well be their product.
More information at Appolicious.com
