I’m liking this new 7.9-inch iPad mini, introduced by Apple along with a faster and sleeker iPad 4.
It’s all for the holiday shopping market, of course. But the mini sets up a great tablet war with the Amazon Kindle Fire and the Google Nexus 7, both of which cost $200.
The iPad mini starts at $129 more – the 16GB Wi-Fi model goes for $329, 32GB is $429, and 64GB is $529; adding LTE cellular data ups the price to $459, $559, or $659, respectively.
Surveys show price is not nearly as big a consideration for tablet buyers as features and functionality. And with 275,000 applications available for the iPad, first time tablet buyers this season, I predict, will naturally gravitate to the iPad mini. The competition doesn’t come close to the Apple app library.
You can order one starting on Friday, October 26. Apple says the iPad mini will start shipping November 2.
As for the iPad 4, the changes are cosmetic – a new smaller power connector and a faster processor. Prices for the big iPad haven’t changed.