iPad mini Launch Tipped for Oct. 23, Stealing Windows 8 Thunder
Oct 12, 2012 09:35 AM EDT by Brad Chacos, LAPTOP Contributor 
October 10th, the supposed day that iPad mini announcement event invites were going to be delivered, came and went with nary a peep from Apple. Well, it looks like we all may have circled the wrong date on our collective calendar, which could be bad news for Microsoft.
Multiple sources tell AllThingsD that Apple still plans to pull back the curtain on the iPad mini later this month, but they peg October 23rd as the big day, rather than the previously rumored October 17th. The insiders stayed mum as to the exact event location.
If that date holds true, Apple could be postponing the announcement to steal a bit of thunder from the widely anticipated arrival of Windows 8, and perhaps more importantly, Microsoft’s self-made (and impressive looking) Microsoft Surface tablet. Microsoft’s slate is slated to hit store shelves on October 26th, just three days after the alleged announce date of the iPad mini.
Several sources have claimed the iPad mini is already in mass production in Asian factories. Apple’s new tablet supposedly sports a 7.85-inch non-Retina display and an eight-pin Lightning connector, but it might lack a 4G LTE radio because of Apple’s quest for affordability.
Image credit: Sonny Dickson
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October 18th, 2012 at 5:18 pm
Stealing their thunder? I don’t know a single person excited for the ipad mini. I know a lot of fanboys, and I’d guess half have overtly said they probably wouldn’t buy one because it won’t be useful for anything they can’t do on their ipad or their iphone.
Unless it’s $250, a majority aren’t going to buy a 3rd tweener device just to read their books.
On the other hand, there are a lot of people that have been waiting for a real full fledged OS experience on a tablet.
October 20th, 2012 at 10:15 pm
…except that Surface is not going to ship with a full fledged OS this month. WinRT is just as limited as iOS, with a LOT less apps. Surface Pro with the full Win 8 version will probably come out at the end of next quarter.
I’m going to wait and see regarding Surface and Win 8. My already obsolete 6 months old Win Phone 7 left a very bitter taste in my mouth. For now my money’s still on Android. As great as WinRT UI is, services like Bing Search and Bing Maps just can’t be compared with Google’s offering.