iPad Mini Release Date Announced, Apple Sends Out Invites for Oct. 23 Event, Will Compete with Microsoft Surface

Oct 16, 2012 03:19 PM EDT | Matt Mercuro

Invitations for the event Apple is hosting where most believe the company will discuss or showcase the new iPad mini arrived to members of the media today.

The invitation simply features one line which says "We've got a little more to show you" which most are speculating to mean the company is planning on introducing the iPad mini.

All kinds of rumors have circulated since Apple announced they would be hosting the event on Oct. 23, the biggest one being that the screen will be 7.85 inches.

Invitations arrived the same day Microsoft made their Surface tablet available for preorder online. The Surface is expected to rival Apple's iPad directly throughout the rest of the year. The cost for the new Surface and the iPad are almost exactly the same.

"These competitors have a tough enough time competing against the 10-inch iPad," said Shaw Wu, an analyst, in an interview with Bloomberg News last week. "A smaller less expensive iPad Mini will make the competition even tougher. It tells you how hard it is to beat Apple. These other companies have to either lose money or break even on these products."

While the Microsoft Surface is a threat to the iPad mini, its biggest competition would probably be the Kindle Fire. Both would be similar in size and the iPad mini would surely have some form of E-reader feature as well, the main attraction that the Kindle Fire has going for itself-right now.

If Apple is smart, the iPad mini will come at a similar price that they sell their iPods for and with a longer battery life than its competition. With the number of different aps and features they could make available, they're going to need a battery that can last similar to a Kindle Fire which like many E-readers can last weeks on a single charge.

The event is set to take place between 9 and 10 a.m. at the California Theater in San Jose, CA. and is invitation-only.

This will be the third fall showcase held by Apple already, as they have already hosted events to debut the iPhone 5 and 2012 iPods. The last time Apple introduced a new product at the Theater was when late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs debuted the video iPod in 2005.

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