Following months of speculation and rumors, Apple released on Tuesday press invitations for its next big launch: the iPad Mini.
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The event will be held in on Tuesday, Oct. 23 in San Jose, Calif. The invite says: "We've got a little more to show you."
The invitation-only event will be held at the California Theatre in San Jose on October 23 at 10:00 a.m. PT.
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The iPad Mini tablet is expected to be much smaller than the current 9.7-inch iPad model. Rumors also put the new tablet at 7 inches with fewer pixels than the current size. Some say the new device could tout a retina-resolution display, 3G connectivity, two rear speakers instead of just one and use the new lightning connector introduced with the iPhone 5.
iPad Mini event invitations were first rumored to be sent to the press last week, but the expected time passed with no news. The invitation finally arrived shortly after noon ET on Tuesday.
Although the company is traditionally secretive about product details and announcements, leaks have been spilling out of its factories and hitting the web recently. For example, iPhone 5 pictures and specs circulated the Internet long before its official launch in September.
Steve Jobs famously opposed trimming the size of the iPad, saying the introduction of a 7-inch tablet would be "dead on arrival" and users would need sandpaper to shrink their fingers for an optimized experience.
"While one could increase the resolution of the display to make up for some of the difference, it is meaningless unless your tablet also includes sandpaper so that the user can sand down their fingers to around one-quarter of their present size," Jobs said.
But considering how popular 7-inch tablets have become within the past year, it was only a matter of time for Apple to step in. Companies such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google and Samsung are already competing for market share, and the arrival of an iPad Mini would certainly shake things up.
Manufacturers aren't wasting time ahead of Apple's big announcement next week. In fact, screen protectors for the iPad Mini are already on sale.
Are you looking forward to the iPad Mini? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
1. 3G FaceTime
FaceTime has long been a great way to video chat with friends and family, but both parties needed to be on a Wi-Fi network in order for it to work. Now, FaceTime works over cellular and you can even take calls on your iPad using your phone number.
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This story originally published on Mashable here.