iPad Minis to Ship in Third Quarter of 2012

By Vincent Funaro, Christian Post Reporter Monday, April 16, 2012

Apple is rumored to be preparing to ship 6 million iPad minis in the third quarter of this year in order to compete with Windows 8 tablets, according to Chinese net portal, NetEase.

"Chinese net portal, NetEase, has a story on a rumored new mini Apple tablet," wrote U.S. game blog Kokatu. "Net Ease claimed that the device will be released around the third quarter of this year to "counter attack" the upcoming Windows tablets."

"The report further claims that the devices will cost anywhere from U.S. $249 to $299 and that there will be an initial 6 million units ready for launch," added Kokatu.

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The screen on the mini iPad is rumored to be 7.85-inches and is Apple's answer to the growing low-end tablet market that features popular devices such as the Amazon Kindle Fire and Barnes and Noble Nook.

While he was alive, former Apple CEO Steve Jobs was opposed to the company putting out such a small tablet as he believed it would be unreasonably uncomfortable for a person to navigate on such a small tablet.

Industry insider John Gruber previously stated that he knew Apple was testing out a 7.85-inch tablet inside its facilities, but also said that it did not mean the company would actually release it to the public.

Gruber mentioned that Apple tests out many products, but that many of them never see the light of day. He described the device as a "9.7-inch iPad shrunk down a little bit," and that applications would not need to be recompiled or redesigned to work on the smaller version.