The iPad Mini: A handy device with a hefty price tag

Up to now, all Apple seemed to be able to do was slag off its rivals like Google and Amazon when it came to mini touch-screen online devices.

But even the rulers of the hi-tech universe had to acknowledge that small competitors were becoming a big concern.

After clocking up over 100m iPad sales last month, the only way to go was down — in size, that is — and the seven inch tablet was where the market was.

Enter the iPad Mini, “every inch an iPad”, according to Apple, and one you can hold in one hand. Well, if you happen to be rugby star Paul O’Connell, that won’t be a problem, but more delicate digits might find it a bit of a stretch.

Apple started selling the mini iPads yesterday throughout Europe, with the aim of a direct assault on Amazon’s seven inch screened Kindle Fire HD and Google’s seven inch Nexus 7.

Apple’s screen is just shy of eight inches with the overall size almost identical to those produced by competitors. But whereas the Amazon and Google devices retail for around €200, the iPad Mini will cost Irish consumers at least €339 so it is unlikely to see off its rivals anytime soon.

Orders for the device began at Apple’s online store last week in the US, sparking an internet stampede.

Wthin 20 minutes the Wi-Fi-only white models had sold out in all three memory configurations (16GB, 32GB, 64GB). Within 35 hours, the black 16GB models were gone and less than three days after they went on sale, all models had been snapped up. Apple then announced it would take two weeks to post completed orders.

Irish store customers are unlikely to have to wait that long as the iPad Mini went on retail sale yesterday at the same time as it did in shops in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong, and the rest of Europe.

Apple stores in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, and Waterford yesterday reported brisk sales of both the iPad Mini and the iPad2.

Compu-b, on Opera Lane in Cork City, opened yesterday morning to queues of buyers and had sold 25 iPad Minis by lunchtime while a number of curious onlookers waited to try out the device in-store. There were also queues reported at Apple approved stores in Dublin.

The iPad Mini looks as good as it feels. It is barely 7.2mm thick and weighs less than a paperback book. It comes in white and black and looks like an iPod Touch. In common with its larger stablemate, it has a user friendly intuitive touchscreen and can use thousands of downloadable apps, which will likely help put it to the top of any techie’s Christmas wish-list.

According to Apple, there are now over 275,000 apps specifically designed for the iPad. It is also expected to find favour with readers, as the small screen tablet is ideal for ebooks, with size and weight more suitable to holding in one hand. Apple’s iBooks store has 1.5m titles and 400m books have so far been downloaded.

The man behind the iPad Mini, Apple executive Philip Schiller, has compared the device to the Google Nexus 7, claiming Apple’s superiority for web browsing, dedicated apps and more, including a ten-hour battery life. It also has a 5-megapixel camera, which the Nexus lacks.

The iPad Mini is on sale now.