iPad Mini Release Date Pushed Back for LTE Model?

By Vincent Funaro, Christian Post Reporter Wednesday, October 31, 2012

The iPad Mini release date might have been pushed back for the LTE model, as many customers who pre-ordered the device have not been given a specific date for shipping.

One customer reported that his iPad Mini was originally scheduled to ship on Nov. 23 and now Apple has changed that date to mid-November.

Some are not expected to receive it until December.

Apple has already reported that it is facing shortages and delays for both the iPhone 5 and iMac computer coming into the holiday quarter.

"We're in a significant state of backlog," said Apple CEO Tim Cook during the company's Q4 earnings call. "It's difficult to predict when supply/demand will balance."

Cook also confirmed that there will be a shortage of iMacs for the holiday shopping season, but did not say anything about the iPad Mini. There could also be shortages for the new smaller Apple tablet.

The iPad Mini features a 7.9-inch 1024 x 768 display, making it slightly larger than many small tablet competitors, such as the Google Nexus 7 and Amazon Kindle Fire HD.

Other specifications on the iPad Mini include 4G LTE connectivity, a dual-core A5 chipset, front Facetime camera, rear 5-megapixel camera, a Lightning connector, and a battery capable of lasting up to 10 hours.

It can be held in one hand and features tons of applications specifically designed for iPad users.

The iPad Mini will come in three memory capacities including a 16GB, 32GB and 64GB.

The Wi-Fi only models will retail for $329, $429, and $529, pricing them slightly above their competitors, while the cellular versions will sell for $459, $559, and $659.

Apple began taking pre-orders for the iPad Mini last Friday.