Apple started taking online orders for its iPad Mini on Friday, Oct. 26, with initial promises pegging the delivery date for Nov. 2.
Just four minutes into the day, at 12:04 a.m. PT, Apple's online stores opened their virtual gates in the Unites States, France, Germany, the UK, and Japan, allowing people to get the smaller, lighter, and less expensive iPad Mini as soon as possible, without having to wait in line when the first models hit stores on Nov. 2.
High demand, however, pushed the Nov. 2 delivery date two weeks later for some models. By 12:27 a.m. in the U.S., Apple's promise to deliver the slate on 11/2 turned into "available to ship: 2 weeks" for the white 64GB model. Other models kept their initial delivery date. The iPad Mini is available for pre-order on Apple's online store.
The iPad Mini is coming in two waves: Wi-Fi only models will be the first to arrive, while 4G-equipped versions will take another couple of weeks. Apple has listed Nov. 2 as the initial shipping date for the Wi-Fi model across different countries, but said the Wi-Fi + 4G models would hit the U.S. in mid-November and Europe at the end of November. The Wi-Fi + 4G models were not yet available for pre-order in Japan.
Launch countries where the iPad Mini is available for pre-order include the U.S., Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK. Starting on Nov. 2, other regions including Bulgaria, Hungary, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Puerto Rico, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia will have the iPad Mini for sale at select retailers, but customers in those regions will not be able to pre-order the slate.
The iPad Mini sports a 7.9-inch screen with a 1,024 x 768-pixel resolution, packs an A5 processor, and features Apple's smaller new Lightning connector. Other features include a front-facing 720p-capable FaceTime camera and a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera, Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n, and Bluetooth 4.0.
The Wi-Fi models will hit stores on Nov. 2 with a $329 price tag for the 16GB version and $429 for the 32GB model. Wi-Fi + 4G LTE models will arrive on Nov. 16 at $459 for 16GB, $559 for 32GB, and $659 for 64GB.
