Apple announces event for Oct. 23

Apple will hold an event in San Jose, Calif. on Oct. 23.(Photo: Apple)

Story Highlights

• Screen under 8 inches likely
• Smaller iPad could sell for $299
• Competitors include Nexus 7, Kindle Fire

1:12PM EDT October 16. 2012 - There's another new iPad in the works, and Apple is expected to unveil it next week.

On Tuesday, Apple confirmed it will hold an event next Tuesday, Oct. 23. A press invitation that went out today teases with the line "We've got a little more to show you."

Apple offered no further details. The event will be held at the California Theater in San Jose at 1 p.m. ET.

Analysts expect an iPad Mini that would have a smaller screen, similar to competing tablets from Samsung and Amazon — and a lower price. The tablet will sell for $299, have a screen between 7 and 8 inches (down from 9.8 inches for the full-size iPad) and be available in a Wi-Fi only version, predicts Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray.

Other iPads have both Wi-Fi and cellular service plans available.

A new smaller iPad would come at a time when many companies are dramatically increasing their portfolio of smaller tablets — and finding success with buyers. Amazon recently unleashed several new Kindle tablets including a beefed up $199 Kindle Fire HD model; Google and Samsung have the $199 Nexus 7. Both have 7-inch screens.

Microsoft, however, is taking a different path. It will launch its answer to the iPad, the Surface tablet, at a splashy event in New York on Oct. 26. Prices will start at $499 for the Surface, which has a larger screen.

By not having a 7-inch model, "Apple is ceding 20% of the market to competitors," says Munster.

Apple in the past has insisted that consumers prefer the large screen of its iPad. But now, says Munster, "There are some people who just naturally prefer having a smaller tablet," and Apple can satisfy them.

Munster projects that Apple will sell 5 million to 10 million of the smaller iPads by the end of the year, depending on whether it can meet the expected demand.

The new iPhone 5, which burst out of the gate three weeks ago with sales of 5million phones, has been plagued by supply issues. Apple could sell way more phones if it had them, Munster says.

Apple introduced a new iPad in March. That successor to the iPad 2 sports a brighter, sharper screen and an improved video camera. Nearly 75 million iPads have been sold since the tablet was introduced in 2010.

Rumors are swirling that Apple might use the San Jose venue to introduce a slimmer MacBook Pro laptop and perhaps a revamped Mac Mini computer.

Contributing: Edward C. Baig

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