I just left the Covent Garden Apple Store where I saw stacks of iPad mini boxes and no obvious queues. There was a great deal of interest around the displays, however, and I had to wait ten minutes to get my hands on a sample. My initial reaction is that it is all I expected, even down to the screen which, it has to be said, is disappointing when compared with the bigPad. Like John Gruber, I won’t let this small technicality stop me from moving over to the mini.
The hard sell was given when I asked about delivery dates for the cellular model. Would I consider a wifi model and use tethering. No, I said, because tethering runs down two batteries at the same time. The salesman then suggested a MiFi unit. Been there, I said: its battery lasts only four hours. He was disappointed I couldn’t be persuaded to go for the wifi model but, of course, I was adamant.
The lack of buzz on launch day was surprising. Either Apple has overestimated demand for the wifi mini or everyone is waiting for the connected version when it arrives later in the month.
by Mike Evans, 2 November 2012