- Title: GERMANY: Hundreds of Apple fans wait to get their hands on iPad Mini
- Date: 2nd November 2012
- Summary: MUNICH, GERMANY (NOVEMBER 2, 2012) (REUTERS) WIDE OF APPLE STORE WITH WAITING APPLE FANS APPLE LOGO CLOSE WAITING APPLE FANS IN FRONT OF APPLE LOGO SIGN SAYING IN GERMAN: 'WE ARE FOR THE IPAD MINI' WAITING APPLE FANS IN QUEUE APPLE EMPLOYEE COUNTING DOWN TO OPENING OF STORE / OPENS AND WELCOMES FIRST CUSTOMER ANDRE PAPANEV WHO SAID HE HAD WAITED FOR 36 HOURS VARIOUS OF APPLAUDING APPLE EMPLOYEES VARIOUS OF FIRST CUSTOMER PAYING FOR IPAD MINI VARIOUS OF CUSTOMER AND APPLE EMPLOYEE CHECKING OUT IPAD MINI CUSTOMERS CHECKING OUT CAMERA ON IPAD MINI IPAD MINIS IN BOXES (SOUNDBITE) (German) BALASZ GAL, WHO WAITED 30 HOURS, SAYING: "If you took a notebook and the old iPad along with you, they were quiet big and you had to drag an extra kilo along. Now with only 300 grammes, it fits in the pocket of your trousers or your jacket." PAN FROM APPLE LOGO TO QUEUE FIRST CUSTOMER ANDRE PAPANEV (WHO HAD WAITED FOR 36 HOURS)
- Embargoed: 17th November 2012 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Germany
- City:
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Technology
- Reuters ID: LVA6E6IOKBXXQJF7UKJTWTSH6AUS
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: More than 100 Apple fans waited for hours in front of the Apple store in Munich on Friday (November 2) for the launch of the iPad Mini, the latest addition to the Apple family.
Despite some of the Apple enthusiasts having waited for over 30 hours to get their hands on the coveted gadget, fewer fans turned out than for the launch of Apple's previous product iPhone 5. It was about 500 people then compared to about 150 now.
Priced at 329 euros (424 USD), the Apple product is at least 150 USD more expensive than Amazon's Kindle Finer and Google's Nexus 7, both released at 199 USD.
The novelties of the iPad Mini are a 7.9 inch display and a powerful A5 chip. The 7.9 inch weighs in at 308 grams (10.86 ounces), half the weight of the parent tablet and is barely hand-held
"If you took a notebook and the old iPad along with you, they were quiet big and you had to drag an extra kilo along. Now with only 300 grammes, it fits in the pocket of your trousers or your jacket," said Balasz Gal who has waited for 30 hours to get his new iPad Mini.
The lightweight iPad mini marks Apple's first foray into the smaller-tablet segment.
The company hopes to beat back incursions into its home territory - carved out with the original iPad's launch in 2010 - with 7-inch slates that are popular with consumers, even as it safeguards its lead in a larger tablet space that even deep-pocketed rivals like Samsung have found tough to penetrate.
The iPad mini has won mostly positive reviews for its ability to wrap most of the functions of its full-sized iPad sibling into a smaller package.
However with sales numbers yet to be released by Apple it remains to be seen how much customer demand exists for the gadget.
Today's iPad mini release is a Wi-fi only version available in 16GB, 32GB and 64 GB models, a Wi-Fi + cellular data version will be released through Japanese local carriers in late November. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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