Retina iPad Mini Quietly Goes On Sale
In something of a surprise move, Apple has begun accepting orders for the Retina iPad mini in the United States and several other countries as of midnight Pacific Time on November 12. Orders for the 16 and 32 GB Wi-Fi versions are currently shipping within 1 to 3 business days while orders for the 64 and 128 GB versions along with cellular models are shipping within 5 to 10 days.
The company did not give any early indication that it would launch the Retina iPad mini today, aside from a mention of the seemingly unlikely November 12 date on its GSX site for service providers just hours ago.
Compared to tradition, this is an unorthodox way for Apple to launch a premier product. Even hours later, Apple didn’t even put a press release out saying it is now available.
My guess is that the Mini is supply constrained enough that Apple felt too many people would be disappointed if they followed the normal ‘queue-outside-stores’ procedure.