Modest crowds greet iPad mini's release

03.11.2012

Across the country in San Francisco, around 50 people were in line at the Stockton Street store--nothing close to the a little more than a month ago. By 8:30 a.m., most of the line had completed its purchases; you could walk in off the street and buy an iPad mini if you wanted without a wait.

Still, those who showed up to get their hands on a mini were excited by how light and easy to handle the smaller iPad was. "It feels so light, I expect to use it all the time," said Richard Shih, a canny iPad mini shopper who arrived half-an-hour after the San Francisco store opened and picked up his new tablet without having to wait in line.

Igor Asner showed up an hour before the Stockton Street store opened its doors. "It's my first iPad and I'm already falling in love with it," Asner said. "I've heard mixed reviews about the screen but it looks crisp to me at reading distance."

Mike Keevers showed up at the San Francisco store just to check out the new iPads. Like many on Friday, he liked the look of the black one. "Since it's so much bigger [than the iPhone], you'd think it would have a better camera than the iPhone, though," he added.

The Wi-Fi equipped iPad mini comes in three sizes: 16GB ($329), 32GB ($429), and 64GB ($529). LTE cellular-equipped models are available for $130 more. The 7.9-inch tablet features a 1024 by 768 pixel display, a dual-core A5 processor, and a FaceTime HD front-facing camera and 5-megapixel rear camera.