iPad

We told you yesterday that The New York Times joined The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg in backing the rumor calling for a smaller, cheaper iPad, affectionately dubbed by the media the iPad mini. But the smaller $249-$299 iPad wouldn't just give Google's $199 Nexus 7 tablet a run for its money, it might strike a chord with women similarly to how the first iPod mini music player with its five attractive colors (silver, gold, pink, blue and green) had become big with female buyers...

The Wall Street Journal was the first of big media outlets to report back in April that a new iPad model with a smaller eight-inch display was in the works.

Then, early in July Bloomberg corroborated the story and just a day later the Journal followed up with a new report of suppliers allegedly gearing up to mass-produce the gizmo in time for a presumed September launch.

And now, The New York Times (finally) gets in on the action, becoming a third major news outlet to put its credibility on the line concerning the iPad mini, claiming Apple would announce the smaller iPad later this year, priced "significantly less" than $499...

An alleged iPad mini case mold got leaked out two days ago, showing a smaller dock connector. This morning, a purported schematics depicting an iPad mini has hit the web. According to ThinkiOS (via 9to5Mac), these drawings confirm whispers that the iPad mini will sport a seven-inch display and a brand new 19-pin dock connector instead of the regular 30-pin dock connector.

As a result, all existing peripherals could be potentially rendered obsolete. Another thing to glean from the images: the iPad mini could be really, really thin...