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Non-Apple retailers don't seem to have any of the cellular versions at all.

Yup. I'm still waiting on Best Buy to get some in but it appears Apple is reserving all the cell versions for themselves or the cellular companies.

I'm wondering what the internal differences between the T-mobile and AT&T versions are.
 
Personally very happy with my rMini. I had iPad 1, 2, and 3, and toyed with the thought of an Air but the rMini won me over. Perfect for my needs. Yeah, I can tell a bit of color muteness but it's irrelevant because I don't do professional level editing on these devices. Not to mention that a wider gamut means nothing if the calibration isn't there for accurate colors. And odds are that the calibration is off on all of these devices, Android, Apple, and other.
 
First announced at Apple's iPad-centric October event


Not to nitpick, but I think the announcement/release of Mavericks, the announcement that Mavericks would be the first in a long-running trend of making OS X free, the announcement that iWork would come pre-loaded for free on any new Mac (as well as be a free upgrade for anyone who did an optical-media install of iWork '09), the updates to the current roster of iLife apps and HASWELL MACBOOK PROS WITH RETINA WITH ALL OF THAT IN TOW - sort of detracts from the notion that it was an "iPad-centric" event.
 
It's just a convenience thing, since the carrier-specific nano SIM comes preinstalled. If you swap the SIM yourself, then it becomes a non-issue, mostly. I've heard Verizon is a jerk when it comes to activating devices that are not certified by them, so getting a Verizon SIM could be challenging for some.

Ya, I couldn't wait for T-Mobile to get their act together to allow us to order it in the store/website the day the Retina models started showing up in the stores, so I got a bunch of free nano-SIMs from T-Mobile when they had that Veteran's Day sale. Then, I used that Sea Turtle website to locate any iPad mini Retina with LTE in the color and capacity I wanted, went to the store, ordered it using their Macs, hung out for an hour until their Personal Pickup was ready for me, and I popped in the T-Mobile SIM before I even powered it up. BAM. Done.

I have the Verizon nano-SIM in a pouch, ready to be used if I want to add it to my family plan (but, with the way they're fumbling with their network reliability, I may just toss it).

None of the iPads are preconfigured, branded, or locked. It's all the same iPad model with the different nano-SIM cards inside. The moment you power it up, it will figure out what carrier it is and provision itself as needed. The only difference is last year's white/black iPad mini without Retina that, while still unlocked, don't have all the LTE bands. I popped in a T-Mobile nano-SIM in my 2012 iPad mini and it says "T-Mobile 4G" and not "T-Mobile LTE" as it shows on my 2013 iPad mini with Retina.

Since Apple prides themselves on the "perfect customer experience right out of the box," they chose to go this method of 32 different SKUs for their cellular models - four capacities, two colors, four carriers. If you're smart or impatient, just head to your carrier of choice and buy or get a nano-SIM card, then do what everyone else is doing and get whatever cellular model you can get your hands on. You won't ever have to worry about activation issues or calling customer service, as the activation is completely done on the iPad.
 
Ordered my rMini for AT&T from Apple 4 days ago. Received my shipping notice today, with delivery by December 2nd. Original estimate was December 5-10.
 
I ordered the AT&T model on 11/12 and it said it would ship in 5-10 days and I would have it between 11/26-12/6. It shipped on 11/14 and was delivered 11/18. When I go to Apple.com all of the "ships in" dates are identical to what they were on launch day...and I think a lot of people are having shipment notifications much earlier than expected.

I just keep thinking back to my iPad 1 that I ordered and had to wait a month for. People complaining about 5-10 days are crazy! I was thrilled when I saw it was only 5-10 days!
 
This year has shown the most dysfunctional supply chain management from a so-called technology giant the world has ever seen. Apple really needs to hire someone like me to clean up their mess; I am supremely qualified and stuff just seems to get done a lot quicker whenever I'm around.

5269558397_64406aeb94_z.jpg
 
I'll buy one of these when Apple makes it possible to natively share the screen of my Mac Pro. That's natively folks, and at the same time be able to control it, as you would with remote desktop where the keypad comes up in the bottom half of the screen like it would on a native app.
BT or WiFi I don't care, just want to be able to do it!
 
The reason that stops me most from getting an iPad is the file transfer limitations on iOS. I've been using my iPhone for a year now. It's great, and perfect most of the times, except when I need to transfer files across apps (not all apps support "open with") or with my computers (Apple wants me to use iCloud and I tend to dislike when a company forces me to choose a service by disallowing me to decide according to my preferences). The rest of possible transfer options (email, a private network, or iTunes) are either uncomfortable or not fully functional.

I love my iPhone, and my next phone will be an iPhone too. But this difficulty transferring files (even photos!!!) between apps or computers really stops me from getting an iPad
 
I'll buy one of these when Apple makes it possible to natively share the screen of my Mac Pro. That's natively folks, and at the same time be able to control it, as you would with remote desktop where the keypad comes up in the bottom half of the screen like it would on a native app.
BT or WiFi I don't care, just want to be able to do it!

I'm just curious. Is this your position because of the $20 for VNC apps, out of principal, or out of technical reasons?
 
Why would it matter which carriers have the iPad mini in stock? I thought you can just switch out the SIM as these new models work with all the different bands. Am I missing something?

Yes.

T-Mobile offers zero interest loans. AT&T and I think some other carrier offers iPad subsidies of $100 off (or some other amount), provided you accept a contract.

So depending on your plans or finances, you might be looking toward buying your iPad at a specific carrier's store in order to take advantage of these incentives.
 
The reason that stops me most from getting an iPad is the file transfer limitations on iOS. I've been using my iPhone for a year now. It's great, and perfect most of the times, except when I need to transfer files across apps (not all apps support "open with") or with my computers (Apple wants me to use iCloud and I tend to dislike when a company forces me to choose a service by disallowing me to decide according to my preferences). The rest of possible transfer options (email, a private network, or iTunes) are either uncomfortable or not fully functional.

I love my iPhone, and my next phone will be an iPhone too. But this difficulty transferring files (even photos!!!) between apps or computers really stops me from getting an iPad

I hear you. I'm using AirDrop built into iOS and DeskConnect as my two main methods.
 
Yes.

T-Mobile offers zero interest loans. AT&T and I think some other carrier offers iPad subsidies of $100 off (or some other amount), provided you accept a contract.

So depending on your plans or finances, you might be looking toward buying your iPad at a specific carrier's store in order to take advantage of these incentives.

That makes sense, thank you.
 
The reason that stops me most from getting an iPad is the file transfer limitations on iOS. I've been using my iPhone for a year now. It's great, and perfect most of the times, except when I need to transfer files across apps (not all apps support "open with") or with my computers (Apple wants me to use iCloud and I tend to dislike when a company forces me to choose a service by disallowing me to decide according to my preferences). The rest of possible transfer options (email, a private network, or iTunes) are either uncomfortable or not fully functional.

I love my iPhone, and my next phone will be an iPhone too. But this difficulty transferring files (even photos!!!) between apps or computers really stops me from getting an iPad

This is a pretty big issue, but Dropbox fixed it about 90% for me, and iOS7's Air Drop fixed another 5%.

Honestly Apple should have just bought Dropbox, or licensed it for integration into iOS. iCloud is terrible and while Apple does a lot of things really well, online services has been a problem with them for years.

Nobody outside of MacRumors gives two craps about colour gamut.

I would like a better color gamut, but not enough to change ecosystems. I have an Android tablet as well, and frankly the OS and apps suck. A better color gamut doesn't make up for those drawbacks.
 
I hear you. I'm using AirDrop built into iOS and DeskConnect as my two main methods.

This doesn't fix the problem of the usual difficulties to open in one app a file you created in another one. Very few apps support "open with", and even when they do, you end up having duplicated versions of your files because each app can only save their files in their arena. This lack of comfort is not serious for a phone, but I wouldn't survive on an iPad.
 
I'll buy one of these when Apple makes it possible to natively share the screen of my Mac Pro. That's natively folks, and at the same time be able to control it, as you would with remote desktop where the keypad comes up in the bottom half of the screen like it would on a native app.
BT or WiFi I don't care, just want to be able to do it!

All Apple needs to do is initiate Airplay with a "Airplay Screen Share" function and we would be golden. They allow something similar with iDevices and Macs sharing video with the iTV so it's not difficult at all.
 
⬆️This ----had my gift card ready to purchase Verizon 32gb but Target have yet to receive any stock, so had to order directly from Apple.

I too am sitting on a $200 trade in gift card. If they don't have them by black friday I'll be ordering from Apple, and spending the gift card on other stuff.
 
Artificial scarcity

I think apple is smart enough to cover their own problem..Am thinking that apple has released a small batch initially and realized of screen problems and screen retention issue and I am having a feeling that newer batch will get corrected with this issue like what happened for iphone4 release


I took one wifi on day of launch and tmobile lte version next day from store pickup lte version had issues with screen and returned


Those wih problem will appear again as refurbished during thanks giving sale
 
What happen to the supply constraints? I have seen nearly every model available in store, and online shipping for most is 1-3 business days. Even 5-10 doesn't sound bad.

And they are saying the constraint will end in Jan, which is one month away.

Sounds like there have been no problems with supplies.
 
My understanding is that since the devices are not carrier locked that you can swap out SIMs and use them on any network but that the different versions available are optimized for use on a carrier specific network.

Actually, the carrier specific model includes a SIM card for the carrier. There's no other difference beyond LTE band support.

-ITG
 
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