Once again Apple rumors have proved to be true as the company today announced that an iPad Mini would soon be entering the market. Details about said smaller iPad had been circling the Internet since before Apple announced the iPad 3 (the new iPad), but as they are wont to do Apple didn't unveil it until earlier this morning.

With this new device being dubbed the iPad Mini it's pretty easy to guess what type of tech the device is packing, but nonetheless Apple fans are curious. As Apple puts it, the iPad Mini is "every inch the iPad," it just features a more attractive form factor that better fits in a person's hand.

Although Apple is using clever marketing language to convince consumers otherwise, this device is still a significantly smaller iPad, but it's nonetheless quite powerful. Packed behind the 7.9-inch Retina Display is the new A6X processor, which should make the device just as snappy and responsive as its full sized brethren.

The iPad Mini also boasts many of the standard iPad bells and whistles, including multi-touch support, wi-fi, and front and rear-facing cameras, but what's most impressive is its ultra-thin design. At 7.2 mm thick, the device maximizes its screen space (39% more real estate than similarly-sized tablets) for everything from app use to browsing the web.

Unfortunately, though, the iPad Mini doesn't do much to justify dual ownership between it and a fully featured iPad, however it does offer a less cumbersome device that still operates on a level expected from such an expensive tablet. And in case you were wondering, the iPad Mini isn't going to come cheap -- $329 for 16GB, $429 for 64GB, and $529 for 64GB (add an extra $30 for the cellular version).

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At first glance it appears that the iPad Mini will make tablet gaming on-the-go that much easier, but whether or not consumers will flock to this device is unclear. And couple that in with Apple's other major announcement — the fourth generation of iPad — and it becomes an even tougher decision for Apple fans to make. Is there room for both an iPad Mini and a full-sized iPad in this space right now, especially when they are so expensive?

What do you think? Will the iPad Mini sell on the scale of the larger iPads, or is this more of a novelty device spun off from another novelty device? Are you more interested in the new iPad or the iPad Mini?

The iPad Mini and the fourth generation iPad will be available on November 2, 2012 and will come in both black and white models.