The much-rumored and recently-unveiled smaller, 7.9-inch Apple iPad - the iPad Mini - is now available for pre-orders, with the shipments of the device scheduled for November 2.

The iPad Mini - which marks Apple's foray into the 7-inch tablet arena - is priced at $329 for the 16GB version; $429 for the 32GB version; and $529 for the 64GB version.

Going by the early indications linked to the iPad Mini pre-orders, it appears that the customers are showing an evident preference for the `white' iPad Mini tablets, rather than the `black' models.

Despite the fact that a recent report highlighted that `white' was not the color of choice of Apple devices, the iPad Mini pre-orders underscore a totally different scenario --- with the shipments of the `white' iPad Mini having seemingly been delayed for a couple of weeks, as of now; while the delivery date of the `black' iPad Minis is still being shown as November 2!

As per the information shared by Apple about the iPad Mini shipments, the Wi-Fi model of the tablet in `black' color will be shipped on November 2; while the shipments of the Wi-Fi + Cellular version of the tablet have been scheduled for mid-November.

Meanwhile, the analysts' expectations from the iPad Mini are quite high, with projections galore that over 5 million units of the tablet will probably be sold by Apple, even though the device has a higher pricing structure as compared to the other-available 7-inch tablets.