One day after the surprise launch of the Retina iPad mini, small amounts of stock of the cellular-capable models of the device have begun trickling into Apple's U.S. retail stores. The company has been offering Personal Pickup of online orders since yesterday, but until now that service has been limited to Wi-Fi models.
Model selection is currently very limited and many stores have yet to show any available cellular models, but availability should improve over time as Apple delivers more stock to its stores.
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While Apple retail stores in several other countries did have stocks of the cellular-capable Retina iPad mini at launch yesterday, the company's U.S. stores did not have any available. Online orders for the Retina iPad mini through Apple's U.S. store launched with 1-3 day shipping estimates on 16 and 32 GB Wi-Fi models, with larger-capacity Wi-Fi and all cellular models showing 5-10 day shipping. A number of customers who placed orders for Wi-Fi models have already seen their orders shipping directly from China, with delivery scheduled for early next week.
Top Rated Comments
If you're serious about using an iPad, the Cellular one is the only one to bother with, in my opinion.
Why? Simply because it includes Assisted GPS. The WiFi-only model does not.
That means, without having ANY data connection, you can take the Cellular iPad out into the middle of no where and still use it as a Turn by Turn GPS device (provided you have offline maps already downloaded).
That depends entirely upon what the user is serious about doing. Why? Because not everyone needs cellular service and certainly not just for GPS. Many iPad users also own an iPhone or other smartphone w/ GPS and also have GPS in their car. So unless one needs a cellular connection it's idiotic to spend $130 extra.
"Serious" as a laptop/computer replacement, I guess. Something you take with you everywhere and use for everything.
But who has a GPS chip in their laptop? My rMBP doesn't have it or cellular -- just WiFi.
Had the cellular option been available yesterday, id probably have two iPads right now. Black iPads are dead to me.
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Why? Simply because it includes Assisted GPS. The WiFi-only model does not.
That means, without having ANY data connection, you can take the Cellular iPad out into the middle of no where and still use it as a Turn by Turn GPS device (provided you have offline maps already downloaded).
After 2 full days of waiting for my online order to update & ship, I've located the same model at the local Apple Store and canceled my order. Not sure what was taking them so long. I just have a hundred things to do during my lunch break so I probably won't get this thing until Saturday ;)
I did the exact same thing. I picked mine up at 8pm though. Took a couple of hours because Apples systems went down today and couldn't pick up when I paid at 6. Now my bank account has been charged twice for a 32gb cellular iPad mini. Hopefully it clear the cancelled one soon.