Leaked reports suggest that the iPad Mini will have a 7.85-inch screen. That's about 2 inches smaller than the original iPad and almost an inch bigger than the Kindle Fire and Nexus 7. Rumors also suggest the iPad Mini will sell for about $250, which is more than the competitors' low-end devices in the 7-inch category.

Some have described the iPad Mini as similar in looks to a large iPod touch. Other news reports suggest Apple will have 6 million iPad Minis available at launch. But beyond the rumors, nothing solid is known. Apple's success in the 7-inch category isn't even a given, according to some analysts.

Apple Too Late?

We turned to Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, to get his take on the rumored iPad Mini. He told us something that you normally couldn't say about Apple: The company is a little late to market with its product.

"The Kindle Fire was the tablet that really got people looking at the sevens to begin with, followed by the Nexus 7," Enderle said. "Any way you look at it, Apple is either months or almost a year late to the market with this."

Not only is Apple late, an iPad Mini would likely cost much more than an Android , Nook, or Nexus 7, which are all subsidized by their makers. The Kindle and Nexus 7 are sold at or close to cost, and Apple doesn't take that approach with its product line. Enderle said that differential could put Apple at the wrong side of the cost curve.

What Could Go Wrong

"The 7-inch tablets are all about content -- books and movies," Enderle said. "Unlike the 10-inch class of tablets, where people expect to do productivity tasks on the device, the 7-inch is just for consumption. The killer apps are pretty much already on the Kindle and the Nexus 7, which is going to make it much tougher for Apple to break in."

But what about iTunes? Apple's iTunes doesn't have a market advantage on the movies or books front, and most people don't buy tablets to play music. Music lovers are more likely to listen to music on an iPod or iPhone.

"I don't see Apple's angle here, which I think is a problem. They have to maintain margins so they can't beat them on price. The screen on both the Nexus 7 and the Kindle Fire are very good, so they can't really beat them on screens," Enderle said.

"Apple could cannibalize its larger iPad sales with what is a smaller revenue product and that doesn't work out for them, either. There are a lot of ways this could go wrong."

With the rumored launch date just two weeks away, and the holidays right around the corner, it will be interesting to see what materializes with the Mini.

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