Apple has always prided itself on being the most innovative company out there. 

For years, this was definitely true when Steve Jobs was at the lead and they were releasing the iPod and iTunes and the iPhone. 

Competition is getting a lot closer to Apple these days, so innovation and being creative in the marketplace is hugely important now more than ever to keep an edge.

Many times when designers are creating, the side project or "leftover" is what ends up being more successful in the end. Look at all the bands who release their B side, or decide to put that final track on their album instead of cutting it and it ends up being their biggest hit. 

This is in some ways what Apple is doing with the iPad Mini. It was maybe not that much of an after thought, but they definitely didn't want to invest too much into it just incase it didn't go over well in the market place and they weren't in too deep with it. 

Apple is always looking for new ways to get a consumer to buy a new product by offering new variations.  

The iPad took off when it was released because it was the price was a lot cheaper than a laptop and more portable, but still a much bigger experience than sharing at your phone for certain tasks.  

So the iPad seemed like a perfect middle ground between the phone and laptop.  However, as we said, they are always looking for new variations, so the iPad mini was released.  

I was not sure how well the iPad mini's would do because if you got much smaller than the iPad well then is it worth spending the money on it over just using your phone?

Well, the answer was emphatically, Yes, people would like a middle ground between even a iPhone and iPad.  

The iPad mini has actually surpassed regular iPads according to shipment figures now. Maybe people just order them more, but regardless it shows the impact and value that the iPad mini has brought to Apple.  

Now with the iPad mini 2 coming out, people are getting really excited because there will be some major upgrades.  The iPad mini 2 should have retina display with much higher resolution screen and higher mega-pixel camera.  

If people were buying the iPad mini when its features were behind, then there is no doubt that when the upgraded iPad mini 2 releases, they will sell.

The normal sized iPads are just too big and bulky for some peoples tastes, so the iPad mini looks like it might over take the iPad in the next year.  

I thought that there might not be enough difference between using an iPad Mini as compared to your iPhone, but in reality the iPad Mini is a lot closer in size to the iPad than an iPhone. Consumers just seem to like the 2 inch smaller size of the iPad Mini making it just that much more portable, but still close enough to the iPad. 

Which do you prefer, iPad or iPad mini?  

Apple fans were hoping that they would unveil or at least discuss the new line of iPad products during their WWDC keynote earlier this month but it did not happen. This leaves speculation that the iPad 5 and iPad Mini 2 will hopefully be released to the public in September or October 2013. 

Would you get the iPad mini now or would you wait until the iPad mini 2 is released?