iPad Mini Released to Shorter Lines and Stiff Competition from Google and Amazon

Apple's latest gadget hit stores earlier today.

Apple's latest iPad iteration was announced at a press event in October in San Jose, Calif.

The new iPad Mini was welcomed without the super long lines that had preceded other Apple launches, according to Reuters. Long lines were still present at Apple stores around the world, but compared to launches of the company's other devices it wasn't as tremendous.

With a starting price of $329, the device has a 7.9 inch display in comparison to the original iPad with a 9.7-inch screen. The device also features a 10-hour battery life, a FaceTime HD camera, a powerful A5 chip and an iSight camera with 1080 pixels HD video recording. A year of hardware repair coverage is added to every sale along with free technical phone support for 90 days.

Apple's marketer Phil Schiller talked about the Mini after it was announced in October.

"The iPad is far and away the most successful product in its category," said Schiller. "The most affordable product we've made so far was $399 and people were choosing that over those devices. And now you can get a device that's even more affordable at $329 in this great new form, and I think a lot of customers are going to be very excited about that."

The iPad Mini is still on the pricier side compared to its competitors Amazon's Kindle Fire HD  and Google's Nexus 7 marked around $199.

Apple also released an updated original iPad for $499 on Friday that features a Retina Display.

As for supply, Apple made sure there be enough Mini's to go around for the busy shopping season.

Unnamed Apple suppliers are saying that the Cupertino tech company ordered over 10 million iPad Mini units for production this season, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. This figure is roughly double the amount of Kindle Fire tablets Amazon ordered for this upcoming holiday season.