UPDATED 06:25 EDT / OCTOBER 22 2012

California Theater Already Set for Apple’s iPad Mini Event

In today’s mobile news roundup: Apple decorates California Theater for October 23 event; serious leaks for Google’s upcoming Android event; Motorola offers $100 rebate if you want to upgrade to a Jelly Bean smartphone; and RIM CIO reassures BlackBerry enterprise users.

Apple decorates California Theater for October 23 event

Invites for the October 23 Apple event were sent out last week, kicking up the rumor mill a few notches.  The event will start at 10:00 a.m. Pacific / 1:00 p.m. Eastern and will be held at San Jose’s historic downtown California Theater.  The venue hasn’t been used by Apple for years–the last they used it was to introduce iPod products in 2004 and 2005.  But the venue is all set for tomorrow, with “Apple Special Event” already put up in the marquee and colorful posters lining the inside and outside of the theater.

The Cupertino company is expected to unveil a new iPad version which will be smaller than previous iPad models.  The iPad Mini will likely to sport a 7.85” screen, A5 dual-core processor, 1GB RAM, the new Lightning connector among other features.   Rumors also suggest that there will be 16 versions of the iPad Mini, ranging from an 8GB WiFi only version to a 64GB WiFi+cellular version, with price starting at $250.

Leaks for Google Android event

Days after Apple and Microsoft’s events, Google will be holding their own Android event where the search giant is expected to unveil a new Nexus smartphone and tablet.  The Android event will happen on the 29th at 10 AM Eastern time but guest are informed that doors of the venue will open at 9:15 AM.

According to sources, Google will be unveiling a 32GB version of the Nexus 7, Android Jelly Bean 4.2, a 10-inch Samsung tablet known as “Codename Manta” which will run Jelly Bean 4.2 and has a 2560×1600 pixel (16:10) resolution with 300 pixels per inch (PPI), and the LG Nexus 4 which will feature a quad-core 1.5 GHz Qualcomm APQ8064 Snapdragon processor, 4.7-inch 1280 x 768 display, 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, a 2100mAh battery and will also be sporting Jelly Bean 4.2.

Motorola offers $100 rebate for those who want to upgrade to a Jelly Bean smartphone

Motorola knows that Android’s Jelly Bean version is the “It” thing in mobile OS these days, and they’re seeing this as an opportunity to drive sales.  But they must first sacrifice $100 for those who want to upgrade to Jelly Bean phone.

In a blog posted last Friday Motorola writes:

“For those of you who won’t be receiving Jelly Bean, we’re offering a $100 rebate** when you trade up to a select new Motorola smartphone. If you’re ready to trade up today, just keep in mind that the terms and conditions of your wireless contract still apply including any early termination fees.”

Only those using DROID 3, DROID X2, ATRIX 4G, ATRIX 2, ADMIRAL, CLIQ 2,  MILESTONE 3, MILESTONE X2, ELECTRIFY, PHOTON 4G,  XPRT, TITANIUM, and TRIUMPH who wants to upgrade to a ATRIX HD, DROID RAZR M, DROID RAZR HD, DROID RAZR MAXX HD, ELECTRIFY 2, or PHOTON Q, are qualified for the $100 rebate.  Just to be clear, the higher end Motorola smartphones haven’t been upgraded to Jelly Bean yet–they will be upgraded early 2013.

RIM CIO reassures BlackBerry enterprise users

Research in Motion CIO Robin BienAfait is confident that though they failed to make BlackBerry 7 devices available in a lot of markets, their BlackBerry 10 devices coming out in early 2013 will be welcomed with much fanfare by the lot of BlackBerry fans.

Previous service outages were the main concern of CIOs of their customers.  BienAfait stated that since April, she talked with 180 CIOs and many of them stated that they’ve grown frustrated after years of using BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) and BlackBerry smartphones.  To assure the CIOs, BenAfait and her team offered input regarding features and security for the new BlackBerries, and about BES 10 to keep them from wandering to competitors’ yards.


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