Well, on Tuesday, October 16, Apple made it official. They will be holding a special media event to show “a little more”. Presumably, after all the speculation and rumors, this will be the debut of the iPad mini, or whatever it will be called. The “little” in the invite text would seem to hint at the iPad mini name. I was, and still am, hoping for the resurrection of the iBook name. Either way, this should be a more than respectable entry into the sub-8″ tablet market providing the likes of the Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD, and Nook HD with powerful competition.

The rumor mill is also pointing to the possibility of a 13″ Retina MacBook Pro. And there will likely be some new spec-bumped iMacs and Mac minis as well. iTunes 11, previewed at the iPhone 5 intro in September, is also likely to be officially rolled out and demoed. And I’m hoping for at least one other Apple app update or intro. My bet is on a 2.0 version of iBooks Author as a good complement to an education-friendly iPad mini.

As for that iPad mini, the rumors seem to have laid out most of the important specs save for one, price. While I and most observers don’t expect Apple to follow the rush to the bottom led by Amazon and Google, a sub-$300 starting price is very possible. And by that I mean $299 for a 16GB version. Some have speculated about a $249 or even $199 8GB version, but I think those unlikely. Nevertheless, $299 for a fully capable iPad mini could prove a very compelling entry.

Next Tuesday, October 23rd, will be when all will be revealed. Mark your calendars, if you haven’t already.