Apple 'likely' to unveil 'iPad mini' at event on Oct. 23 - report

John Paczkowski of All Things D reported on Friday that Apple is "likely" to hold the event on Oct. 23. That's two days before the company is set to report its September quarter earnings, and three days before Microsoft will launch its Surface tablet.

The event is expected to be held at Apple's Town Hall Auditorium on its Cupertino, Calif., headquarters. The venue is smaller than the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts where other product unveilings, like last months' iPhone 5 have occurred, but the on-campus site has been home to the unveilings of the iPhone 4S, redesigned MacBook Air, and OS X Lion.

Paczkowski noted of Apple going with a smaller venue that the company "already held its big fall event." In addition to revealing the iPhone 5 last month, Apple also unveiled its new iPod lineup.

"The company pulled out all the stops for that one, holding it at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and recruiting Foo Fighters to close the show," he wrote. "It's hard to imagine it mounting a second production of that caliber in such a short time. More likely that iPad mini's debut will be an intimate affair held closer to home."

The so-called "iPad mini" is expected to be a tablet with a 7.85-inch display that will have a lower pixel density than the high-resolution Retina display on the third-generation iPad. The device is also expected to be thinner and to feature Apple's new Lightning connector that debuted on the iPhone 5.