Apple iPad Mini Doesn’t Feature GPS On Wi-Fi Only Versions

The Apple iPad Mini is coming to market, but Wi-Fi only buyers will be missing a big feature, GPS. The company announced its 7-inch tablet this week but didn’t reveal the missing GPS feature until the mini tablet was placed on its own product page.

According to the Apple store, the Wi-Fi+Cellular version of the iPad mini is available with GPS. The cellular enabled devices also come with a starting premium of $130.

Apple has been defending the iPad mini’s premium device pricing, a defense that might be served better if basic components such as if GPS were included. In comparison, the Google Nexus 7 offers location support through a monolithic Broadcom BCM4751 GPS receiver. Using CoPilot software, Google users can even receive offline turn-by-turn directions on their device. The Apple iPad Mini, in the meantime, starts at $329.

By removing GPS from the system, users not connected to Wi-Fi networks will lose the ability to connect via location based services.

When asked by Reuters if the iPad mini pricing would affect sales against Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD and Google’s Nexus tablet line, Apple marketing executive Phil Schiller said the original iPad has sold well despite premium pricing. Schiller failed to mention that the original iPad line of devices features most of the same options offered by its competitors.

Apple is expecting solid iPad mini sales as the holiday shopping season moved into full swing.

Will you purchase an iPad Mini Wi-Fi only version knowing that GPS is sorely missing from the tablet device.