The Kindle Fire/Fire HD and Nexus 7 have given birth to a small, yet powerful, sub-category of affordable 7-inch tablets. One that has been slowly eating away at a market that has been dominated by the much larger Apple iPad. To battle this growing trend, Apple decided to break down — after vowing to never to make a 7-inch tablet — and create a smaller version of their highly successful iPad line. Apple’s iPad Mini may not be a 7-inch tablet (it’s 7.9-inches), but it’s clear Apple’s intentions are to disrupt the sales of those pesky 7-inch competitors out there who keep chipping away at their market share.

Nothing quite brightens my day like a good ol’ Apple spoof, and believe me, there’s no shortage of those. We all had a good laugh when Apple announced the iPad Mini. The way they kept a straight face as they tried to convince their devout to empty their wallets for a two-year piece of tech, was absolutely priceless. While Apple tried to put as positive of a spin on the product as possible, nothing quite tells the truth like this banned iPad Mini Promo.

Today, Google announced two new Nexus tablets — the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 — which will go head-to-head with more established competitors like the iPad, the iPad mini and the Kindle Fire HD. But how do they stack up?

When Apple finally unveiled the iPad Mini, it was quite obvious they missed the mark. Instead of offering up the 7-inch tablet killer many tech pundits expected, Apple essentially revealed a smaller iPad 2 with specs that failed to compete with the likes of the Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HD. The best part of the announcement came in the price. Not only did Apple release an inferior product, but they went ahead and priced it well above its competitors!

The iPad Mini was announced today, and frankly, it missed the mark. The iPad Mini will simply have no effect on non-Apple users. Apple needed to go $299 or less to make the iPad Mini seep into consumers heads and play devil’s advocate. At $329, that simply isn’t going to happen.