No, really this time, the iPad Mini is coming on October 23

This week, the iPad Mini is rumored to be launching on October 23, just a few days before Microsoft will fully reveal its Surface tablets.

Now it’s October 12, and no iPad Mini invitations have fallen on to expectant doormats, it’s safe to say the Bigfoot of the tech world still isn’t quite ready to make its debut, despite the last rumor on the subject. If indeed, it ever was.

Since then, there has been talk of the tablet entering production, experiencing problems, and of Apple ordering 10 million units. All this without anyone setting eyes on the thing.

Not to worry though, you can leave the disappointment of October 10 behind and concentrate instead on October 23, as according to AllThingsD’s sources — unnamed, naturally — that’s the real date for the iPad Mini’s unveiling. Apple usually likes to distribute invitations to events a week or so before they take place, so they could begin to appear next Tuesday, October 16.

As the world has done a solid job of promoting the iPad Mini for Apple over the last months (and no, the irony of this statement hasn’t been lost on me), the company will save its money and won’t be inviting the Foo Fighters to return, or even bothering to pop down to the Yerba Buena Center, as the event will be “an intimate affair held close to home.”

Let’s take a moment and say that the iPad Mini is real, and that it will be unveiled on October 23. This is about as close as Apple would dare get to Microsoft’s Windows 8 event, stopping short of erecting a marquee outside Pier 57 on the big day and launching it there.

Microsoft’s Surface tablets are expected to be one of the day’s major subjects, where we’ll finally get to know how much they’ll cost, all ready for a midnight launch. The furore caused by an iPad Mini announcement certainly wouldn’t assist in Microsoft’s quest for column inches or tablet sales.

Right, now you can go back to the iPad Mini being just a rumor. Until October 23. Possibly.