After a short bout of silence to let the iPhone 5 take the limelight, the iPad Mini rumours have awoken with a big one, that it’s ready for a 17 October launch and will be on sale the following month.

Here’s the situation, Fortune says it has heard from “multiple sources”, who of course, don’t want to be named, that Apple is just about ready to show off the iPad Mini to the world. The report states that next Wednesday, 10 October, the company will send out invitations to the event, which it’s speculated will take place the following week on 17 October.

Then, perhaps on 2 November, the iPad Mini will go on sale – just in time to grab those precious Christmas sales that a cut-price, smaller iPad would inevitably bring.

All rumours should be approached with caution, but iPad Mini rumours should be treated even more warily. This is a product that may not even exist, and yet we’re talking about its release date. It’s not like the iPhone 6, which is a logical progression of an existing model, but a deviation from an incredibly successful product that could feature a screen size that Apple has previously dismissed. The odds are stacked against it.

It would also be a surprise to see it come so soon after the iPhone 5 too, as we’d expect Apple to want to keep the spotlight on its new phone for a while longer yet.

But, you never know, and as this rumour has an actual date attached, we’ll know on 11 October  whether it’s looking realistic, and if the iPad Mini doesn’t arrive by the end of the month, then it’s safe to assume the report’s sources were misinformed.