The unveiling of the mini-iPad brings more competition to the market that's been dominated by Amazon's Kindle and Google's Nexus 7.

Apple had previously avoided this lower end of the tablet market, but analysts say this move could help it beat back and safeguard its market lead. Maggie Reardon, a senior writer for C-NET, said there's room in the market for the new Apple product.

He said, "So this middle tablet area here, with Apple they have the big ten-inch tablet and then they have the iPod Touch and it looked like they needed something in the middle there, because a lot of their competitors are going for that market.

So you've got Google with their Nexus 7 tablet and also the Kindle Fire. And those products have sold really well, mainly for the price and also because of the form factor -- it's easier to lug around and to read books on, to take on an airplane, so it's a nice form factor. And it's interesting because at one point Steve Jobs really sort of poo-pooed that size, but we're seeing that consumers really like it."

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