Top iPad Mini accessories for the business traveller

By David Flynn, October 26 2012

With Apple’s iPad Mini available for online order from today, ahead of its debut next Friday, the first wave of made-for-Mini accessories is already warming up on the sidelines.

Aussie iPad accessories specialist PADACS was quick off the mark with the Enduro Mini power case and Rubata Mini Bluetooth keyboard case.

Power typists will be keen on the $40 Rubata Mini Bluetooth keyboard case: a sturdy synthetic leather case with its own Bluetooth keyboard.

Special iPad keys control screen brightness, volume, play, forward/rewind and search, while a built-in stand lets you angle the Mini into ‘laptop position’ as shown above.

There's also the $60 Enduro Mini, which encloses your iPad Mini in a slim blue or pink case sporting an inbuilt 8000mAh battery.

This is almost double the capacity of the iPad Mini’s own battery, which PADACS claims can extend the tablet’s battery life by up to 125 per cent. In other words, we’re now talking a full 24 hours of active use between charges.

If all you want from a case is, well, a case – to both protect your newly-acquired Mini and dress it up a bit - the Cygnett range of six Mini cases should fit the bill.

They include the ‘rough and tumble’ shock-absorbing Workmate ($50 in slate or red) and aptly-named Armour case (shown above, $50 in black or purple) to the professional look of the Lavish folio ($50 in black or purple) plus the everyday protection of the Flexigel designed to resist scratches and drops (as seen below, $30 in black and blue).

Another Aussie success story, the colourful STM family of cases spans from the sleek Skinny Mini ($40) and tactile Grip ($60) to the full grain leather of the Marquee Mini ($90, below).