I’m going to wager that this year’s hottest Christmas item is going to be Apple’s iPad Mini.  And how, you ask, would I know or suspect such as thing?  Because rumors are out that Apple just placed an order for 10 million iPad Mini’s for the fourth quarter of 2012.

According to reports from WSJ and BGR, Apple’s suppliers in China have leaked out information stating that Apple has order  10 million iPad Minis to be available and on the shelves for this years Christmas shopping season.

That’s a huge number of iPad Mini’s to be made available for holiday shoppers.  And according to the iPad Mini China suppliers, the 30 million order is nearly double what Amazon ordered for their Kindle Fire HD tablets.

However, we could see a lot of those ordered before something like Black Friday deals ever arrives.

Because according to previous reports, tomorrow – October 10th, 2012 – Apple is reportedly going to be sending out iPad Mini news conference invites to the big event where Apple introduces the world to their new 7.85 inch iPad Mini with the news conference happening on October 17th.

So what do you think?  Are the reports accurate?  Did Apple just order 10 million iPad Mini’s to be available for Q4 2012?

And if Apple does have their iPad Mini event and release their new, smaller iPad, will it be this year’s hottest Christmas item?