Apple is revealing a smaller, $329 version of its hit iPad tablet computer, with a screen that's about two-thirds the size of the full-size model.

   Apple starts taking orders for the new model on Friday Oct. 26 and will ship Nov. 2, said marketing chief Phil Schiller at an event in San Jose, Calif.

   It weighs 0.68 pounds, half as much as the full-size iPad, and is as thin as a pencil.

   The screen resolution is 1024 by 768 pixels, the same as the iPad 2 and a quarter of the resolution of the third-generation iPad.

   Company watchers have for a year been expecting the company to release a smaller iPad to counter cheaper tablets like Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle Fire.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.