What a mini-Ipad might look like. That's might. Photocredit: http://www.sizlopedia.com/2010/04/09/apple-mini-ipad-2011/
Apple is “likely” to launch a smaller iPad – a mere 7.85 inches – before the end of next year, says a report in Digitimes, as well as a newer version of the current iPad, which no doubt will be called the iPad3, which is expected to be thinner. 60 million tablet computers are expected to ship in 2011, 70 percent of which will be Apple’s iPads. The Kindle Fire has sold millions. Periscope wonders whether a smaller iPad might just be something called an iPod touch, but has decided not to point this out, for fear of being thought cynical. In any case, the specter of Steve Jobs still looms large in the computing industry, as tablet manufacturers battle it out to win the top tablet prize.
It’s all about competition. The smaller iPad, said Cnet, will ignore Steve Jobs’ “decree” that tablets shouldn’t be “anything below 10 inches.” Digitimes aver that the smaller computer will be launched to deal with competition from the Kindle Fire – 7 inches – and larger smartphones.
“Apparently Apple are going to release a smaller tablet next year, but will it be an iPad Mini or an iPod Maxi?? #mindblown :-S” said one Twitter user, excitably.
“Apple has done extensive user testing and we really understand this stuff…There are clear limits on how close you can place things on a touch screen, which is why we think 10 inch is the minimum screen size to create great tablet apps,” Jobs said at the time, quoted on Cnet.
Hmmmmm. It might be called “the iPad mini,” said the 3g website, but “details are scarce.” Treat this one with scepticism, said Ubergizmo, “at least until more concrete evidence starts to appear.” The iPadfan website quoted Mingchi Kuo, a DigiTimes research analyst, who doesn’t believe that there will be two smaller iPads, saying that Samsung, who make the OLED displays, can’t even keep up with demand for their own lines, and that they wouldn’t be able to raise production levels by next year.