7.85-Inch iPad to Ramp Up Production in September at Foxconn Brazil

[FrankHahn]

I will stick to 9.7" iPad whether or not the iPad mini will come out.

[nuckinfutz]

I love how i'm supposed to take the word of some faceless MR poster over Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal. Sure you keep telling me it's not coming.


mmmmmmmm' ok

[winston1236]

thats an odd concept given that the ipad itself is anything but large

[Arran]

I can see this coexisting with the rest of the lineup (just like vehicles come in different sizes):

• iPod touch = Smart car
• iPad 7" = Midsize Car/Hatchback
• iPad 9" (non retina) = Base SUV
• iPad 9" retina = Luxury SUV

There might even be room for a Minivan and a Truck?

[scotty84]

The current iPod Touch is a great device to play games, read e-books and surf the web. Imagine those three things with a 7 inch display instead of 3.5. This would totally make sense for me.

[the8thark]

People still believe mini iPads will come this year?
Hahahaha!

Just have to laugh at how silly some people can be.

[nuckinfutz]

Originally Posted by the8thark

Just have to laugh at how silly some people can be.

The irony of this post ...

[iPhisch]

what if they call it the iNote?

[the8thark]

Originally Posted by nuckinfutz

The irony of this post ...

People also believed there would be a 2nd iPad (released in the same year) when Steve Jobs said year of iPad 2. So yeah people will believe anything.

[iT3]

It's Just a Remote for the upcoming Apple TV

[nuckinfutz]

Originally Posted by the8thark

People also believed there would be a 2nd iPad (released in the same year) when Steve Jobs said year of iPad 2. So yeah people will believe anything.

Yeah those rumors were pretty silly.

[faroZ06]

I don't really see the point of this. The iPad was a great note-taking, work, and media computer, but the iPad Mini's screen is too small to have a nice, almost-full-sized keyboard. I wouldn't want to do work or watch a movie on a 7.85" screen.

[needfx]

Originally Posted by Macclone

Weak argument. Apple supports devices much longer than the competition. How many Android devices don't support ICS and have only ben on the market less than a year. Is it a first ten device if it just a smaller form factor? It will release with iOS6.

[AZREOSpecialist]

This makes no sense for Apple, unless it feels the need to counter Google's Nexus Tablet. Given the dismal track record of all Android tablets to date, I doubt very much that Apple is concerned. Apple's main competition, I believe, will come from Windows 8. In this regard, is it possible that Apple wants to push iOS down into smaller devices (smaller iPad, iPhone) and will start to incorporate more OS X functionality in the 10" model? This would differentiate its product line along the lines of Surface - one tablet that runs a scaled-down OS (Windows RT vs iOS) and another that runs the full OS (Windows 8 vs. Mac OS X).

Apple has no competition in the 7" space and the only successful tablet of that size - Kindle Fire - is now seeing dismal sales. While the most successful Android tablet, the Kindle Fire is a market failure given its low sales volumes. So why on earth would Apple feel the need to compete with a market that essentially it already owns?

[daneoni]

Shame it'll be 1024x768 resolution which is weak to say the least.

[nuckinfutz]

Originally Posted by faroZ06

I don't really see the point of this. The iPad was a great note-taking, work, and media computer, but the iPad Mini's screen is too small to have a nice, almost-full-sized keyboard. I wouldn't want to do work or watch a movie on a 7.85" screen.

People type on their 3.5" iPhone screens. We're talking about over double the size here diagonally plus there would be dictation features as well.

You guys would see the point more if you took a more holistic view. iPads can be used in restaurants and other commercial venues (Real Estate, Insurance -doc signing). They are used in education.

It's not just about playing movies and surfing the web. I know a guy work on a freight line. He walks down the line of containers and checks things in on his iPad. He doesn't need 9.7" but that's his only option.

Originally Posted by AZREOSpecialist

This makes no sense for Apple, unless it feels the need to counter Google's Nexus Tablet. Given the dismal track record of all Android tablets to date, I doubt very much that Apple is concerned. Apple's main competition, I believe, will come from Windows 8. In this regard, is it possible that Apple wants to push iOS down into smaller devices (smaller iPad, iPhone) and will start to incorporate more OS X functionality in the 10" model? This would differentiate its product line along the lines of Surface - one tablet that runs a scaled-down OS (Windows RT vs iOS) and another that runs the full OS (Windows 8 vs. Mac OS X).

Apple has no competition in the 7" space and the only successful tablet of that size - Kindle Fire - is now seeing dismal sales. While the most successful Android tablet, the Kindle Fire is a market failure given its low sales volumes. So why on earth would Apple feel the need to compete with a market that essentially it already owns?

The rumors of 7.85 iPads predates Google getting into the tablet space by months so this is in no way a reaction to Google or Amazon's product.

Amazon doesn't release sales figures so be careful about your use of "dismal sales" you won't be able to prove Amazon sales numbers in any way because they do not release them.

[mabhatter]

Originally Posted by miniroll32

At what point does an iPad become Mini and an iPod Touch become Large?

(More specifically, when does a pod become a pad??)

I think the ipod Touch is the device that is "out of touch" right now. It's ok for games and stuff, but like the iPhone is tedious for browsing. Who is buying a 64gb iPod touch at the same price as an iPad 2? The 8g version is too small to be a useful media player and have games. The 32gb version is just too high priced to take seriously when a Nook or Kindle is $250.

Add to that, Apple hasn't updated iPod touch in 2 years. Only one version gets iOS 6. Even Apple isn't taking it seriously. A 6"-7" device would be in order and just drop the current Touch. I can't see Apple creating another new resolution.. So would they do 960x640 or 1024x768.. Or maybe that extra-tall resolution in the iPhone x rumors. Or maybe they have ios to the point they can just point to "big or small" and have the UI fill in. Like how some devs used iPhone 4 art on iPad 2. The rumored 1132x640 is a close ratio to 1200x800 standard 7" screen. So it's not too far fetched.

[WLS]

This rumor does carry one interesting tidbit.
It states the iPad mini will be as thin as the Touch. So this tablet will be crazy thin and that goes along with Apple's design goals. Thin will mean less weight of course which would be good.
If only it had GPS standard... we shall just have to wait and see but if it makes the Nexus 7 look fat then that's interesting.

[nuckinfutz]

Originally Posted by WLS

This rumor does carry one interesting tidbit.
It states the iPad mini will be as thin as the Touch. So this tablet will be crazy thin and that goes along with Apple's design goals. Thin will mean less weight of course which would be good.
If only it had GPS standard... we shall just have to wait and see but if it makes the Nexus 7 look fat then that's interesting.

I wouldn't be surprised. It's likely going to share components with the next iPhone and if IGZO displays are used it should be pretty power efficient so that battery bulk doesn't jack the weight up.

I think the problem is that so many people take such a myopic view about the iPad and don't see the big picture.

The iPad is a game changer but a smaller iPad can leverage even more areas of opportunity. In Auto display, videographers could mount a smaller iPad to their cams, photographers could make better use of a smaller iPad.

Apple said they see the iOS and OS X products as peers. They are now just another device on a network. So different form factors will find traction where smaller size is more of a key factor.

[teng029]

And rumor has it it'll shoot fireballs from its eyes and bolts of lighting from its arse..

[Helmsy67]

Originally Posted by MeinKraft

What's the point of a smaller iPad? You would truly be better off with th regular iPad size. It seems a little unnecessary to decrease the size of one of your products to compete with another company...

with that logic its also unnecessary to INCREASE the size of a product to compete with another company.

[mabhatter]

Originally Posted by BRLawyer

Please stop babbling nonsense. Brazil is as "third world" as most European countries nowadays, with a ridiculously large middle-class and richer-class consumer market, and an extremely high labor and welfare cost, which makes it impossible to be a sweatshop as happens in China or India.

The country is already the fourth largest market in the world for cars, the sixth for cell phones and the seventh in Internet usage, not to mention that it's the place with the highest C-level salaries in the world.

The only reason Apple devices do not sell MORE over there is because of taxes, which normally more than double the price of such devices (as well as the prices of telecom services, which suffer from at least 40% taxation). If prices in Brazil were the same as in the US, Brazilians would probably have more disposable income to buy more iPads than virtually any other country nowadays.

And just to remind people again: only a handful of people live in the remote Amazon, OK? The US equivalent of that would be Alaska.

I agree, part of Apple wanting manufacturing in Brazil is that they are highly protectionist, and love import taxes. They are worse than China. I work in the US for a company based in Brazil... Their IT is disastrous. Close to 50% import tax plus sales taxes, make the price of something like iPad straight double the price in the US. Just about anything "IT" is almost double the cost... They're paying a $1000 for a $450 Walmart laptop.

Of course Brazil is unique because they are much like the US in the 1970's. There are not crazy unions, but the big companies work hard to "get along" so there wont be. Their Government is much more liberal with the holidays and leave rules.. Not quite what Europe is, but civilized compared to the USA labor rights.

That makes what apple wants extra hard. On paper it's still about the same cost as China, but unlike China, workers aren't exactly lining up for "table scraps". They won't be bullied into 12-hour days like in other places. They get out and protest when companies try to manipulate labor laws.

That said, if Apple gets a toe in Brazil, they have all of South America opened up. It's definately something they are way ahead on.

[faroZ06]

Originally Posted by nuckinfutz

People type on their 3.5" iPhone screens. We're talking about over double the size here diagonally plus there would be dictation features as well.

You guys would see the point more if you took a more holistic view. iPads can be used in restaurants and other commercial venues (Real Estate, Insurance -doc signing). They are used in education.

It's not just about playing movies and surfing the web. I know a guy work on a freight line. He walks down the line of containers and checks things in on his iPad. He doesn't need 9.7" but that's his only option.

Isn't it a lot easier to type on a screen that has almost a full-sized keyboard? And the 7.85" iPad is not really any more portable.

----------

Originally Posted by Macclone

Weak argument. Apple supports devices much longer than the competition. How many Android devices don't support ICS and have only ben on the market less than a year. Is it a first ten device if it just a smaller form factor? It will release with iOS6.

It's not just the iOS support. First-gen models tend to have all of the bugs and missing features, and a smaller iPad is really first-gen, just like a huge iPod touch was. I never buy first-gen anything or release-week anything after what happened to my iMac.

[nuckinfutz]

Originally Posted by faroZ06

Isn't it a lot easier to type on a screen that has almost a full-sized keyboard? And the 7.85" iPad is not really any more portable.

I have a BT keyboard if I need to do an serious amount of typing. I plan to test out the dictation features and see how robust they are with my next iPad purchase.

The weight savings could be significant. I love my iPad 2 for surfing the web and other things but I do notice its weight when i'm using it as a book reader or playing games and controlling the game with the iPad.

.75 lbs would be ideal but anything under 1lb would make a nice improvement.

Another trend that is going to become popular soon is Second Screen viewing. This is where you could be watching a broadcast and viewing live data tailored for your iPad in sync with the broadcast.

This is sort of what happens now when people get on Twitter and start commenting live as a broadcast happens. Second Screen viewing is actually a part of the next ATSC broadcast specification so it should get some traction.

[Windlasher]

Originally Posted by bharatgupta

ipad is still pretty affordable and aggressively priced, this smaller version makes no sense, as it would either kill purpose of ipod touch or might prove as a strong competitor to all the other crap like kindle fire n what not in the market, its very interesting to see how this all develops, nope i dont think apple will announce this.

makes no sense!

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making ipad smaller would not be a good step as we need adequate amount of area for a good web experience and apple doesnt offer compromized products, a big screen ipad can make sense not shrinking it down even further.

if anyone has used ipad the screen is just right nothing larger nor smaller would do a good justice, it just shrinks down everything.

apple wont do it, its a false rumor in my opinion!

Lets see you put an 7.85" screen in your pocket! Plenty of market for both.