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axual

macrumors regular
Oct 31, 2007
214
4
I'd say ...

The only question is: WHY the heck would someone want to buy a 7-inch iPad when there are already 2 Apple-produced multitouch devices with 3.5 and 9 inches? To fit it in cargo pockets?

This rumor makes absolutely no sense in terms of market segmentation; I call it pure BS.

The handheld gaming market may be a possible target ... 7 inches is also a less expensive alternative to target that market.
 

sineplex

macrumors 6502
Aug 24, 2010
342
0
What is so exciting about the 7 inch iPad anyway.

It's just a different size.

The rumors are the higher resolution, front and back camera, faster processor, better screen, more memory with a build to match the iphone 4.

If the styling is of high quality with gorilla glass, it will bowl over the *plastic* blackberry and samsung offerings.
 

Don Kosak

macrumors 6502a
Mar 12, 2010
860
4
Hilo, Hawaii
Given how much time everyday I spend typing on my iPad, I can not imagine a 7" tablet being useful. In "read only" mode, I'd take my iPod Touch 4 any day over a 7" tablet. The touch fits in my pocket, is super lightweight, and has enough battery to last all day.

When it's time to get some work done, (or post on MacRumors) I pull out a tablet I can type full speed on -- the 9.7" iPad.

Apple, king of usability, had several years to evaluate 7" vs. 9.7" tablet sizes. Ask yourself, why did they pick 9.7" for iPad? It's because 9.7" was sweet spot between small size and maximum functionality.

I'm especially mystified by RIM's Playbook. Too small to type on with your fingers... Too big to type on with your thumbs... Highly tied to your Blackberry... What is the point? A big external monitor with extra cameras for your Blackberry?

I'd love to see a 10" tablet running webOS 2 with solid specs from HP. I think they are the only folks that might be able to sprint past Apple in this market. Everyone else seems to have weird "built by committee" stuff that just doesn't make sense.
 

Rocketman

macrumors 603
It's not just a different size, it is a different experience.

The iPhone for me requires glasses to use. The iPad not so much but it is far from portable.

A 7" (diagonal) iPad capability device would be "more viewable", more capable, and a visual cross between an iPhone and an iPad, which admittedly virtually anybody can use even with some visual disability.

I have always felt from before iPhone day 1 that the ATNN (Apple Tablet Not Nano) was the thing.

It has not arrived 5 years later. I am no longer holding my breath.

Apple is form factor fixated.

Rocketman
 

hexhead

macrumors member
Sep 9, 2010
36
0
TN
I see this quote being true



when sales start to slow down, maybe then they will release a smaller form factor to excite people again, but not now, not wile they are still selling like hotcakes.

It would make no sense business wise to compete with themselves on a great selling product with a lower priced option. Now if they only added the cameras, FaceTime etc to the 7" one, and sold it for $100 more, then it would make sense.

If your going to do any real typing, you need the 9.7" size.
 

Blakjack

macrumors 68000
Jun 23, 2009
1,806
319
There is no 7" iPad. It's all just sales tactics. I swear apple makes up it's own rumors just to sale their products.apple could go the next year and a half without a smaller version and still dominate the market. It makes no sense to have 6 different ipads and a small iPad. Too much hassle when the product u already have is selling in droves. A smaller tablet defeats the purpose of it being a tablet. The iPad may be more consumption now, but it's intentions for the future are consumption and creating. Small tablet creators are missing the point. They are worried about Catching up to the iPad, but forgetting about the future of their product. Tablets two years from now will be primary computing devices for a lot of people because of the amount of work that can be done. 7 inchers won't be attractive for those tasks.
 

pubwvj

macrumors 68000
Oct 1, 2004
1,901
208
Mountains of Vermont
Options

More size options are good. This means Apple can compete across the board, priced low to high, and consumers can pick the devices that fit their needs. If the MacOSX runs on the top end iPads and all Macs as well as the iOS running on all machines then it gives everyone the best of all worlds. Next everything needs to stay in sync.
 

praetorian909

macrumors 6502
Aug 4, 2004
279
91
I dunno if I'm the only one, but I'd really like to see a larger iPad like the 12" mentioned. 7-inch didn't really make sense to me since it's not pocket-able, and we have the iPod Touch for that.

Less panning, bigger movies, I'm all for the 12-inch "superPad"--is anyone else?
 

THX1139

macrumors 68000
Mar 4, 2006
1,928
0
I love how people post here saying what they think is a perfect size for an iPad. They think that the 9.7 is PERFECT for them and they can't understand WHY anyone would need anything else. When I see those kinds of posts, I think... gee here's another person who has limited vision and thinks that anything Apple makes is ALL about them.

And for what it's worth... the 7" iPad would open a whole new sector. Not everyone wants the limitation of a small screen that the iPod offers, or the rather large 9.7 screen that the iPad is currently at. Notice when the delivery guy knocks on your door. On average... what size is the device that you sign on? Yeah... it's around 7". Why is that? Duh.

Imagine going on a cross country road trip with a couple of friends, and you could only take one media device (iPhone doesn't count). What size would you want that to be? Yeah... me too, 7" is the sweet spot. I hope Apple releases one soon cause I'd buy it. I just wish they would make it out of durable materials instead of pretty glass and chrome. I would trade cool looks for industrial functionality in a 7" iPad. Toss it into a back pack and not worry about breaking the glass or scratching the surface. Something that scientists could take out into the field to type notes on. You get the idea.
 

THX1139

macrumors 68000
Mar 4, 2006
1,928
0
I dunno if I'm the only one, but I'd really like to see a larger iPad like the 12" mentioned. 7-inch didn't really make sense to me since it's not pocket-able, and we have the iPod Touch for that.

Less panning, bigger movies, I'm all for the 12-inch "superPad"--is anyone else?

No. They already have something like that. It's called the Macbook Air.
 

feflower

macrumors regular
Jun 25, 2009
145
0
Said this many times before:

I want a smaller iPad for travel use. I want a smaller iPad because:

1) I want to thumb type
2) I want an iPad that fits in my purse
3) I want to discreetly pull out my iPad every time I want to change a song
4) I want to be able to hold it comfortably in one hand.

Basically I want the smallest size that is still comfortable to read academic articles.
 

titusm

macrumors member
Jan 23, 2010
30
1
Hamburg, Germany
7" resolution?

My now sold iPad felt old on the day I saw the retina display of the iPhone 4. I could not bear to look at 132 ppi anymore. I really like to see an iPad that meets the new standard.
Now, when you scale down the 132 ppi of the 9.7 inch to 6.9 inch you get about 184 ppi. Is that a common screen resolution? And, as we can not shrink our fingers, can you still navigate through - lets say the pages iPad app? Would it still be usable?
 

hleewell

macrumors 6502a
Oct 22, 2009
544
62
Said this many times before:

I want a smaller iPad for travel use. I want a smaller iPad because:

1) I want to thumb type
2) I want an iPad that fits in my purse
3) I want to discreetly pull out my iPad every time I want to change a song
4) I want to be able to hold it comfortably in one hand.

Basically I want the smallest size that is still comfortable to read academic articles.

I agree with all the above points. Plus, Apple could put a phone module in the smaller iPad. You could always use a wired/bluetooth headset for phone operation. Those things are getting smaller & smaller each year. The only thing Apple should consider invalid in its line up is the MacBook base model. They should just call the whole 13/15" Pro laptop line MacBook. The 17" with its matte high-contrast screen, larger battery, BluRay writer, Express card slot, Harman Kardon speakers, super-duper Mic as MacBook PRO. I think this 17" is still popular among digital mixer/musician, visual artists, videographer and such. Rename iMac as just "Mac", and the Big Mac with its superior expandability, Mac PRO. All handheld devices - iPod, iPhone, iPad - can stick with the "i" prefix.

There is a place for a smaller iPad, just like there is Shuffle, Nano, Classic in iPod line up. I think Apple is afraid that the smaller iPad, if sold too early, would slash their profit margin they are enjoying right now with the current 9.7" iPad.

For now, I could only dream for a 7" iPad. Wake me up when Steve decides to release one.
 

gnasher729

Suspended
Nov 25, 2005
17,980
5,565
This is a futile attempt to rain on the upcoming Samsung's Galaxy Tab and BB's Playbook 7" tablet computer parade.

By the way, the rumored price of the Galaxy Tab is now

$399 contract, $599 for 3G off contract for Sprint coming Nov 14.

What makes you think anything that Apple does would be "futile"? There are exactly two possibilities: If someone else builds a 7" iPad clone that sells, then Apple will release a real 7" iPad and kill them. If someone else builds a 7" iPad clone but they don't sell, then Apple won't release a 7" iPad, _until_ the point where Apple's capacity of building iPads exceeds sales (which won't be for quite some time) and selling 7" iPads to those who want them will increase total sales.
 

kevoo

macrumors newbie
Mar 15, 2010
7
0
When will we see the 11" model? :p

The current ipad is just slightly too small...
 

cube

Suspended
May 10, 2004
17,011
4,972
Said this many times before:

I want a smaller iPad for travel use. I want a smaller iPad because:

1) I want to thumb type
2) I want an iPad that fits in my purse
3) I want to discreetly pull out my iPad every time I want to change a song
4) I want to be able to hold it comfortably in one hand.

Basically I want the smallest size that is still comfortable to read academic articles.

The smallest such size is A4.
 

HyperZboy

macrumors 65816
Feb 7, 2007
1,086
1
I don't think Apple will do anything until the iPad is refreshed with like a RETINA type display or other features. Then the old tech will go into a smaller 7" iPad for a lower price around or just after competitors release 7" tablets. That strategy would be a win win for Apple. I have no doubt they have such a device ready to go. But, why release it until you have to when sales are already so good on the current iPad? Apple is sitting pretty right now.
 

aaronsullivan

macrumors regular
Oct 27, 2003
162
41
Rochester, NY
The iPad seems to be the closest thing to a solution but it is way too bulky for it to be a portable device& it weighs a bit too much after more than 15 minutes of handling it. ... they could reduce the width of the bezel around the screen. Thinner is sexier. Why can't they just take the screen of the current 13" MacBook Pro, attach the battery+electronics in the back, and call it iPad?
Spoken like someone who has never used an iPad for more than a few minutes. You're body adjusts to the weight in no time if you use it regularly. Bodies are cool that way. Also, the bezel is there so you can hold it with your opposable thumb (cool body thing again). Bezel size might be another issue with the 7". Maybe it's small enough to palm for enough people, though.

The current iPad IS a portable device, though. Not a pocket device, but easily portable. Saying otherwise is like saying books aren't portable.

I still think the 7" would be better as a large iPod for gamers and portable sensitive people and it would have to run iOS at iPhone OS 4 resolution to be immediately useful. What ever the resolution, I don't think the size is quite large enough for iPad style app interfaces.

(I'll leave the MacBook Pro thing alone. I'm sure you were just being silly. :D)
 

LEENC

macrumors newbie
Oct 9, 2010
2
0
Yes to 7" miniPad

Perfect for reading books - and I have dozens of ebooks. Also have iPad and MacBookPro - need Pro for editing, iPad for general use, and a miniPad? for reading that is about the size of other eBook readers.
 

Wiesenlooser

macrumors 6502a
Jul 9, 2010
984
1,540
Agreed! Dalrymple is right: Apple simply doesn't need a 7-inch model! Won't happen, folks.


Honestly, ****.

I hate these -so called-Insiders who claim to know what Apple does and what Apple won't do. Those are the same people who were screaming: "Fake! Apple would never release something like this. Look at the RIMS!" when the iPhone 4 was leaked.

Get over it, you have no idea what youre talking about. You don't know if a 7" Version of the iPad would make sense to Apple, because you've NEVER USED ONE.

While at the Apple labs they are undoubtably testing all kind of screen sizes. And if the 7 inch Version makes sense to them and feels good to control and would make profit they are clearly gonna make one.

Will they make one? Hell, I don't know. To me it would make sense. But I clearly don't act like my opinion was fact or the only one considerable....
 
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