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'iPad Mini' Rumors Revived with Claims of 7.85-Inch Screen

Since Steve passed away this thing has high chance.
At least nobody will say he didn't stood up to his words and lets face it... it's market demand and it seems that 7" are getting popular. I see a lot of galaxy and even playbooks on the subway. Not so many "big" ones.
 
I'd be tempted.

As a traveler, a smaller, lighter, high quality iPad sounds just right. It can slip into a purse easily.

I use my iPad constantly at home, that wouldn't change.
 
While maintaining the current resolution would mean that iPad apps would display natively on the iPad mini, the interface elements would be somewhat smaller than on the iPad, a reduction that could introduce usability issues in some cases.


I think it would mitigate more problems than it would solve. People with big hands and fingers would get the 10 inch, and people with smaller hands (ie children) would get the 7 inch. It'd be like having an interface element size choice. Usually when you give people a choice to make, they make the one less likely to cause themselves a problem.
 
Isn't the iPod technically a mini ipad? lol.

And the iPad a big iPod?
 
This has probably been said, but the most telling comment in this article is, "Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White had noted just last week that his research among Asian suppliers..."

Once you see the word "analyst" stop reading and throw the article away!
 
GQB said:
But what will NOT happen will be the simple release of a 7 incher intended to simply run blown up iPhone ... apps.
Click to expand...

That's pretty much exactly what happened at the introduction of the iPad 1, as there was only a tiny percentage of apps for the native iPad resolution in the App store on that date. And iPhone apps at 2X would actually look much better on a 7" pad than on the current 9" iPads.

I think that the 9" iPad is a much better pure size than a 7" pad, but it weighs too much and costs too much for a large portion of the consumer market. The question is how much profit there is to be made from that segment of the market that won't buy the heavier and costlier 9" iPad.
 
it would be great for kids and schools

My 9 year old would absolutely love the iPad in the same resolution but smaller form faster. Also people with tiny hands (I shook the hand of a teacher the other day and her hands were absolutely tiny compared to mine (I'm 6'3" tall). So there would be many people who would like the smaller screen.

Alas, I'd like to do the opposite... give me a 17 inch iPad with lots of real estate. Native apps designed to work with the default larger resolution would benefit, and older Apps could run pixel-doubled.
 
They should launch the HomePad

I agree with Lucasmonger, I have had my iPad since day 1,I love it but if Apple should be doing anything it is make it bigger not smaller, say 15" Retina, so I can lay it on my lap at home and have some real estate to work with...

Just my 2¢...
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Mac 128K, Mac 512K, Mac Plus, Mac Se30, Pismo Powerbook,Imac G5, 24" iMac 2.8 gig ext....

Thank you Steve RIP....
 
Last edited:
Louis2907 said:
I agree with Lucasmonger, I have had my iPad since day 1,I love it but if Apple should be doing anything it is make it bigger not smaller, say 15" so I can lay it on my lap at home and have some real estate to work with...

Just my 2¢...
--------------------------------------------------
Mac 128K, Mac 512K, Mac Plus, Mac Se30, Pismo Powerbook,Imac G5, 24" iMac 2.8 gig ext....

Thank you Steve RIP....
Click to expand...

That's too big.
 
archangel08 said:
i thought apple/jobs stated there's no market for a tablet smaller than the current ipad?
Click to expand...

I think the Kindle Fire may answer that question....who knows....

Personally I think the stumbling block was price point. Given the iPod Touch's pricing, Apple would have had to price a 7 inch tablet at $349-$399. In that case I could see there being a limited market.

But the $199 price point is a deal changer...and well below what Apple was likely considering....
 
I own a 7" Galaxy Tab (the original one), and I have a 10-inch HP Touchpad.

The 7" tablet is waaaaaaaaay more portable and can even fit into the front pocket on most of my pants/shorts. This means I can bring it with me into the restaurant/football game/whatever and not have to worry about leaving it somewhere or having someone drop something on it.

The 10" is nicer for browsing, but I rarely take it anywhere unless I'm carrying a backpack.
 
Glad this is coming up again - hopefully they really are considering the smaller size, as it would be a great improvement, and might actually get me to buy an iPad - size & weight would be a much better fit for the use case; even the 2 is not comfortable to hold in the air for watching video content for very long. Unless there's somehow more to squeeze out of the 9.7", I think a 7.whatever would be the logical next step.

Then they'd have iPhone/iPod Touch at 3.5", iPad at 7.whatever / 9.7", Air at 11/13", and so on. By that pattern there needs to be something at 5" - could the iPhone 5 mockup pull it off? Maybe there's the marketing - "We know it's the 6th generation iPhone, but we're calling this one the iPhone 5"" - seriously, who wouldn't be all over both of these hypothetical products?
 
2012iboard_thumb.jpg
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

Hoping 8" iPad 3 at 1024 x 768 becomes standard size.
Then, larger 12" iPad 3 at 2048 x 1536
 
HobeSoundDarryl said:
Corey, why is Apple going to do that? Go into the Apple refurb store for "last years" iPad pricing and notice it is well above $299. You're now dreaming of them taking iPad2s and heavily cutting their pricing even further than what they've done with a more than 1-year old (not new, refurbished) iPad 1? Just to make the current model a real competitor against those attracted to the Fire's smaller size and much lower price? If we're just going to make up anything, I'd much rather have a 17" Macbook Air for $299 (I know, we're just making up "what ifs" to defeat the idea that someone may like a Fire size or price) instead of the Fire.
Click to expand...
HobeSoundDarryl, Apple was clearing out 16GB WiFi-only iPad 1's at $349 when the iPad 2 was released; by slashing the storage to 8GB they could easily hit that $299 price when the iPad 3 is released. I checked the Apple store refurb page and the far more expensive models you're seeing are all 3G+Wi-Fi models with 32 or 64GB of storage.

Note how they were able to cut the iPhone 4's price in half this year and all that really changed was cutting the storage to 8GB.

I think Apple's spring iPad lineup could start like this:
$299 - iPad 2, Wi-Fi only, A5 processor, 8GB Storage
$499 - iPad 3, Wi-Fi only, A6 processor, Retina Display, 16GB Storage

----------
MartiNZ said:
Glad this is coming up again - hopefully they really are considering the smaller size, as it would be a great improvement, and might actually get me to buy an iPad - size & weight would be a much better fit for the use case; even the 2 is not comfortable to hold in the air for watching video content for very long.
Click to expand...
That's what your iPhone/iPod Touch is for.
 
Horrible mock up, im looking at my iPad 2 now and it doesnt even look as big as the one they put under the 7inch mock up.
 
ActionJax said:
To fight Kindle Fire: iPad 3 starts at $499. iPad 2 low-end model drops to $349.
Click to expand...

I agree, I think Apple is just setting up their future market appeal. By testing 7" iPad prototypes they are just being smart business people and approaching every angle.
Ultimately I think they will do what they did with the iPhone: offer the previous generation at a lower price point, with the newer model at the current pricing.

iPad 2 (base model) = $299
iPad 3 (base model) = $499

This would help to get people considering the kindle fire to think twice and consider buying an iPad.

I am actually perplexed at why they didn't do this with the original iPad.
 
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