According to AppleInsider, the new iPad may have a little brother hiding out somewhere. John Gruber of DaringFireball is well-connected in the Apple realm. Gruber claims that unnamed Apple insiders say a 7.85-inch tablet does exist, but no one is sure whether or not it will see the light of day…
Gruber weighed in on the topic,
“What I do know is that they have one in the lab, a 7.85″ iPad that runs at 1024 x 768. And it’s just like the 9.7-inch iPad shrunk down a little bit. The apps wouldn’t need to be redesigned or recompiled to work on it — it’s just the iPad smaller.”
“I’ve heard from numerous people that that’s one of the ideas that they’re noodling with”
As you probably assumed, he’s talking about Apple.
As noted by AppleInsider,
He went on to say that he has “heard from nobody” on whether the 7-inch iPad will actually be released and when that would happen. Gruber did speculate, though, that Apple may have prepared enter the low-end tablet market should the Kindle Fire prove to be a runaway success. He also suggested that the company could possibly unveil the smaller iPad at the Worldwide Developers Conference, since it’s unlikely that Apple would release a 2012 iPhone at WWDC.
We’ve heard rumors of a smaller iPad “mini” before. This isn’t the first and it certainly won’t be the last. In a recent Podcast I went on a tangent about why it makes sense for an iPad Mini according to Apple’s usual patterns. But as you’re all aware of, Apple has been breaking habits a lot lately.
A smaller iPad would make sense given the popularity of the Kindle. Some people don’t want a device as big as the current iPads size. Dominating that market would give Apple an overall leg up on the competition.
But until it happens or doesn’t happen, it’s up in the air. I think if they do release a smaller tablet, they should call it iPad Nano.
Do you think Apple will release a “mini” iPad?
