The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Apple has started mass producing “a new tablet computer smaller than the current iPad.” It’s heavily rumoured for months now that Apple will be launching the “iPad mini” and have it come with a display sized 7.85-inches – this is to compete agains all the other smaller tablets on the market, such as the Nexus 7, BlackBerry PlayBook, Samsung Tab, and the Amazon Kindle Fire HD.
It’s been rumored for weeks that Apple is planning to unveil an iPad Mini in October. In August, schematics of the new device were bouncing around the tech blogs. The new smaller iPad will be priced at around $250-$300 (£156-£187 respectively), T3.com reported, citing Chinese sources.
During an Apple’s earnings call in October 2010, the company’s late co-founder Steve Jobs once famously dissed mid-sized slates.
[quote]“The 10in screen size is the minimum size required to create great tablet apps. 7in tablets are tweeners: too big to compete with a smartphone, and too small to compete with an iPad,” Jobs said. These are among the reasons that the current crop of 7-inch tablets are going to be DOA — dead on arrival,” [/quote]
