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Analyst: Don’t expect an ‘iPad mini’ with tiny 7-inch screen in 2012

Friday, December 23, 2011 · 9:55 am · 14 Comments

“With strong demand for the Kindle Fire and Nook driving demand for 7-inch displays above the 9.7-inch tablet display size popularized by the iPad, rumors are circulating once again that Apple may be planning a 7-inch tablet of its own,” John Paczkowski reports for AllThingsD.

“Though Apple has experimented with a 7-inch version of the iPad, developing it in concert with the larger 9.7-inch version it ultimately chose to launch, it’s probably not planning to bring it to market,” Paczkowski reports. “Certainly not in 2012, anyway, says Wedge Partners analyst Brian Blair.”

Paczkowski reports, “‘Don’t expect a 7-incher,’ says Blair. ‘While we believe Apple has tested 7-inch screen prototypes for over a year, we don’t currently expect the company to release anything in the 7-inch size in 2012.’”

Read more in the full article here.

Categories: News

Tags: 7-inch display, 7-inch iPad, Brian Blair, Wedge Partners

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Comment Feed

14 Comments

Dawood

Friday, December 23, 2011 - 10:03 am · Reply

But what app store would it choose – iPhone or iPad because it would just be stupid if Apple made ANOTHER AppStore.
opsono

Friday, December 23, 2011 - 10:48 am · Reply

My two cents on this- the 7″ thing (if Apple makes it at all) will be part of whatever is happening with Apple and TV- as a remote+. Personally, I do not want to talk to my TV to get it to do things, but having a software variable remote touchscreen device to change channels, volume, inputs, recording, wifi’d to my home network, etc., would be a very nice thing.
- CitizenX
  
  Friday, December 23, 2011 - 11:05 am · Reply
  
  Bingo.
  
  Make it the remote/controller for an Apple branded TV.
_Bill_

Friday, December 23, 2011 - 10:51 am · Reply

Apple had better do something; 11 trillion Android devices are activated each day!

Seriously though, users could setup scripts that root and reactivate their phones 100 times a day to drive up the activation numbers, although Google claims those activations are new devices, not installs 1 through infinity of cyanogenmod. Someone else on MDN pointed-out that if there really are 700,000 daily activations, everyone would have an Android. Where are they??? I’ve seen 10-15 Androids (1 tablet) in the wild, ever. Many here say the same thing.

In the past, manufacturer software updates and support for phones was non-existent. People must see smart phones the same way. I.E. “My phone doesn’t do X now; I’ll get it on the next one.” Apple adds a lot of value by doing software updates, so your phone is usable years after you purchased it (3GS). That should add to Apple’s loyalty ratings, and make Android more of a temporary competitor. Only time will tell; other factors may change that.
- I've seen several ...
  
  Friday, December 23, 2011 - 11:18 am · Reply
  
  … HAPPY users of Android devices – phone AND tablet. Of course, each of those users was a geek first and an Android user second. Still … they were able to make their devices “dance”. My iPhone-using daughter is NOT a geek, I’m more of one with my iPad, and my DiL runs a Help Desk from her iPhone and iPad … varying levels of geekyness and all happy with our results. Both are out there. iOS devices outsell any specific Android family of devices but Android over-all outsells iOS. This is not a zero-sum game. Yet. Don’t get over-focused on it, it will work itself out eventually, and it will all be better. Being overly snippy/hyper-critical/insane won’t help anyone.
  - Tessellator
    
    Friday, December 23, 2011 - 12:16 pm · Reply
    
    You are equivocating iOS and android and they are not equivalent. Android is a hastily cobbled together resource hungry OS made of many stolen ideas (which eventually are getting their day in court)
    That someone who is extremely competent at configuration (“geek”) can get it to run -OK- is faint praise my friend.
    
    My biggest problem with all the Google astroturfing and freetard cheerleading is that people with no axe to grind are being led to believe that an android device is roughly equivalent (also what you post attempted to do). They aren’t. Android is a huge compromise and can only be made to run even close to satisfactorily by an elite 3 or 4 percent of users, the other 96% just suffer with a poorly functioning device (droid phones and kindle fire tablet are good cases in point)
    - I didn't say they ...
      
      Friday, December 23, 2011 - 2:51 pm · Reply
      
      … were in any way “equal”. I even went out of my way to point out that the only folk *I* knew who used Android were high on the geek scale while I knew happy iOS users who were much lower on the geek scale. Just remember, if you lower your expectations, you can raise your satisfaction. Have you seen those surveys that tell us there are more Androids out there than iOS devices, but they are doing less of the more complex stuff? Lowered expectations!
      EVERY OS is a compromise. Some are so good you don’t notice what’s missing. Others? Maybe you just blame yourself. Still, for most users, the two are close enough. Why? Because most of the extras iOS makes easy are things people can actually live without. Might they be happier with an iPhone? Most likely. But they are happy enough with their ‘droid.
      - Tessellator
        
        Friday, December 23, 2011 - 8:15 pm · Reply
        
        No you are dancing around the the core statistic that while a large number of ‘roids are sold, not very many are extremely happy with them. So, no, for the vast majority of people who purchase android it isn’t “good enough”
        
        And I always notice curious accounting when dealing with iOS (documented sales) vs android (either nebulous “orders” or even worse “activations”. Add to that they are always not counting large segments of the iOS devices (either avoiding the iPone or the iPad or the iPod) and then comparing that to “activations which means god knows what (and could mean anything) So you I even doubt the “android is everywhere” nonsense because I just don’t see it. Just like when Ballmer claimed that 20% “of the $250 and up music players sold were zunes and yet you rarely ever saw a zune in the wild.
        Similarly I see more iPhones than any other smartphone, (and I travel so I see a fairly wide cross section) So, just where are all these “activations” going? Not into the real world it appears, perhaps the “google world” exists in another dimension. Or more likely: Schmidt is another Ballmer twisting his market speak to make his position sound much better than it actually.
Yes, Apple is ...

Friday, December 23, 2011 - 11:00 am · Reply

… and HAS BEEN … testing a 7″ device. Is it an iPad? Maybe, but I doubt it. An iPod? Maybe, more likely. Yet another iOS device not yet released to the slavering masses? Like a controller for the next version of Apple TV? Quite possible! More than one of the above? We’ll know when/IF it gets here.
Rorschach

Friday, December 23, 2011 - 11:02 am · Reply

From a purely personal point of view, a 7″ pad would be a very handy size. I read a lot of ebooks on my phone, and the slightly bigger screen would more approximate a paperback page, plus I use highly detailed Ordnance Survey mapping while out walking, and again the bigger screen allows more map to be seen, and the overall size is more pocketable; an iPad is just too big to be practical for outdoor use.
Would be better for car navigation, too.
markar12

Friday, December 23, 2011 - 11:11 am · Reply

With Apple and former CEO Steve Jobs having come out against a 7″ iPad for very good given reason, any analyst stating to the contrary is just ‘trolling.’ These reports should end up in the joke section, no one that follows Apple would take any report of a upcoming 7″ iPad seriously. ENOUGH ALREADY !!! >;(
Zuno the Clown

Friday, December 23, 2011 - 12:03 pm · Reply

A 7-inch device would be very nice if it ran iPhone/iPod Touch apps rather than full iPad apps. It would be a good e-reader and gaming device and would be a lot easier on my aging eyes than the iPhone. Apple could conceivably come out with a few sizes that run the same app set, but somehow, I just don’t see it – yet.

Now, if I can just get a 30-inch iPad roll out onto the kitchen table for family puzzles, monopoly games, etc…
- Tessellator
  
  Friday, December 23, 2011 - 12:24 pm · Reply
  
  That is one of the only ideas/arguments I have seen that makes some sense (for midsize hardware)
  A 5″ iPod XL would be a straight analog for an ipod touch and therefor wouldn’t incur any forward or backward (pixel) resolution or software compatibility issues and wouldn’t fragment the iOS software platform.
Dude

Friday, December 23, 2011 - 2:55 pm · Reply

I agree that a 7 inch iPad would indeed be terrible. However, a 5-6 inch iPod touch with the retina display resolution would be pretty cool.