“It’s a rumor that won’t die: Apple and a 7-inch iPad,” Nathan Olivarez-Giles reports for The Los Angeles Times.

“On Thursday, Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research, told Computerworld that he expects Apple to release an iPad in a 7-inch screen size later this year, after a speculated March introduction of an iPad 3 with a 9.7-inch touchscreen,” Olivarez-Giles reports. “The late Steve Jobs, Apple’s co-founder and longtime CEO, also shot down the idea of a 7-inch iPad stating that, at that size, ‘the screen is too small to express the software.’ But Gottheil told Computerworld that he thinks Apple will bring a 7-inch variation of its next iPad to market and that the smaller iPad could ship alongside a case that integrates a keyboard as an accessory, too.”

Olivarez-Giles reports, “‘I believe that’s always been in the plan,’ Gottheil said in the report. ‘Actually, that’s a good form factor for some users, and although they will also charge a premium above other similar-sized tablets, they want to protect that price flank.’”

Read more in the full article here.