“Although Apple has long dismissed the viability of 7-inch tablets, the company has been talking about a smaller iPad internally for some time — and Steve Jobs himself was ‘very receptive’ to the idea even though he had previously called 7-inch tablets ‘DOA’ on an October 2010 earnings call,” Nilay Patel repots for The Verge.
MacDailyNews Take: Yeah, as “DOA” as iPods that play video or electronic books.
Patel reports, “That’s the word from an email entered into evidence during Scott Forstall’s testimony in the ongoing Apple / Samsung trial. In January 2011 Apple VP Eddy Cue forwarded an article that compared the 7-inch Galaxy Tab and the iPad to Apple’s executive team — Tim Cook, Scott Forstall, and Phil Schiller — along with a note saying ‘I believe there will a 7-inch market and we should do one.’ Cue added that he’d ‘expressed this to Steve several times since Thanksgiving and he seemed very receptive the last time.'”
Read more in the full article here.
Poornima Gupta reports for Reuters, “Cue’s brief email was introduced on Friday as part of a high-wattage trial that will play out in a San Jose courtroom this summer and is expected to transfix the technology industry. ‘There will be a 7-inch market and we should do one. I expressed this to Steve several times since Thanksgiving and he seemed very receptive the last time,’ the executive wrote in the email. ‘I found email, books, Facebook, and video very compelling on a 7-inch. Web browsing is definitely the weakest point, but still usable.'”
Gupta reports, “Cue had previously forwarded an article entitled ‘Why I just dumped the iPad (hint: size matters).’ He wrote: ‘Having used a Samsung Galaxy, I tend to agree with many of the comments below (except actually moving off the iPad).'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Many times, Steve Jobs denigrated something before he did it right and then released it.
And the difference between a 7-inch tablet in the wrong aspect ratio and a 7.85-inch iPad witb the proper aspect ratio is significant.
Strong opinions, loosely held; nothing wrong with that.
Interesting to watch MDN and the dittoheads go 180 on 7″ tablets.
Thomas, there have always been a variety of opinions on the subject here. I happen to prefer the size of my iP3, however there are those for whom the 7″ is the perfect size. Moreover, since the competition has no ideas except to copy, steal, and leach off Apple’s visionary work, a 7″ iPad will cut many of them off at the knees. Thievery deserves to fail.
Yes, there HAS been a variety of opinions on the subject here from members and posters, But the MDN posting STAFF, on several occasions, were just as Thomas stated! In the early days of mentioning 7″ tablets, MDN gave all kinds of reasons for it being basically brainless.
Needs changes and evolve. Put a phone into a version of the 7″ and you’d take over the world. It already connects.
Why would anyone need a 7-inch dick when you can have a 10-incher?
You meet the love of your life and she only wants seven, no big deal, smaller portions that’s all.
I said Tim Cook isn’t even considering a 7-inch tablet, and why would he, when he’s selling every iPad he can make?
But let’s be clear, Apple makes stuff, but we decide how we’re going to use it. If consumers began using iPads as frizbees, Apple wouldn’t stop selling them, just because their customers aren’t using them properly.
If there’s a market for 7-inch tablets, we’ll let Apple know. If Apple comes to market with one, it has to be better than iPad and will be priced at a premium, not just a cheaper, smaller iPad.
Every one is asking how would a 7-inch handheld be used by the masses. Personally, I see a huge game market on a machine designed with roadwarriors in mind.
Every product ever made by Apple was released into the wild with only an inkling of their use, or how consumers would deploy them, but rest assurred, if Apple introduces a smaller tablet, none of us will be surprised.
i think if we are rounding off to the nearest inch the apple version is going to be an 8 inch ipad, not a 7 inch.
I think a lot of commenters here are in favor of the 7″ iPad.
This is the first evidence from inside Apple I have seen counter to Jobs’ public dismissal of the 7″ iPad. That makes me believe the rumor more.
However, I still do not see the huge marker for 7″ tablets. I still think such devices are tweeners with a niche market.
Was Jobs dismissive of a 7″ iPad… or 7″ tablets? The latter I think.
Regardless, I’m with you on the market for 7″ devices.
I think a 7″ iPad could be useful and do well with some segments, such as gamers, readers and photographers, and Apple could well sell a boatload of them. However, I don’t think the general tablet-buying public waiting with bated breath for a 7″ iPad. I don’t think it would sell as well as the current size has.
But what do I know. i thought Apple would flop with the iPod. 🙂
Yep – it was a terrible idea until Apple (may have) decided to do it. I’m sure I’m not the only one who remembers how all the 7-inch tablets were ridiculed as “tiny-screen tablets”.
That is the way its always been Thomas.
I remember when all we’d see were takes on here blasting any device that didn’t display full desktop sized websites.
Now that we have some evidence that Steve might have been OK with a 7 inch ipad we’ll see a bunch of takes calling 7 inch tablets crap for some other reason.
Its a predictable cycle my friend.
A 7.85″ iPod with a 4:3 aspect ratio is a hell of a lot different than those 7″ Android, good only for wide screen movies, pieces of crap.
You could well be right on the aspect and size. Maybe that will be another difference that sets an iPad mini apart from the competition should apple decide to produce one.
I like the idea of a 7.85″ iPad. I would use buy one as my wife hogs our iPad3 all the time.
There’s nothing of interest in the 7″ tablet space. Until there is a 7″ iPad.
Bingo. Inside a week, no one except gadget heads will even remember goggle has a 7″ tablet…. but then again, not many people do today so I am not sure that’s saying much!
I’ve always said that 7.85″ would be the perfect size for reading books, playing games and an in dash map display.
The iPad mini will slot in nicely between the iPhone and full size iPad. It will sell well in the education and physician market.
If you are to control the tablet market you must control all sizes of tablets. Apple will not allow Android a position in this mobile arena that allows them any sort of breathing space as they stranglehold Google’s mobile ad revenue with Siri.
Apple will also solve the web browsIng experience issue to everyone’s surprise thereby rendering the competitions 7 inchers sales as pathetic as their larger Android cousins.
Whatever Apple does in the 7 inch space Samsung will simply replicate with the next Galaxy Tab. When it goes to court we’ll find out Samsung ‘had it in the labs’ at least a year before the Apple one came out 😉
they get anywhere near close to $199 for this thing and can anyone say “ON EVERY CHRISTMAS GIFT LIST THING YEAR”??
I now you can.
As I recall, Steve Jobs said only that the then-CURRENT crop of 7″ tablets were DOA, not all future tablets of that general size. iPad is a great size — and perfect aspect ratio — for most every task, including media consumption AND content creation. The on-screen keyboard is big enough to be almost full size (I can’t wait to get and try my new tpuchfire
*touchfire.)
I’m not sure that a 7″ or 7.85″ will be as good for universal use as the iPad is, but it will definitely have a place with consumers. Looks like fun ahead.
I feel that Steve held his cards closely and was willing to lie through his teeth to keep his intentions secret. The difference is, his lies were white lies, vs being dishonest. He was planning a tablet all along while saying tablets suck and Apple wasn’t going to do it.
So 7″ is DOA until I say otherwise. Don’t you try doing it, because secretly I have plans on the back burner. Is pretty much the current message.
Also remember Camera and their secret vol up to take pictures? They weren’t supposed to do it, because it’s bad form to dual purpose a button. But now it’s apart of the Apple camera app. No it’s not a stolen idea, but was on the Apple laundry list and Apple was trying to protect it.
Anyway I do want a $200 iPad. :-).
The only $200 iPad you’ll be getting is an iPad nano (aka the iPod touch). There’s no way the iPad mini comes in at $200.
Maybe they leave the 1stGen on the market next year after releasing the 2nd, reducing the price to $200. But no way it’s released this year @ $200.
It’s all about the retina display. Prior to it, the 7″ form factor was total shit. Now that 7″ can pack the pixels of a much higher resolution screen, the “size” is no longer such a limiting factor. I think Jobs was right in the pre retina display iPad era. After its introduction though, I think he saw the potential for a smaller form factor. It makes sense.