more commonly know...
As an iPod!
Photos have surfaced of what's said to be the metal back of Apple's oft-rumored "iPad mini" – and, yes, despite what the late Steve Jobs said about the deficiencies of small-sized fondleslabs, it's of the about-seven-inch variety. The photos appear in an article on the Chinese-language website tech.163.com that credits its …
iPod touch.
With the 3G version of the iPad mini being a renamed iPhone?
(in before the fanbois downvote me for speaking out against dear apple. I used to like apple. I have a Plus, Classic, LC475 and G3. Before they went all "trendy" and the became the audi of the computing world)
So no iPad Mini coming.
And no iPad Mini currently planned for next months either. And it would be a terrible mistake for Apple to release an iPad Mini either now or next years.
iPad4 is all that Apple needs next year like every year since the first iPad. No iPad Mini.
I'll say it will be a terrible mistake, hahahha. They could not bear a resurrection or hi-res erection of imaxi ipad or imini ipad with wings stories dripping out of the tech rags anytime too soon.
Recall imaxi ipad with wings stories a few years ago, maybe less than 2 years ago....
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This post has been deleted by its author
The Daring Fireball guy speculated that Apple could put an 8" screen in a device the same size as its 7" competition. Make the device thinner and lighter ("iPad Air"?) and with the same build quality as current Apple portables and it could be a pretty desirable device.
@AC "70% marketshare is behind?"
err, FAIL. Apple has ZERO PERCENT of the 7" market. Apple may have 70% of the total tablet market, but the 7" form factor is on target to be around 20% of the total market in 2012, and is expected to be nearer 33% of it in 2013.
So Apple are very much behind!
Can we please have no more comments about anyone copying anyone about any company or being done too any company. Anyone still making these comments please be informed - IT'S BORING. There was once a time when the discussion had some interest. However every atom of juice has been wrung from the discussion, pissed out, drunk again, pissed out again, drunk again and pissed out again. The piss is now so stale you wouldn't consider it if 100 miles from the nearest water in the middle of the Sahara, with no supplies or transport.
So to the following remarks should also henceforth instantly label the utterer a terminal bore:
"I'm off to patent air"
Any remark with the word "rectangle" and "rounded corner" in it at the same time.
Any Remark about a Far Eastern company not being capable of original design.
This declaration is not motivated by any position for or against any company. It simply has to do with my desire to preserve sanity and continue to read tech comments. This may be an impossible task.
Cheaper maybe, compared to iPad
Smaller and lighter means more portable and usable one-handed while commuting.
Compatible with all your existing apps & content.
That's 4 things, plus nothing new to learn or be disappointed by - works the same with appstore, iTunes etc
Enough, already. I'll have one :)
It would be a secondary method by which to segment the market between the 7.85" and 9.7" devices. Coupled with a single standard memory configuration (16GB, at a guess) it would provide a single product with a single price. Then you don't get hung up with price lists where high configurations of the small tablet overlap with low configurations of the large tablet.
You end up with $499 for the latest and greatest iPad (plus more if you want 4G and/or more memory) $399 for the previous generation iPad and $299 (my guess) for the little one. Apple likes things neat and clean like that.
That may of course be the case for the WiFi only version and there may also be a 3G/4G version. Though, having said that, Apple do prefer to keep their product line-up/proposition simple, so I think it quite likely there will only be a WiFi version.
Also, in the first picture, there is more space to the left of the Apple logo than to the right!
Unless the bottom left of the picture has been photoshopped, we are expected to believe that Apple will release a device with an off-centre logo.
And if the picture has been photoshopped, that already calls into question its authenticity.