Apple is developing an 8-inch iPad, according to The Wall Street Journal. If accurate, that runs contrary to Steve Jobs’ opinion on smaller tablets.
Apple is
developing an 8-inch iPad, according to a new report in The
Wall Street Journal.
The paper
cited unnamed officials from Apples suppliers for the information. The
Cupertino, Calif.-based company has shown them screen designs for a new device
with a screen size of around 8 inches, read the Feb. 14 article, and said it
is qualifying suppliers for it. Moreover, the tablet will apparently feature a
similar resolution to the iPad 2.
If that
information proves correct, and Apple wants a smaller tablet to accompany the
9.7-inch iPad, it would represent a major shift from the companys thinking
under now-deceased CEO Steve Jobs.
In an October
2010 earnings call, Jobs denigrated smaller tablet screens as inferior. The
reason we dont make a 7-inch tablet isnt because we dont think we can hit
the price point, he said. We think its too small.
If that wasnt
enough, he also knocked an ecosystem of different-sized tablets as detrimental
to developers.
As a
software-driven company, we think about software strategies first, and we know
that software developers arent going to deal real well with all these
different-sized products, he said. Its not about cost; its about the value
of the product when you factor in the software.
After Jobs
died in October 2011, reports suggested that he and his team had plotted years
worth of product pipeline. Unless his previous statements were a spectacular case
of showmans misdirectionsomething not wholly outside the realm of
possibility, grantedthen it seems unlikely that pipeline included a smaller
tablet.
Is Apple
experimenting with concepts beyond Jobs vision? Is the 8-inch iPad glimpsed by
the Journals sources merely a
prototype that will never see the cold, clean light of an Apple Store shelf?
That remains to be seen.
Meanwhile,
Apple will unveil the iPad 3 at a high-profile March event in San Francisco,
reported AllThingsD.
No word yet
on a street date for the iPad 3 (assuming thats what its called), noted the
Feb. 9 report, which relied on the ever-popular unnamed sources. Those sources
apparently confirmed that the next-generation tablet will boast a similar look
to the iPad 2, but running a much faster chip, sporting an improved graphics
processing unit, and featuring a 2048x1536 Retina Displayor something close to
it.
Rumors of
those features have circulated for some weeks. In a Feb. 1 posting, the Boy Genius Report also suggested the
iPad 3 will feature an A6 processor. That information likewise came from an
unnamed source, who provided the blog with screenshots
of output from an iPad 3 using a development and debug tool called iBoot.
Based on those screens, the iPad 3 will come in two versions: one with WiFi
only and one with WiFi and embedded GSM/CDMA/LTE for all carriers.
In the last
quarter alone, Apple managed to sell some 15.43 million iPads. The company will
expect any new tablet release to continue that blockbuster sales run. Moreover,
that massive sales volume is apparently affecting other products in Apples
hardware ecosystem.
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Nicholas Kolakowski on Twitter
Nicholas Kolakowski is a staff editor at eWEEK, covering Microsoft and other companies in the enterprise space, as well as evolving technology such as tablet PCs. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, Playboy, WebMD, AARP the Magazine, AutoWeek, Washington City Paper, Trader Monthly, and Private Air. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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