Apple 8inch Tablet

Everyone is talking about a next generation Apple tablet. Many wonder if iPad mini will be a 7 or 8 inch tablet

We have been bombarded with iPad 3 rumours these days and a new one just states that iPad 3 might boast a smaller screen with an even lower price tag.

The news initiated from the Wall Street Journal, hinting that Apple might be testing a smaller version of the iPad this year to claim back its market share from the hugely popular Kindle Fire. So far, iPad is the number one tablet being sold in the market with a wide margin above all others. Kindle Fire, within months of its launch, has become the number two tablet in the market, overtaking older tablets of other manufacturers.

The Wall Street Journal rumour specifies that iPad 3 might sport a screen size of 8 inches against the 9.7inch size of its predecessor.

The resolution would remain the same at 1024 x 786 resolution, but the pixel density would increase owing to the smaller size, giving a yet sharper image. The price tag would be an unbelievable $299. This sounds too good to be true before the price of the iPad 2 that comes for $499.

This sounds like a direct hit at Amazon’s Kindle Fire, that has overtaken all Android tablets in a super sprint that took it a mere four months. Older and smarter tablets like Samsung’s Galaxy Tab only managed to watch Amazon’s newbee whiz past them in the tablet market.

Apple was not initially expected to bring down the size of tablet displays. However, in October 2010, Apple founder Steve Jobs had famously insulted small tablets, joking that mini tablets would do well to include a sandpaper in the package so that users could file their fingers down to work effectively on the miniature screens.

But the tablet market now has shown different light on customer preferances. The wild success of Kindle Fire suggests that customers are all hands for little tablets with even smaller price tag on them. So a mini iPad could mean another successful coup by Apple in the tablet market.

iPad is already a hugely successful tablet. With Apple’s technical know-how, an operating software as awesome as iOS and the top iTunes library, a mini-tab with a reduced price on top of all this awesomeness would prove to be irresistible for customers.

So the rumour might very well be very plausible, despite the sandpaper joke of Jobs. So if Wall Street Journal says that Apple might come out with an iPad sporting an 8-inch screen at half the price, it might very well be true.

The Wall Street Journal report stated that officials at some Apple suppliers said that the fruity firm was circulating specifications for a smaller iPad and qualifying partners, including LG Display of South Korea, for possible manufacturing of the less-expansive displays. Sharp is the general supplier of the high-resolution screens sported by Apple devices.

If the display is 8 inches, it would still be larger than the Kindle Fire. But it is still welcome and analyst Ezra Gottheil,who is with Technology Business Research, said, “Although a [smaller] iPad won’t be part of the March event. One has always been in the plan. They’ve always wanted one. And it’s actually a good form factor for some users.



Sources

http://nvonews.com/2012/02/20/apple-ipad-mini-will-it-be-7-or-8-inch-tablet/