There have been rumblings and rumors for a while now that Apple is keen to get into the smaller tablet market, what with the success of the Amazon Kindle Fire over Christmas.
Despite Steve Jobs’ original contention that a 7-inch tablet would be “dead on arrival,” a story on The Verge today cites Apple aficionado John Gruber, he of the Daring Fireball blog and The Talk Show podcast. Gruber claims that he’s heard details of a 7.85-inch prototype iPad that runs at the same 1024×768 resolution as the iPad 1 and 2. But, being a smaller device, its pixel density would be pretty good, and it would require no extra programming on the part of developers to make sure their apps ran smoothly on the new device.
Whereas rumors about a potentially smaller iPad have previously been somewhat fishy, there’s no denying that John Gruber carries plenty of clout and respect in the mobile industry. A rumor from him may be worth paying attention to.
However, it’s still just a rumor of course. Even if Apple is testing such a device, there’s no clear evidence of a future release yet. Apple probably test hundreds of different objects that never see the light of day, but if this one pans out to be true, we’ll bring you the news as soon as we learn more.
