Apple to launch a 7.85-inch iPad later this year: NYT

The thought of Apple launching a smaller iPad is fast transforming from late Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ nightmare to a widely accepted product that the iPad maker is working upon. Today NYT became the latest to claim the existence of an iPad mini, citing industry sources as well as an engineer who had worked on the prototype of a smaller iPad even before Apple had launched the iPad in 2010.
According to the report Apple will launch a smaller iPad with a 7.85-inch display, which could be the third variant of the world’s most popular tablet. Apple already sells two variants of the iPad with 9.7-inch displays, one with a Retina Display and one without. Some see the smaller iPad akin to Apple’s iPod strategy, where it started from the top-end iPod Classic but eventually brought it down to a display-less iPod Shuffle to capture the entire portable music player market.
Apple already sells iOS devices like an iPod touch with a 3.5-inch display and there are already rumors of an iPhone with a taller 4-inch display scheduled for launch later this year. However, there is a big gap between the iPod touch/iPhone and the iPad and the iPad mini could cover that space.
Many might see this as a complete u-turn by Apple, whose then CEO, the late Steve Jobs, had famously dismissed 7-inch tablets asking their makers to give users sandpaper in order to be able to use them on a tiny display. However, Steve Jobs was known to publicly say the opposite while working on products he dismissed just to keep competitors at bay. Could this be one of those moments? Well, it certainly looks like it.