Apple preparing iPad Nano for release?
Could Apple be preparing to release an iPad Nano by this time next year? In a word, no. Or at least I hope not. Because a smaller iPad makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.
Before the iPad was actually released last weekend, many were writing it off as nothing more than an oversized iPod Touch. That description seems to have been dropped now, as these same naysayers have actually held and used an iPad, and realized it’s a lot more than what they were deriding it as.
However, there’s no doubting that Apple has taken a gamble with the iPad, risking to split its own market, with people potentially choosing an iPad over the smaller iPhone or iPod Touch and the larger MacBook.
Which all makes the rumor that Apple could be developing a smaller version of the iPad frankly laughable.
The rumor comes from DigiTimes, magnificently citing itself as the source. Digitimes Research senior analyst Mingchi Kuo has apparently had talks with “upstream component sources” which have led him to conclude that Apple is going to release an iPad with a 5- to 7-inch screen during the first quarter of 2011. The iPad currently boasts a 9.7-inch screen.
This new smaller iPad would reportedly be priced below $400 and be targeted at people who read but don’t need the ability to input text. Which is whom exactly? This sounds more like an e-book reader, and wouldn’t turning the iPad into nothing more than a glorified e-book reader be something of a backwards step for Apple? And I think the Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook already fill that void.
What’s more, the supposed schedule would put this smaller iPad on a collision course with the iPad Mk II, 100 percent guaranteed to be making an appearance about this time next year. The Mk II iPad may actually increase in size and will definitely get a hefty price cut, but a smaller screen? Surely that’s not on the agenda.
File this one under ‘Fail’ and if it turns out to be true than I’m willing to be put in stocks and have rotten fruit and veg thrown at me.
