Rumors and speculation about a mini iPad 3 have died hard. Now, a top tech analyst predicts a mini iPad 3 released later in 2012, plus Siri for the iPad 3 and more.
How do you feel about the prospect of a mini iPad 3? We know that Steve Jobs wasn’t very fond of the notion of shrinking the iPad down to possibly rival the iPhone, and as a result, the iPad and iPad 2 remained markedly bigger than the iPhone’s 3.5-inch screen. But a new tech analyst is claiming that can indeed expect a sub 9.7-inch “mini” iPad 3 in 2012 — just not released on the same day as the regular iPad 3.
Citing the rise in popularity of other lesser-priced tablets like the Kindle Fire, Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research, had this to say, via a Computerworld article: “‘I believe that’s always been in the plan” said Gottheil of a small iPad, contradicting past comments by Jobs, who had rejected seven inches as too small for a tablet. ‘Actually that’s a good form factor for some users, and although they will also charge a premium above other similar-sized tablets, they want to protect that price flank.’”
Gottheil clearly believes that market dominance will overshadow ideology here, and that Tim Cook and company will leave Steve Jobs’ design ethics behind this year in order to match its competitors. Implicitly, one has to think about the iPhone 5's screen as well; while Steve Jobs never explicitly said that he was against increasing the iPhone’s screen size, it never increased while he was alive, even after Android smartphones began breaking the 4-inch mark.
In this way, we should all watch with great interest this year to see if this prediction comes true, and Apple releases a mini iPad later in 2012. If so, I think it’s fair to say that we can expect a very different Apple, Inc. in the decade ahead.
Gottheil really went off the reservation at the end of the Computerworld piece when he suggested an albeit long-shot possibility that a matched keyboard could accompany the smaller mini iPad: “A matched Bluetooth keyboard, perhaps integrated with a case to enclose the iPad, is also a long shot, but something that could attract customers. ‘I think something like that would be an important peripheral for students,’ Gottheil said.”
Huh?
Other iPad 3 Predictions
Gottheil regurgitated many other predictions for the iPad 3 that we’ve already heard, such as the retina display: “That’s important to them because it means the iPad will work well in their home theater play, since it will display full HD. And it’s an important differentiator [between the iPad and rival tablets] going forward.” He also predicts that the quad core A6 chip will be a long shot, mainly due to the fact that it will put heavy power constraints on the battery. But considering that one of the most recent rumors is that the iPad 3 will sport a newfangled battery pack, it’s hard to imagine that it could not handle quad core.
