Jer at iLounge posted a slew of Apple rumors the other day. Some of them will surely pan out, while others seem like a stretch (he admits this too). The two rumors I found particularly interesting had to do with screen size changes. Here’s the skinny:
There’s also continued chatter about a three-inch touchscreen that could make its way into an iPod, shaving half an inch off the diagonal of the current iPod touch.
A seven-inch-screened version of the iPad is substantially finished and will be ready for announcement either later this year or early in 2011. Apple has been prototyping devices with screens of this size for a long time—quite possibly predating the original iPhone.
It sounds odd for the iPod Touch to be getting a smaller screen. If it used Retina Display, that would be sorta kinda acceptable, but purported prototypes show that the next iPod Touch looks more like last year’s model than the iPhone 4.
A seven-inch iPad has the potential to shake up the market. Apple has sold millions of iPads, but some people — especially those that don’t understand the difference between data-consumption and data-creation devices — are turned off by the price. A cheaper iPad — I’m thinking $249 to $299 — would be killer. It would also take some of the shine off of Amazon’s recently price slashed Kindle. What I really want is an iPad with a camera and Retina Display…but I don’t see that happening until Q2 2011, at the earliest.
Let me know what you think of this batch of Mac rumors (please!). Any of ’em you find particularly juicy?
I don't know that a 7 inch iPad is in the works. Unless it keeps retina display cheap.
So now they will make a small iPhone, a medium iPhone with no camera and phone along with the existing large iPhone with no camera and phone. Great.
In a related matter, I'm trying not to kick myself in the ass for passing up a free iPad TWICE. The first was for my birthday and my mom really wanted to get me one, but I didn't want her wasting that kind of money on me. I made the argument that I already had an iPhone and a MacBook Pro, "so why would I need an iPad?" My mom got me some black socks instead.
And then, last week, my dad came back from a business trip where one of the corporate give-a-ways (A.K.A. Swag) was an iPad. I had just bought him one right before he left on the trip, so he already had one. My sister is anti-Apple in part because her husband works at Research In Motion (Blackberry) and so she asked me if I wanted. Since I had already made a very convincing case about not NEEDING an iPad, they assumed I didn't want it and gave it to my little brother.
Maybe I should have made clear that I didn't want my mom spending that kind of money on me for a present, but if the damn thing was already purchased by Chevron Products, Inc., I'd be happy to take it.
This is my punishment for being so persuasive.
-M
@Iceman
it looks like they're looking to lock in the fairy tale demographic.