![ipad13[1]](http://www.teleread.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/ipad131.jpg "ipad13[1]")
Steve Jobs doesn’t just make presentations. Sometimes he dials into Apple earnings calls, as he did yesterday to put paid to the rumors of a 7” iPad that have been floating around.
Jobs pointed out that a 7” tablet is too small for good tablet apps scaled to human fingers.
"Apple has done extensive user testing and we really understand this stuff," he said. "There are clear limits on how close you can place things on a touchscreen, which is why we think 10 inch is the minimum screen size to create great tablet apps."
He said that there was no point in a tablet trying to compete with a smartphone, because all tablet users will have a smartphone already.
Of course, it’s awfully hard to prognosticate from Jobs’s statements given that he is famous for pooh-poohing new product ideas right up until Apple comes out with them—iBooks being the most recent example. He could be speaking the truth that Apple won’t come out with a 7” tablet. He could just be throwing up a big smokescreen. He’s cried wolf so often, there’s no way to tell anymore what he’s really thinking.
Crying wolf is not really the right phrase here I suggest 🙂
Soooo… there are clear limits on how close you can put things on a touchscreen, and less than 10″ just doesn’t work great.
I guess that means the iphone is doomed to failure? Obviously it’s form factor is just too small, running into that limit on how close you can put things on a touchscreen. Is there some magical black hole between the 10″ and the iphone?
Come on Stevie, get real.
If 7″ is too small, why is there an ipod Touch? I don’t have an iPhone or any other cell phone, and I’d love to have something between the Touch and the iPad.
Well, I think the iPhone and iPod Touch don’t really count as “tablets” for the purpose of what Jobs was discussing.
Bryan and Catana … you need to read what Jobs ACTUALLY said … and not get carried away 🙂
“great tablet apps” is what he was referring to when he said that 7″ is too small.
He said that going down to that size didn’t create an experience superior to a smart phone and was therefore not worthwhile.
Let the market decide and not Steve. Personally I am looking forward to the Archos series of tablets which ranges from 4.3″, 7″ tot 10.1″ in screen size. With such a range, the customer can decide on the format he finds suitable for his needs.