Is Apple About to Release a Product that Steve Jobs Despised?

Component suppliers in Asia are reportedly gearing up for the release of a smaller iPad. According to the Wall Street Journal, the screen will "likely be smaller than eight inches." Unlike the third-generation iPad, the iPad Mini is expected to feature an IGZO screen from Sharp. With new competition from Google GOOG and Microsoft MSFT, some analysts believe that Apple AAPL could lose market share in 2013, even though iPad sales are expected to rise. Last year, the iPad commanded 62 percent of the worldwide tablet market. While Apple is expected to release its first television (which could sell faster than the iPad) in the next 12 to 24 months, the iPad Mini is somewhat of a controversial idea. In 2010, Steve Jobs openly bashed Apple's competitors, referring to the seven-inch devices as being "dead on arrival." "One naturally thinks that a seven-inch screen would offer 70 percent of the benefits of a 10-inch screen," said Jobs, as quoted in Time Techland. "Unfortunately, this is far from the truth. The screen measurements are diagonal, so that a seven-inch screen is only 45 percent as large as iPad's 10-inch screen. You heard me right: just 45 percent as large." Jobs also referred to seven-inch tablets as "tweeners." "[They are] too big to compete with a smartphone, and too small to compete with an iPad," he said. Follow me @LouisBedigianBZ