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

, the screen will "likely be smaller than eight inches." Unlike the third-generation iPad, the iPad Mini is expected to feature an

. With new competition from Google

and Microsoft

, some analysts believe that Apple

could lose market share in 2013, even though iPad sales

. Last year, the iPad commanded 62 percent of the worldwide tablet market. While Apple is expected to release its first television (which

) 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

. "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.