In a collaboration with Macrumors, CiccareseDesign has produced a papercraft mockup of what the rumored 7.85-inch iPad Mini would look like… and you can even print it out and hold it in your hands yourself.
So will Apple really release an iPad mini? I seriously doubt it. There’s a perception that Apple needs to release a 7-inch tablet to compete with the Kindle Fire, but it’s not the 7-inches that makes the Kindle Fire popular. In fact, the 7-inch form factor is widely reviled by users and reviewers alike, proving the wisdom of Steve Jobs, who once said that 7-inch tablets were “tweeners” and Apple wouldn’t release one. All Apple really needs to do is come close to the Kindle Fire in price, and all Apple needs to do there is either figure out a way to subsidize the current iPad, or sell last year’s model at a much lower price, similar to how Apple offers the iPhone 3GS for free. Heck, even the analysts agree.
What do you think? Does Apple really need to release a 7.85-inch iPad mini?
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
