Apple's iPad is selling about as fast as they can make the things, and it's not even completed its international roll-out yet. It stands to reason, then, that Apple's probably upped its efforts to develop the iPad's successor (given how long it takes for a design to go from concept to reality). This iPad 2 we would notionally have expected to be announced in January 2011, a year after the first device hit, and we still expect this to be the case. But now there's an increasingly real-sounding rumor that Apple has another 7-inch version on the way, and it may even arrive this year. Strangely enough, it's a rumor that makes perfect sense.
Seven-inch iPad rumors have popped up before, but these latest ones come directly from China's Economic Daily News newspaper, which pretty much nailed the original iPad's format and timing well before its launch and at a time when other media outlets were pondering if it was going to be Apple's netbook. Hence when the paper reports that some Taiwanese firms have won the contract to supply the new iPad, it's worth paying attention.
Chimmei Innolux has apparently been selected to supply the 7-inch IPS LCD units, though we don't know if these screens will have the iPhone 4's "retina display resolution" or the same pixel count as the existing iPad--the first case would be technologically trickier, and the second would allow for simpler programming issues. Touchscreen tech would be from Cando, and Compal Electronics (which already is the premier place to assemble laptops) will be putting the thing together. Interestingly Foxconn, which is one of Apple's biggest supplier/assemblers at the moment isn't mentioned here: Has Apple shied away from the firm, in the wake of all its bad PR?
To read the full, original article click on this link: Those "iPad Mini" Rumors Make Sense | Fast Company
Author: Kit Eaton
