'iPad Mini' to take on Kindle Fire?

An industry source who speaks with the Asia-based tablet supply chain told Techerainn that chatter is picking up..


for a 7-inch Apple tablet. Maybe not coincidentally, that's the same size of Amazon's $199 tablet that's will

ship on November 15.

"Apple has done extensive user testing and we really understand this stuff...There are clear limits on how

close you can place things on a touch screen, which is why we think 10 inch is the minimum screen size to

create great tablet apps," Jobs said at the time.

 And the tablet market is changing. Apple may have to change along with it. Smaller 7-inch and 8.9-inch

tablets from Samsung, HTC, RIM and others are prevalent now. And if the Kindle Fire approaches the iPad

in sales--which analysts say is possible--that would make smaller, cheaper tablets a category that rivals the

10-inch iPad in popularity..

Jobs' protests notwithstanding, at the time more than a few analysts said Apple was close to bringing out a
 product....