Steve Jobs Says '7-inch Tablets Will Be Dead on Arrival'

Steve Jobs dropped in on Apple's Q4 conference call destroying the hopes of many for a smaller iPad.

MacRumors

reports that Steve Jobs said, "The 7-inch tablets will be dead on arrival. Their manufacturers will learn the painful lesson and abandon them for larger sizes next year, abandoning customers and developers. Sounds like a lot of fun."

Commenting on avalanche of tablets heading to market. Just a handful of credible entrants. Almost all use 7" screen, compared to iPad at nearly 10" screen. 7" screen is only 45% as large as iPad's screen. Hold an iPad in portrait view and draw a horizontal line halfway down. What's left is a 7" screen...too small. There are clear limits to how close elements can be on the screen before users can't touch accurately. We believe 10-inch screen is minimum necessary.

These comments seem to stop

rumors in their tracks; however, in the past Apple has denied plans only to later announce the rumored product.

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