Rumors of a mini iPad with a 7 inch screen have been floating around for quite some time now. Despite the late Steve Jobs being very vocal against a 7 inch tablet, citing hampered usability as a major concern, Apple is yet again rumored to have a 7.85 inch tablet in their labs. Of course a lot of companies have a lot of stuff in their labs that never really sees the light of day. But with more and more companies joining the 7" tablet bandwagon, we might see a change of heart from Apple regarding this form factor.

The Nexus tablet from Google we saw yesterday is also rumored to be somewhere between 7 and 10 inches. Samsung has quite a few in that territory as well as Nook and Kindle. So it wont be totally surprising if Apple releases a 7 inch version of the new iPad. Can you imagine a retina display in a screen that small? We might have to invent a whole new word for that kind of display; Retina sounds old. Plus this is one market where Apple currently has no products to offer. While the iPad is great for what it is, lots of people now prefer smaller tablets because they tend to be more portable and offer longer battery life.

So do you think Apple should go ahead and release a 'mini iPad'?