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Originally Posted by chucker They focus. They don't offer a 19-inch MacBook Pro, or a 10-inch MacBook Air, or five different iMac sizes, even though virtually every computer manufacturer does just that, and as much as Sony has learnt this, they haven't quite internalized it.

Apple does offer different sizes of the same thing though. They do have 2 sizes of MBA, 2 sizes of MBP and 2 sizes of iMac. So it's not like 2 sizes of iPad would really be an OMGNOWAY situation. The difference between Apple and Sony is not just that Apple has far fewer models, but that they also are very clearly delineated from one another. It's easy to see what you get/give up when you move from one model to another.

With Sony, they'll have 4 or 5 different TVs that are the same size and generally the same specs, but a few of them just look different. Or in one model, you add one thing while giving up another and in the next, you flip-flop those trade-offs. And maybe none of them actually have everything. There isn't a clear progression from base model to fully featured.

Originally Posted by Robo How do you type on a 7" screen?

Easier than you type on a 3.5" screen.

Originally Posted by Robo What about apps that really suck shrunken down to 7 inches, because the buttons are too small?

I guess I don't really see where that's going to be such a big issue. I see far, far more buttons on the Web that are uncomfortably small while using an iPhone and yet we seem to do OK with those.

Originally Posted by Robo Why would tens of millions of people want a 7" iPad over an equally priced 9.7" one?

Who's saying we can get an equally priced 9.7" iPad? The assumption is that an 8" (let's face it, it's far closer to 8" than 7") iPad would be less than the existing iPad offerings.

So the question is who would want a smaller and cheaper iPad? I think lots of people. Starting with millions and millions of kids and millions of women who want to fit something into their purse, and millions of people who want a full functioned tablet, but with emphasis on reading portability. I imagine it would be easier to hold a 7.85" iPad with one hand while holding onto a subway/train/bus handle with the other than it would be to do that with a 9.7" iPad.

I know many will say that's what the iPhone/iPod Touch is for, but I disagree. I will do things like read or surf the web on my iPhone as a last resort. The screen is just too small to do any of that kind of thing on a regular basis. But a 7.85" device would be a perfect cross-over device: very-portable, yet easy enough to see. At least IMO.