If you're still on the fence about buying an Apple iPad, you might want to hang out a bit longer, particularly if you're waiting for smaller tablets to hit store shelves.
Rumors have been circulating about an iPad with a 7-inch screen, possibly available by Christmas. There are good reasons for Apple to offer a downsized version of its 9.7-inch tablet, despite its successful track record of 3 million sold by the end of June and about a million a month continuing to sell.
For starters, a 7-inch version would cost less than the $499 starting price of the current iPad, allowing it to better compete with other portables of similar size and get a bit closer in price to e-book readers like the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes & Noble Nook. But Apple also likely wants to head off the competition as other manufacturers release, albeit slowly, tablets of their own. And many of those manufacturers are entering the market with smaller models of 5- to 7-inches.
One reason smaller tablets will probably proliferate early is the ability to run them using a version of operating systems already in use in smartphones. Dell just began shipping its 5-inch Streak, which we took a first look at. It uses the mobile Android OS and can even function as a phone with the addition of a SIM card. Archos already has a 5- and 7-inch tablet; each runs a version of Android. Kmart has an Android-based 7-inch device from Augen.
Other Android tablets on tap include Samsung's Galaxy, which looks to be about 7 inches in this photo published by Engadget.
HP will continue the phone OS-based theme with an offering using the WebOS, which it acquired when it bought Palm earlier this year. It’s not clear how large that device will be; the company told us it won't be released in 2010.
Windows 7-based devices should also be launching later this fall and early next year.
—Donna Tapellini
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