Comment The goal posts are moving (Score 1) 200
If in fact Apple does release a smaller iPad then I think this will actually be quite significant with respect to MS and Win8. Given the popularity of other smaller tablets released recently such as the Kindle and the Nexus it shows that the market is moving (or rather expanding) to accommodate this new form factor. But it doesn't look to me like Win8 will play nice at this scale (just my opinion, I could be wrong). So just as MS finally get's something possibly credible onto the market the market has shifted to something else.
So it could be that Apple still doesn't believe the smaller form factor is better than the 10" size but is happy to play along as it would quite aggravate MS.
Regarding Jobs' comments regarding the 7" screens, I believe he may have been right at the time but our UI design skills for tablets have improved now which may mitigate those points. The industry moves so quickly that a lot of comments many people make are true at the time given what was viable then but become less relevant as we learn more.