A new report by Wedge Partners analyst Brian Blair shows that Apple may not in fact be launching a smaller iPad, dubbed in the media as the 'iPad Mini'. The iPad Mini was said to have most likely been a 7.85 inch touchscreen with a few less impressive specs for hardware when compared to the next iPad 3 to come out in the first half of 2012. So why believe this particular analysts report? Well, he was one of few who stated that Apple would NOT be releasing an iPhone 5 in 2011, but rather the official iPhone 4S with the current specs it has including the 8 megapixel camera and A5 processor.

Pair the latest report from Brian with how it was documented that Steve Jobs himself was completely against the iPad being in a smaller form, and we have potential for no such iPad Mini to be launched in 2012. Steve Jobs was against the idea of moving the wildly successful iPad into smaller forms because it would lessen the proper iOS experience on a smaller screen. Now, all of this doesn't mean that Apple will NEVER launch a smaller iPad, as it is the very nature of Apple to build products that seem to get smaller, thinner and faster all the time. The iPod Nano is a perfect example of that.

All of this said however, there's been no mention of whether Apple would or would not release an iPad with smaller specs to reduce the price point and compete directly with the Amazon Kindle Fire and the B&N Nook Tablet, both are around $200 . When the iPad 3 launches in 2012, the current iPad 2 will surely go down in price regardless, but how much further down? It's pretty safe to say that the low-end iPad 2 which is currently $489 - $519 will not go down to $199. I would still keep my eye out for an Apple iPad similar to the original iPad with 8GB in an iPad 2 shell at a bargain tablet price.