Apple to Release Smaller Ipad within this Year! Rivaling Google

With insider's information from within Apple, Bloomberg reports that Apple is set to launch a smaller edition of iPad within this year, most probable date is October. This edtion is said to be aimed at rivaling Google's Nexus.

The new tablet will have a screen that measures either 7 or 8 inches diagonally, but won't have a high resolution Retina display like the new iPad.

No word on price, but it'll likely be a lot cheaper than the $399iPad 2.

The product, which Apple may announce by October, won't have the high-definition screen featured on the iPad that was released in March, one of the people said.

A smaller, less-expensive iPad could undercut the ambitions of Google, Microsoft and Amazon.com to gain traction in the advancing tablet market, said Shaw Wu, an analyst at Sterne Agee & Leach.

The new device will probably have a price closer to Google's Nexus 7 tablet and Amazon's Kindle Fire, both of which have 7-inch screens and cost $199.

"It would be the competitors' worst nightmare," Wu said in an interview. "The ball is in Apple's court."

Trudy Muller, a spokeswoman for Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple, declined to comment.

Since the iPad went on sale in April 2010, Apple has dominated the tablet market, which is predicted by DisplaySearch to reach $66.4 billion this year. Apple has 61% of the market, according to Gartner.

While official specs and a release date have yet to be disclosed, consumers should be able to expect an announcement by early fall, and the new iPad by the end of the year.