2012 iPad Roadmap: Don’t Expect a 7-Incher

John “Pacman” Paczkowski for All Things D:

“Don’t expect a 7-incher,” says Blair. “While we believe Apple has tested 7 inch screen prototypes for over a year, we don’t currently expect the company to release anything in the 7-inch size in 2012.”

“One naturally thinks that a seven-inch screen would offer 70 per cent of the benefits of a 10-inch screen,” Jobs said during a 2010 earnings call. “Unfortunately, this is far from the truth. … The reason we [won’t] make a 7-inch tablet isn’t because we don’t want to hit [a lower] price point, it’s because we think the screen is too small to express the software. As a software driven company we think about the software strategies first.”

That’s an emphatic denunciation, even for the famously acerbic Jobs. Hard to imagine Apple straying from it.

Netflix Unveils new iPad App

Try reading this in your Troy McClure voice for best effect:

I’m Zal Bilimoria, and I’m a product manager at Netflix where I lead product innovation for mobile devices. The new app is really a big step forward; it is much more immersive and provides greater focus on our growing catalogue by displaying twice as many titles than the previous interface. In addition, through optimization for touch-enabled tablets, Netflix members can now swipe through rows and rows of titles featuring larger artwork.

I haven’t tried it yet.

Next generation iPads to be available in 3-4 months, say sources

“Sources” say:

The next generation iPads are expected to be available in the next 3-4 months as makers in the supply chain have started delivering parts and components for the new tablets to OEM contractors while reducing those prepared for iPad 2, according to sources in the supply chain.

Microsoft plans to get its Office software suite on the iPad

Matt Hickey, The Daily:

According to sources, [Microsoft] is actively working on adapting its popular software suite for Apple’s tablet. With the iPad making up over 80 percent of the tablet market and millions of people worldwide using Office, that could mean big bucks for the tech giant based in Redmond, Wash.

I stopped using Office when iWork was released in 2005.