Steve Jobs thinks you're fat. Or at least your fingers are.
(Credit: CBSi)
Jobs dialled in to Apple's earnings call this afternoon and took on, among other topics, the usability of a 7-inch touchscreen tablet. Though many of Apple's competitors are introducing or plan to introduce tablets in that size, it's not ideal for a touchscreen device, he told investors.
"It's meaningless unless your tablet also includes sandpaper, so that the user can sand down their fingers to around one quarter of their present size," he said.
Normal-size human fingers are too big to be able to accurately hit icons on a screen that size, he claimed.
"Apple has done extensive user testing and we really understand this stuff," he said. "There are clear limits on how close you can place things on a touchscreen, which is why we think 10-inch is the minimum screen size to create great tablet apps."
But it's not just our pesky fingers that are the problem. He also trashed the screen size and resolution of 7-inchers.
"One naturally thinks that a 7-inch screen would offer 70 per cent of the benefits of a 10-inch screen ... this is far from the truth. 7-inch screens are 45 per cent as large as an iPad," Jobs said. "This size isn't sufficient for making great tablet apps."
"No tablet can compete with a smartphone. And given that all tablet users will already have a smartphone in their pocket, giving up screen area to fit in a pocket is a bad trade-off," he said.
Jobs is obviously doing some marketing countermeasures ahead of the holidays when several new tablet models may become available that compete with the iPad.
But he was also sending this message to those reporting rumours that a 7-inch iPad is on its way: it's not happening.
Via CNET US
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