Apple testing smaller screen tablet: WSJ

Apple is testing a tablet computer with a smaller screen than the hot-selling Pad, The wall street Journal reported on Tuesday. The newspaper, quoting unidentified people familiar with the situation, said the California gadget-maker was working wit component suppliers in Asia to test he tablet computer with a smaller display. The journal quoted officials at Apple suppliers as saying the company has shown them screen designs for adevice with an eight-inch (20.3-centimeter) display. The iPad has a 9.7-inch (24.6-cm)screen. Apple has sold more than 55 million Pads since launching the device in April 2010. The journal said Apple was working with Taiwan's Optronics Co. and South Korea's LG Display Co. to supply the test panels. Apple reportedly plans to unveil a new version of the iPad in the first week of March. According to the Journal, the "iPad3" will have a higher resolution screen than the iPad 2 but will be the same size. Apple's late co-founder Steve Jobs once famously dismissed tablets smaller than the iPad saying they were "tweeners" that wer "too big to compete with a smartphone and too small to compete with an iPad."