The seven inch tablets are tweeners: too big to compete with a smartphone, and too small to compete with an iPad

The seven inch tablets are tweeners: too big to compete with a smartphone, and too small to compete with an iPad

Steve Jobs, the co-founder and former CEO of Apple Inc., was known for his visionary approach to technology and his ability to anticipate consumer needs. One of the products that he famously dismissed was the seven-inch tablet, which he referred to as "tweeners" - devices that were too big to compete with smartphones and too small to compete with the iPad.

Jobs was a firm believer in the idea that products should have a clear purpose and fill a specific need for consumers. He believed that the iPad, with its 9.7-inch screen, was the perfect size for a tablet and offered a superior user experience compared to smaller devices. In his view, the seven-inch tablets were trying to be something they were not - neither a smartphone nor a full-sized tablet.

Jobs famously stated in an earnings call in 2010 that "the current crop of seven-inch tablets are going to be DOA, dead on arrival." He argued that the smaller screen size would limit the functionality of the device and make it difficult for users to interact with content in a meaningful way. He also believed that developers would struggle to create apps that were optimized for the smaller screen, further limiting the appeal of these devices.