Wedge Partners analyst Brian Blair doused investor expectations of a 7.85-inch mini iPad with an update on Friday. He believed Apple had been testing seven-inch tablets for "over a year," but he didn't expect Apple to release one of the kind in 2012. While not claiming inside knowledge, he instead reckoned that Apple would follow the iPhone strategy of preserving an older model and keep the iPad 2 on the market, just at a lower price.
