iPad Mini Later This Year

Taiwanese newspaper, Digitimes, is reporting about a source that believes Apple will release two smaller versions of the iPad already later this year or perhaps in the beginning of 2011.

The two iPad mini’s will have 5.6″ and 7″ touchscreens and is said to be more an e-book reader’ish alternative to the bigger 10″ iPad that we have now, which is more like an all-round tablet computer for not only e-reading but also video, music, games etc.

The Digitimes source claims that iPad Mini’s will have the thinner OLED screen technology, which makes PC World (US) wonder about this rumor since Samsung Electronics is the biggest producer of OLED at the moment and they can hardly keep up with demand with their current production capacity. And wouldn’t Apple maybe prefer to put their Retina display on the iPad’s instead?

Obviously nobody from Apple or Compal (which according to Digitimes should have received the iPad order from Apple) wants to comment on this rumor – as usual.

The next wave of releasing the current iPad should hit, sometime this month, the following countries: Luxembourg, Ireland, Belgium, Austria, Holland, Hong Kong, Mexico, New Zealand and Singapore.