Steve Jobs hated the notion of a tablet with smaller dimensions than the iPad. Just about everyone else seems to love it, especially Amazon. Since launching the Kindle Fire late last year, the popular 7-inch Android tablet has trounced the competition with its low price and respectable catalog of apps, books, music and video. Has Amazon’s success story swayed Apple to change its strategy about making a smaller version of its market-leading iPad? A gazillion tech pundits seem to think so. As the weeks wear on, the whispers about the iPad Mini grow stronger. Here’s what everyone thinks they know so far:

-- In the fall of 2009, iLounge heard word that Apple was working on three different sizes, two of which were killed by Cupertino for being too small. iLounge’s source said the tablet was slated to be called the iPad. We all know how that turned out. Shortly after the iPad’s launch in 2010, Digitimes reports that they’d received word of two new iPad sizes -- five-inch and a seven-inch iterations -- would be released  sometime in 2011. We know how that worked out too. 

-- Fast forward to 2011: The rumors surrounding a the release of a smaller iPad go zombie and refuse to die. Consumers are still in a buying frenzy over iPad 2 when CNET speculates that the iPad 3 may well be a smaller version of Apple’s insanely popular money making machine. 

-- It’s October: trick or treat! According to Boy Genius Report, an analyst at Ticonderoga Securities says that Apple’s going to release a 7-inch iPad in an effort to drink Amazon’s Kindle Fire milkshake. Ticonderoga Securities says the tablet’s reduced size will amount to a reduced price tag, making it a great entry level option for those unwilling or unable to afford the full-sized iPad. 

- According to Business Insider, Digitimes' dream of a smaller iPad refuses to die: Apple’s looking at screens from a number of manufacturers that’d be suitable for use in a tablet. Sure, why not?

 - Ho Ho! Days before the third generation iPad is unveiled, Venturebeat throws their hat in the ring and declares that Apple’s been buying the parts required to make a 7.85 inch iPad.

- On March 13^th, CNET mentions that according to the Korea Times, a Samsung employees begins to blather on about how Apple will release a 7.85 inch tablet before the end of 2012. This scuttlebutt is re-enforced by Daring Fireball’s John Gruber who states in a podcast that Apple is indeed playing with the idea of releasing a 7.85 inch iPad.

What are your feelings on the issue? Will Apple release a smaller version of the iPad? Should they? Hit the comments, and let us know what you think!