It takes all sizes in the tablet world

Apple justmade its iPhone taller and slimmer, but soon it’s expected to introduce a smaller iPad.

Meanwhile, Samsung announced a mini- version of its Galaxy S III phone, while Amazon has a bigger Kindle Fire tablet coming out next month.

The lucrative market formobile devices is making companies try on all sizes. But are these seemingly endless variations just marketing ploys?

Analysts say this is one casewhere size does matter, and that a company like Apple iswell aware that a device’s proper dimensions depend on how consumers use the device.

“I have to believe they’re really responding to consumer demand,” TimBajarin, president of Creative Strategies of Campbell, Calif., said of themuch- rumored release of what pundits are calling the iPad mini.

“Seven- inch tablets are actually great for content consumption, for reading books, for playing back movies and formusic videos,” he said, adding that 10- inch models work better for content consumption and content creation, “whereas the 7- inch model is strictly going to be for content consumption.”

Various reports indicate Apple is gearing up to make an iPadmini, with a screen size of 7.8 inches, to add to its existing 9.7- inch iPad. Apple won’t even confirm the existence of such a device.

Samsung on Thursday officially unveiled its new Galaxy S IIIMini, a smartphone whose 4- inch screen is nearly an inch smaller than its bigger predecessor.

Physically, the difference between 4 inches, 7 inches and 10 inches may not seem likemuch. But in terms of consumer usage patterns and perceptions, it’s as wide as the Pacific Ocean.

The emergence of smartphones set off a mobile revolution, giving consumers pocket- size versions of their desktop PCs, with browsers for accessing websites and apps for games and programs. But they were not as good for content creation, such as written projects or photo editing.

Then the larger- screen iPad and other tablet computers grew in popularity because they made more of such content creation possible while providing a better view of videos and websites.

A 10- inch tablet “is great for the way most Americans use it, in front of the TV, in a hotel room or at the office,” said Tom Mainelli, research director at IDC.

But at that size, it isn’t as mobile as a smartphone. And elsewhere in the world, “they want an iPad, but they want a smaller iPad,” he said.

So the one- time void between smartphones and full tablets has been filled with e- reader- mini tablets like the Kindle and Nook, which are also marketed as being cheaper than an iPad. And Google has launched its own 7- inch tablet, the Nexus 7.

An iPad mini, especially if priced in the $ 299-$ 349 range, “is the competition’s worst nightmare,” Sterne Agee analyst ShawWu said in a research report.