[csmeder]

The extreme popularity of the mac book air and now pc clones of that form factor would indicate otherwise. I think Gruber hit the nail on the head with: Don't think of it as an iPad mini but an iPad air.

Once the early adopters flash their iPad airs around with no case (or an extremely thin mag cover), an ipad 3 is going to look fat and heavy. A nexus 7 is going to look bulky and old. Soon it will be a basic expectation that tablets are light as feather computers with no perceivable thickness. Tablets that don't come in this form factor will be seen as clunky relics of the past.

The best way to tell if an apple product will do well, is to ask your self: "Once this product gets wide spread adoption, will this product make its predecesor seem, old, clunky and/or unrefined". From a tactile and visual stand point a iPad air will do this.

[hack_edu]

OK, but everything will still be in a case so still fat and heavy and clunky looking. A shock proof case can only be so thin and only when you can prevent thin glass/metal/plastic from breaking or warping so easily (let's see how long that takes) will that cease to be the limiting factor. And the cases you see around town aren't the mag covers, I'm talking about fully blown folio in synthetics or leather. Mag covers only protect the screen from scratches and provide the auto sleep function. You can't bring the MBA into the comparison. People don't carry them around everywhere they go, whipping them out 100+ times a day and dropping them on a regular basis.

Full disclosure: despite my argument, I hate cases on my devices and refuse to use them aside from a thin tablet screen cover.

[tomflack]

So they should make it out of rubber because "it'll end up in a case anyway and be fat and heavy and clunky looking"?

There is a severe flaw in what you're saying - Apple didn't design the iPad 1, iPad 2 or iPad 3 with a full case in mind, in spite of the audience using them lots.

Yes I realise they make the smart case. I think of this like the bumper - offering something demanded, but the core product was designed without it. They also introduced it significantly after the iPad 2.