What if the Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPad had been a 7-inch sized tablet?

What would the reception have been if the 10-inch iPad had been smaller? Would it have been as popular?

Well, that is still in the realms of speculation but the fact remains that the late Steve Jobs was receptive to his company Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL) making a smaller tablet, according to evidence that has emerged at the on-going patents trial between Apple and Korean handset maker Samsung.

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Eddie Cue, a senior executive with Apple had, in a mail written in 2011 to then Chief operating Officer Tim Cook urging him to build a 7-inch tablet. This was part of evidence presented by Samsung at the trial.

Cue also told other executives such as Scott Forstall and marketing head Phil Schiller that there was market for a smaller iPad than what was eventually released.

Cue wrote in the email: "There will be a 7-inch market and we should do one. I expressed this to Steve several times since Thanksgiving and he seemed very receptive the last time," the executive wrote in the email. "I found email, books, Facebook, and video very compelling on a 7-inch. Web browsing is definitely the weakest point, but still usable."

Cue also said that he had written to Jobs several times about the idea of building a smaller iPad and the founder had been receptive to it.

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Apple has accused Samsung of copying the designs of its iPhone and iPad and has sought billions of dollars in payouts and a ban on Samsung's Galaxy range of phones, which are at the centre of the dispute.

Samsung, in its turn, has countersued Apple saying it has infringed on its wireless technologies.

However Jobs has publicly been not in favour of smaller tablets and in 2010 famously told analysts in a conference call that "7-inch tablets should come with sandpaper, so users could file their fingers down to a quarter of their size."