Here's Apple's e-mail thread about a 7-inch iPad

Apple's current-size iPad.

(Credit: Apple)

This made up just a very small part of a cross-examination of Scott Forstall, Apple's head of iOS software at Apple, but it was enough to get the attention of just about everyone here.SAN JOSE, Calif. -- One of the highlights of Apple and Samsung's day in court today was the release of an internal e-mail in which top Apple executives discussed interest in a smaller version of the iPad.

At the heart of it is proof that some of the top executives at Apple were pursuing an alternate, smaller tablet -- something controversial given late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs' acerbic, on-the-record comments about smaller tablets following the release of the company's first iPad. Jobs was known to flip-flop on major ideas, and misdirect about potential business avenues, though his comments about smaller tablets suggested the company would never go that direction.

That's not the impression one gets from the e-mail exchange below, between Eddy Cue, head of Apple's Internet software and services, and top executives regarding a story in GigaOm entitled "Why I just dumped the iPad (Hint: Size Matters)":