Strengthening the iPad Mini rumors spreading online are new images and details found on the Internet.

Purported images of the iPad Mini went viral among tech websites. Pictures of a metal shell claiming to be the long-rumoured Apple iPad Mini have surfaced on a Chinese microblogging site.

As one can see, there is no rear camera on the alleged iPad Mini casing. There is a good chance that these pictures are fake, but we remain hopeful that Apple will unleash a smaller iPad, perhaps as soon as the long-awaited iPhone 5 launch expected within the next couple of months.

An important piece of information in the circulating details about iPad Mini is the company email from Apple that contained a proposition of developing a 7-inch tablet.

iOS Software Senior Vice President Scott Forstall mentioned in a testimony an internal email sent by Eddy Cue, who's also a Senior Vice President of Apple's, dealing with Internet Services and Software, back in 2011 and referring to the iPad mini - although that product name is not mentioned in the email.

The email was sent by Cue on January 24, 2011 o Shiller, Forstall, but also to Tim Cook, who was not the CEO at the time of that email.

According to the email:

Having used a Samsung Galaxy, I tend to agree with many of the comments below [after the email a link to a GigaOM post is provided] (except moving off the iPad). I believe there will be a 7″ market and we should do one. I expressed this to Steve several times since Thanksgiving and he seemed very receptive the last time. I found email, books, facebook and video very compelling on a 7″. Web browsing is definitely the weakest point, but still usable.

This is a shocking revelation. What is more surprising is that the email was sent just a few months after former CEO of Apple Steve Jobs famously said that Apple will not make a 7-inch tablet.

The rumors about iPad Mini started early 2011 simultaneously when the email was sent to the Apple execs. However, the iPad Mini did not materialize last year. Instead, Amazon released the inexpensive Kindle Fire that took the tech market by storm. Samsung also released a lineup of 7-inch tablets. Now, Google joined that bandwagon by releasing the Nexus 7.

Cue may have been right at the time about 7-inch tablets - that there is a market for them. However, people buy 7-inch tablets as long as they are budget-friendly, which is Apple's disadvantage since most of its devices comes with a hefty price tag.

In the recent IDC report, Apple's iPad dominated the tablet market last quarter with over 60 percent market share. There is a good chance that the Cupertino-based company will be able to gain more profit with the release of a smaller iPad. Consumers will just have to wait and see.