The day has come, and Apple did indeed announce the second-generation of the iPad - iPad 2. The announcement was today; it will be available to buy from March 11.
In terms of specifications:
- The cameras have been added - one on the front for video conferencing via FaceTime, and one on the back for taking pictures.
- It's thinner (33%) and lighter (15%).
- There is a dual-core chip, so it's apparently faster, but the 10 hour battery life hasn't been compromised.
For me personally? There's not a big enough delta to warrant giving up my current iPad 1. I'm skipping this - I already have a laptop and iPad too.
But:
- for those that haven't purchased an iPad 1 - go for the iPad 2.
- for those that could benefit from mobile video conferencing, it's worth checking out. I wonder if this, plus the RIM PlayBook, will be enough for Cisco to kill the Cius. Apart from the integration with Cisco TelePresence, you can already do WebEx on the iPad.
Interesting times ...
