Uncharacteristically Apple. The invite sent out last week to the media wasn’t subtle or discreet as the company is often wont to be. Instead, it showed an image of a calendar app icon peeled back to reveal the corner of an iPad that was very much identical to the one that is running on short supplies in Apple stores worldwide as you read this. So the next iPad is upon us, and now’s a great time to take stock of all the rumors and predictions around the new device. But before we start, the big question, at least to me is – which one will it be – iPad 2, or a 1.5 equivalent? It boils down to this – just how much does Apple need an iPad 2 beyond the simple ‘marketing’ matter of keeping up with the Joneses? Sure, the competition has recently trumpeted impressive specs such as dual-core processors, HDMI output, video chat, HD camcorders, and 4G wireless connections, but I for one feel they’re missing point completely in trying to beat the iPad on specs. Where the first generation iPad scores is on experience – the breadth and depth of apps (games included) that run like a dream on the iPad are yet to see serious competition from tablet specific apps on Android. Plus, the iPad’s 10 hours of battery life has set the bar really high for the competition, and all those dual core processors the competition is sporting aren’t going to help one bit in this department. I’d even be willing to wager that the first-gen is good for some more time yet, possibly with modest improvements, allowing for a bigger September iPad 2 update to capitalize on the massive holiday shopping season. All this points to why the updates I sense we’ll see come March 2 will be incremental and evolutionary, not revolutionary. Continue reading “A Byte of Apple : iPad 2 Predictions”