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Apple’s iPad 2 Release Date & Information [Cross Post]

Another wonderful cross post from the glorious uTest blog:

There are only two kinds of people who aren’t following the iPad 2 saga with every waking moment – luddites and first gen iPad owners.  I fall into the second category.

Before we get into the iPad 2 details, a quick rant if I may.  Apple has long been criticized (yes, that’s an Oatmeal link) for having little loyalty to early adopters. Price drops, product launches, and planned obsolescence are often called as being pre-set in a manner in which to capitalize profits at the benefit of the company.  Last I checked Apple is a for-profit company.  As an advertiser I envy the customer loyalty that Apple has built that is able to create such a premium for early adopters.

The biggest problem with the common conspiracy theory that Apple is intentionally delaying features in products is that Google is making a huge dent in Apple’s smart phone market share. Apple wouldn’t allow that if they had the pipeline – or ability – to crank out products faster.  I’d love to continue this debate in the comments section below – but for now, I digress.

There’s a lot of news articles claiming today is the iPad 2 release day.  To be perfectly clear, today is the announcement from Apple but iPad 2’s won’t be available for purchase until next week.

So what’s different about the iPad 2?

 

  • Front and rear cameras (I can’t imagine using my iPad as a giant, awkward camera)
  • Thinner and lighter (Ok, the weight is a bit of a complaint for me, especially compared with my wife’s Kindle)
  • Faster processor (Always nice, but apps like TweetDeck seem to have more stability problems than anything else)
  • Expanded MobileMe capability (I don’t use MobileMe but always love cloud computing. Side note, the service is expected to be free.)

Need More Cowbell iPad 2?

  • Pictures of Apple setting the stage for the iPad 2 event.
  • 100+ news articles in the past 24 hours on Apple’s iPad 2
  • We’ve also blogged pretty heavily about everything iPad, including app testing if you’re looking for more detail.

Will I be upgrading?  No.  Should you run out and buy the iPad 2?  Well, unless you’re looking to pickup more uTest projects (and we have a lot in the pipeline), probably not.  According to VentureBeat, an Apple insider said that the iPad 3 (yes, three!) is set to launch later in 2011 and the iPad 3 is the model to get excited about.

 

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