While all iPad users are probably eagerly awaiting the final release of iOS 4.2, there isn’t much mystery left in it. Now what really seems to be drawing in people’s attention is the second generation of the iPad. Just in this last week a number of new rumors have surfaced about it. Some are about how the device will be made, others about what features it will have and still others about when it will be available.
The most recent rumors are about the possibility that the second generation iPad could shed its aluminum casing in favor of one made out of carbon fiber in an attempt to get rid of excess weight. This rumors surfaced due to a patent application from Apple that shows a sketch of what is clearly an iPad casing which is made out of plastic reinforced carbon fiber. On the surfaced rumors that the 3G version of iPad 2.0 will have both CDMA and GSM capabilities being thus able to operate in just about any celular network on the planet.
Also this week came the rumor that Apple had already closed deals with component manufacturers for the components of the next iPad and that these manufacturers were preparing to start delivering large quantities of components in Q1 of 2011. Regardless of whether this rumor is true or not, I do expect Apple to announce the second generation of the iPad early in 2011. Apple has been following a one year cycle with iPods and the iPhone for quite a while now and it seems only logical that the iPad should fall into the same cycle.
Rumors are consistent about iPad 2.0 having a forward facing camera which I can only consider a logical conclusion considering that Apple has added FaceTime support to the iPod Touch and the Mac. It is only natural that you should be able to use your iPad to make a FaceTime call.
As we move past the end of 2010 and into the first days of 2011, the number of rumors around the next version of Apple’s game changing device will probably increase into a frenzy, as in the days immediately before the iPad was actually announced. If you think people are already talking a lot about the iPad, wait until you see how much they’ll be talking about it over the next couple of months.