Apple sent out press invites for an event they will be holding next week on March 2, 2011.  The invite (shown above) has the calender application from iOS devices with the date March 2 on the front, the invite shows the icon pealed back and showing the corner of the iPad.  Now there is no proof that it is the iPad 2 which is show but may as well be the 1st generation iPad letting us know that this is the date in which they show the awaited iPad update the iPad 2.  For months there have been rumors speculating what the new iPad will have in terms of changes, so here are some of the rumors than will most likely make their way into the iPad 2.


1: Dual camera's (front and rear facing)
      One of the most asked for items in the iPad by consumers is the addition of camera's.  This rumor is the highest probability of being in the new product because Apple wishes to have all their devices support Facetime video calls.


2: Thinner and lighter design
       With every new product, Apple tends to try and make them lighter and slimmer.


3:  Retina Display
       Apple released the retina display in the iPhone 4 which is the highest resolution screen in a mobile device.  This technology will most likely find its way into the new iPad


4: Dual core Processor
       The latest tablet computers released by Apples competitors have dual core processors.  Apple will  most likely announce their new A5 processor which should be a dual core processor or even a quad core processor which is possible, shown off by Sony in their new PSP2.

With the Motorola Xoom and many other Android based tablets coming out soon, the iPad 2 will have to step up its game.  Do to that there will have to be 3 major things it will have to accomplish.

1. It’s all about the cameras

A lot of early reports and speculations regarding the iPad 2 claimed that the Apple device may support a front and back facing camera. However, the Wall Street Journal claims that the iPad “will have at least one camera on the front of the device”.
Even if the camera has less mega-pixels when compared to these other Honeycomb tablets, this will be okay because Apple has shown that the specs do not always matter. However, what does matter is having 2 cameras. Lets face it, people like taking pictures and they are not always concerned with taking pictures of themselves.
Current Honeycomb tablets support 3D pictures and 1080 HD recording. Apple must compete with this one way or another.

2. Making the iPad 2 less like the iPhone and iTouch
If i ever admired an Apple fan-boy for what ever reason, the reason would have to be because of the unity the comes with their devices platform. Apple’s products have a sort of “seamless” integration with one another. This can be accomplished without having all devices look the same. Apple, however has not been able to see this. This is where it starts to go downhill.
Imagine this; You have an iPod Touch and now you need to get a phone. You say to yourself “the iPhone is so similar to the iPod Touch. The only difference is that it can make calls.” So then you go and get yourself either an Android phone or a Windows mobile phone. I have seen this happen already.
So having, what I like to call an over grown iPod Touch that does less then the actually iPod Touch while having another iOS device, I find to be kind of pointless. Don’t think I’m being biased here because I feel the same way about the Samsung Galaxy Tab and all other Android tablets that run the same software as my Android powered phone. I also do understand that the iPad has subtle differences and has its own App store, but is that enough?
Current tablets that run Honeycomb run on an Android platform but the experience is of its own when compared to the Android phones. Google has done a great job in optimizing the Android Honeycomb experience. Even Motorola took full advantage of this in an ad that they also used to attack both the iPad and the Samsung Galaxy Tab.
Apple needs to completely re do the iOS on the iPad and make it more tablet like. A bigger screen is nice but for the price they want us to pay it isn’t worth it.

3. The iPad 2 will need to evolve into a true gaming platform
Whether it be Android, iOS or the not so up and coming WM7, gaming has only taking off on these platforms because it is convenient. Lets face it, we don’t wake up in the morning with a craving mindset to play Angry Birds or Tap Tap and if you do I would suggest you seek some form of consoling because those games are “I am just playing this to pass the time” kind of games. These Honeycomb tablets are changing this however.
The Honeycomb tablets, so far all support dual core NVIDIA processors. This has already attracted major game companies that previously only made games for the Play Station 3 and has become fully compatible with these Honeycomb tablets.
If the iPad 2 is comfortable at the level of gaming it currently has then investing in the proper specs may not be a necessity but it simply cannot allow android to walk away as the superior gaming platform.
We wont truly know what the iPad 2 entails until Apple decides it is ready to “change everything” again. I suppose we will just have to wait and see.

This coming Thursday the Verizon iPhone is finally here.  The phone will be available at Verizon stores, select partner stores such as best buy, and of course Apple stores everywhere.  The iPhone goes on sale at 7am which matches AT&T's early release way back in june for the original iPhone 4.  If you pre-ordered a Verizon iPhone on February 3, it will be shipped to your home on the 10th.  Verizon has set a record for a sale of a cellphone in just 2 hours.