Apple introduced iPad in February this year. Does it seem longer ago to you? It does to me many times.
Since then they’ve certainly sold a lot of the tablets and recent information suggests that they’ve doubled production of iPad to two million per month and that Apple wants to crank out three million per month before the end of the year.
They’ve also opened up new markets by launching in China, Argentina, Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, and Peru on September 17. With the increased production and new markets in mind it’s all the more disappointing that we still don’t see any iPads officially in our part of the world.
But let’s not dwell on that and instead look ahead and see what the next generation of iPad may bring. Because that there will be another generation of iPad I’m sure no one doubts.
When new iPads are coming may be more uncertain but recent news seems to indicate early next year, sometime in the first three months. That would mean about one year from the initial launch, which makes sense considering Apple’s schedule with iPhone.
Remember that Apple’s been on an annual renewal cycle with iPhone since they introduced the first one in June 2007. And since iPhone has a lot of components as well as design and engineering solutions in common with iPad it’s safe to assume that Apple can stay on an annual schedule with their tablet as well.
In terms of what we’ll see in the new iPads, surely iPhone 4 and the most recent iPod touch model are good indicators of what’s coming.
That would mean a thinner design with the actual display sitting closer to the glass that covers it resulting in a more immediate user experience in terms of touch. It would also mean a higher resolution display, giving a more crisp and detailed look. That in combination with a higher contrast would make iPad an even more suitable device for reading ebooks.
Also a safe bet would be dual cameras, like the iPod touch. One front-facing for FaceTime video calling and one rear-facing mainly for video recording. If you were to bet on larger storage capacity as well, I don’t think anyone would bet against you.
With the 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab in the market you might think we’ll see a smaller iPad but I very much doubt that. I don’t see much of a value in let’s say a 7-inch iPad. Apple will stick to one iPad size for now at least and that’s the current 9.7-inch.
Overall I doubt iPad version two will be a revolutionary device in any way. It has large shoes to fit as the first generation really set the standard for a whole new class of computing devices. Instead we’ll see Apple incorporate recent technologies and solutions from their other products and throw in a few surprises as well.
Whatever the next generation iPad will look like and what characteristics it will have, I’m sure we’ll learn more details in the coming months.
This article originally appeared in Khaleej Times. The articles are published here one week after they appear in print. You can find all my Khaleej Times articles here.
