It seems snappy things are underway with the Apple iPad – and an updated tablet with inbuilt camera may arrive as soon as Q1 next year.
Components for the next generation of the iPad are “completing validation”, according to Digitimes, and the new iPad is anticipated to arrive no later than Q2 but may well land earlier than this date.
However, although there were earlier rumours of a 7 inch version of the iPad being worked on, this is not what the manufacturers are saying and the components in question are for the current 9.7 inch screen of the Apple device.
Updated iPad offers will include an ultra thin frame and reinforced glass – and if reports from Digitimes are correct, the iPad will also feature the TimeFace video-calling function currently available on the iPhone 4.
So not only will there be a camera onboard the tablet but a front-facing one. This would allow the iPad to compete on the camera-front with the newly announced Samsung Galaxy Tab device which comes with two cameras onboard together with a smaller, lighter frame. RIM is also anticipated to launch a BlackBerry tablet imminently and it will be interesting to see what multimedia features are included on this device.
Apple sold more than 3 million iPads in the first 80 days after the tablet’s launch, and according to the analyst firm Canalys the iPad will continue to dominate the market until 2012 and should reach unit sales of 20 million by 2011. An updated version that is thinner and has a camera would certainly make the iPad’s continued dominance more likely.
Are you tempted by an updated iPad? Is the inclusion of FaceTime for video-calling enough to tempt you away from other tablets?
Comments:
