New reports about a planned Apple iPad 2 include that the tablet may include NFC technology, shed its aluminum shell for carbon fiber and come in a 7-inch version.
Apple may be planning a small event to introduce a second generation of the
iPad, Apple Insider reported Feb. 5, citing the Japanese site
macotakara.jp, which, it
wrote, "sometimes generates accurate leads" regarding planned Apple
products.
The Apple event, said the report, is planned for March, with the device
likely to ship later.
The news follows similarly unverified Apple news reported Feb. 4 by
iLounge about Apple's plans
for its newest iPad. The site's source, cautioning that the information is "very
preliminary," offered three details. The first is that Apple is developing
accessories that could enable new iPads and iPhones to communicate using NFC
(near-field communications) technology.
iLounge reported:
"In the most basic implementation, an accessory could announce
its presence and potential functions to an iPad or iPhone without the need for
a Bluetooth or similar connection; our source suggests that an otherwise simple
case could include a radio chip so that an inserted iPhone or iPad could go
into power-saving hibernation mode automatically. More complex accessories will
go far beyond that."
Google has already gone public with its interest in NFC, and at the
Web. 2.0 Summit in November 2010,
outgoing Google CEO Eric Schmidt showed off how the technology could
work, interacting with a point-of-sale terminal in a store to, with a tap, make
a purchase in a manner that's reportedly more secure than a credit card swipe.
In January, Google began looking for an NFC/RFID expert to join its team,
and Business Week Bloomberg reported that
Google is indeed building a mobile payment and ad
service that will enable Android users to make purchases via their smartphones.
The second new rumored detail is that Apple will replace the iPad's aluminum
body with a material more akin to lightweight carbon fiber. This rumor may have
some legs, as in November 2010 Apple filed for a "reinforced device
housing" patent for using a carbon fiber-reinforced polymer, or CFRF
material, and, according to iLounge, iPads testing this new shell have "been
spotted."
Lastly -and seemingly the most unlikely, as it would have Apple CEO
Steve Jobs eating flocks of crow -the site reports that there may be a 7-inch
version of the iPad in the works. "Our source notes that a key iPad,
iPhone, and iPod component provider has been asked by Apple to develop a part
for use in a 7-inch iPad," writes iLounge.
During an Apple quarterly earnings call in September, Jobs
uncharacteristically participated and delivered a monologue on why the iPad,
with its 9.7-inch display, is superior to the 7-inch displays on a number
of competitors' planned devices. Saying that the 7-inchers will likely "offer
less, for more," he called the upcoming crop "DOA -dead on arrival,"
adding, "Their manufacturers will learn the painful lesson that their
tablets are too small, and increase the size next year, thereby abandoning both
customers and developers who jumped on the seven-inch bandwagon with an
orphaned product."
Whether these leaked details make it onto the new iPad, Ticonderoga
Securities analyst Brian White, in a Feb. 7 research note, seconded that an
Apple iPad announcement is due. "Apple will soon need to announced the
iPad 2 before a potential April launch," wrote White, noting that alerting
consumers to the device's upcoming availability might help to hold back sales
of the potentially very popular
Motorola Xoom tablet, which will run Android 3.0,
known as "Honeycomb," and launch in February.
"We believe," added White, "Apple will do well to make an
announcement in the coming weeks."
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