Another day and another snippet relating to the release date of the Apple iPad 2, this time from a source known for being relatively accurate when it comes to conspiracies and predications. Digitimes has revealed that the iPad 2 will go into production by the end of January 2011 with a predicted release date of April or May.
Interestingly the second generation iPad will come with three varieties as opposed to the two currently on offer. Apparently Apple will provide consumers with the option of a Wi-Fi enabled device, UMTS or CMDA with different ratios being shipped based on the current models popularity.
Unsurprisingly the most popular option will be the 3G iPad which is expected to make up around 60-65% of the tablets shipped. This makes sense when you consider users want the iPad to be connected to the internet all of the time. 3G combined with Wi-Fi delivers this and Apple knows in what ratio the current iPad has been purchased by consumers making manufacture of the iPad 2 much more accurate – hence the 65% ratio.
Based on the 16 million iPad’s manufactured in 2010 Digitimes estimate that up to 3 million iPad’s will be manufactured before the switch to the second generation begins in January. This is in preparation for the April Launch of the iPad 2 – expect to see the device a lot sooner though, we expect Steve Jobs will unveil the device one to two months before launch – perhaps in January.
For more rumours see our iPad 2 round up feature.
source: Digitimes
