iPad2 release - and competition
Jinfo Blog

By Nancy Davis Kho

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There was big brouhaha around the official announcement of the release of the iPad2 on March 2, and not just because Steve Jobs made a surprise appearance (an occurrence that analysts say drove the price of $AAPL stock up by $3 for the day.) The company that is propelling the rapid expansion of the tablet market that I covered in a post on January 21 this week introduced the second gen iPad that offers users both more (speed and functionality) and less (weight.)

Key enhancements include a dual core A5 chip to facilitate multitasking; a graphics performance said to be nine times faster than in the first generation iPad, and two HD cameras to enable FaceTime video chat. In addition it's a third thinner and 15% lighter than the first version, and a magnetic SmartCover enhances durability and mobility. (That it comes in both black and white - meh. But it's nice to have an option.) Here's the page on the Apple site that details the bells and whistles.

During the press announcement Jobs implied that, with this version of the iPad, the PC era is done. He can't be blamed for his optimism; though I don't think we're quite there yet,  we certainly seem to be moving in that direction faster than ever.  Part of the reason has to be ascribed to a tablet market that is finally offering some robust alternatives to the iPad.

PC World published a good overview of the tablet contenders yesterday, including the Motorola Xoom and the RIM Blackberry PlayBook. Skimming through the list, Apple still holds first-to-market and price advantages over many of the players - many of these are scheduled for release Q2 and beyond, with prices TBD.

But for business users still figuring out where tablets fit into their overall enterprise IT environment, it's nice to know that there are some strong iPad competitors emerging.  

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