The iPad 2 has been released just 11 months after its predecessor came storming onto the market.
The product is being pedaled in true Apple grandiloquence: Thinner. Lighter. Faster. FaceTime. Smart Covers. 10-hour Battery Life.
These buzz words tend to hypnotise Apple consumers (like me), which is why their campaigns have been so uber-successful over the past decade. Many buyers are genuinely more interested in aesthetics than fidelity. And it’s arguable that Microsoft are too smart with their rhetoric as they continue to fall behind in capturing the youth market.
The big sales pitch for the new iPad is that it’s ‘dramatically faster’. Dramatically faster than what, one might ask? The iPad 1 I assume; which fell under heavy scrutiny due to its technical flaws such as the non-existent USB ports and its video conferencing inabilities.
Key upgrades include: front and rear cameras, iOS 4.3, and DMI Video Mirroring that lets users mirror their iPad screen on an HDTV using an optional adapter.
The other killer blow from Apple is the ‘Smart Cover’, which is seemingly a euphemism for ‘piece of plastic that can be used as a stand and cover’. Admittedly, Apple are brilliant at tweaking their existing platforms with the slightest and most nonessential additions, which often become the sale point. (I type this from my new thinner, lighter, smoother Apple keyboard).
Apple is certainly staking its claim as a leading mouthpiece for globalisation; you only have to look at your contemporaries, as they bury their faces in the Apple vision (I haven’t looked up from my Macbook/iPhone in weeks). Whether it’s on a train, or in the work place – Apple is fast becoming an extension of the body. And seemingly a movement of some sorts.
It turns out our flower power is no match for their Wower power!
The new iPad goes on sale in the US on March 11 and in Australia on March 25.
