Yeah, I guess "iPad 2" isn't the same as "iPad Rev. B". Sorry.
I still stand by my "Rev. B" talk above (but I don't think the iPad is destined for a back-facing camera...too big and awkward to try and shoot pictures or video with such a big, flat device, IMO...try to imagine doing so and tell me exactly how you'd hold it and where you hands/fingers would go to operate the onscreen buttons. See what I mean? Not the most elegant, steady approach, is it?). I think it would only ever wind up with a front-facing one for FaceTime/iChat-type usage (where it actually makes sense, as a communication device).
As for iPad 2, a truly "second-generation" model that we won't see until 2011?
I have no idea. I'm not sure that Retina Display really makes sense on something already so large and visible. I think it works on the iPhone because, at 3.5", you're constantly having to zoom in to read smaller stuff. It seems this iPhone 4 screen remedies some of that, making the smaller text much sharper.
But is anyone complaining about "hard to read" text on an iPad? To me, that device seems perfectly-sized for its purposes. I don't know...maybe someday, but I don't think Retina Display was intended for that (or the iMac, the notebooks or standalone displays...we use those differently, with our heads farther away and with much more real estate to comfortably work with). I think Retina Display was devised strictly for the iPhone (and iPod touch)...to improve
those two particular platforms, due to their small screens and how text and other items are displayed.
I guess some sort of beefier, bumped A4? Can't imagine the physical design changing much, as it seems about as thin and light as it can go and still feel sturdy.
A lot of it might be in the software? The device itself, apart from the missing front-facing camera, seems really tight and "there".
Maybe the iPad will go much longer (2-3 years between major versions/redesigns), but get yearly (or twice-yearly) "revision updates" in the form of RAM, software and capacity tweaks? Like the Macs do...this new iMac and MacBook design will carry on for at least another two or so years...but in that time, each will get several processor/RAM/hard drive updates and other small, under-the-hood tweaks but using the same body style/design. Apple doesn't redesign the outward appearance of their Macs every year, after all. The iPad might look like the iPad well into 2012-2013? By then, maybe new processors, boards, drives, cameras and other components will be such that an even thinner, flatter iPad could be designed and built? Sometimes these companies have to wait on the tech and manufacturing to "catch up" to their big ideas.
I'm sure Ive has sketched up an iPad as thin as a Ritz cracker...they just can't build it yet.
