By Gadjo Sevilla
Hi, my name is Gadjo Sevilla and I am the community manager for discussions here at ITBusiness.ca. We hope to be able to guide and enhance discussions, share ideas and reactions to the top stories, key topics and burning issues covered across these pages.
One of the big stories last week was the launch of Apple’s iPad 2. A survey by ITBusiness.ca showed that a majority of our readers would like to see Flash capabaility on Apple’s new tablet device.
Introduced by Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, who is currently on medical leave, the redesigned iPad is 33 per cent thinner than the current model yet sports a new dual core Apple A5 1GHz processor, 9 times the graphics processing capacity as well as a new gyroscope and rear plus front facing video cameras for FaceTime video calling.
The biggest news, however, was the iPad 2’s pricing and availability. Costing the same as the current iPad, the new version hits U.S. Â Apple retail stores and mobile carriers this Friday March 11 and will be available in Canada on March 25th.
This means that come April, iPad 2 will be widely distributed just as some of its competitors are readied for launch. Not only does the iPad 2 seem to cover all the specification advantages of its Android-powered competitors (dual-core processors, HDMI video out, better graphics for gaming), it is the thinnest and lightest of the bunch and some would argue that it is  currently the cheapest and the most widely available 10-inch tablet.
In another bit of news, the original iPad is now heavily discounted until supplies run out ($419 for a new 16GB Wi-Fi only model, $369 if refurbished). Which makes owning a first generation iPad slightly more compelling for those who don’t need all the bells and whistles of iPad 2.
That’s what you said
Reader interest here on the iPad 2 has been quite steady.
We ran a poll on “the most wished for iPad 2 features” before the announcement and 63.5 per cent of the respondents picked Adobe Flash as the most desired feature for the iPad 2 while a higher resolution screen (12.5 per cent), dual-cameras (12.5 per cent) and a faster processor (12.5 per cent) were the next most wanted features.
I can tell you that Adobe Flash isn’t coming to the iPad anytime soon. It doesn’t even ship loaded on new MacBook Airs because Apple thinks that Flash hogs background system resources and would slow down the iPad’s performance considerably if used. We did get dual-cameras and a faster processor but a higher resolution screen brings a number of foreseeable problems. The first is price, because a higher resolution display would add cost and the second is that the 65,000 existing iPad apps would need to be rewritten and updated to support another resolution.
In reaction to our First hands-on look at Apple’s iPad 2 story and MacWorld Editor Jason Snell’s quick video, reader Jverboon commented:
“Still nothing is said about printing with it!!! I have the iPad 1 and the recommended printer by Apple but it does only print photos and not text.” Which is a valid observation.
Apple offers printing on the iPad but only if you use selected printers. We managed to print photos  and webpages on HP and Lexmark printers but like Jverboon, haven’t been successful at printing text documents.
Feedback from our 5 disappointments with Apple’s iPad 2 story from reader Gisabon stated “guess all the wishes will eventually show up in the iPad 3 or 4 or 5 or …. Apple already crammed some new features in this model. If they put any more, nobody would bother with future models.” Which is in line with what many analysts believe, that Apple boosted the feature set of the iPad 2 “just enough” for it to make its product more desirable than competing tablets which while announced, aren’t even shipping in bulk yet.
Any more thoughts about iPad 2? Is the updated feature set enough to entice new users or are people likely to wait out this version for the next one?
ITBusiness.ca values reader’s input and opinion and we look forward to helping the community make the most of their time online.ITBusiness.ca covers a vast landscape of topics ranging from news to emerging technologies and solutions and discussions are vital in getting input and perspective on these topics, my job is to help guide these along. I look forward to sparking discussions and assisting with useful feedback where I can.
Gadjo Sevilla, is a Toronto-based freelance writer and the community manager for ITBusiness.ca. He can be reached at mailto:[email protected].
