According to Apple component suppliers, the completed iPad 2 will be shipped in February, 2010 for an April, 2010 release. Apple primary manufacturer, Foxconn, has been told to prepare 400,000 to 600,000 units over the next couple months.

DigiTimes says that Apple had originally planned for a January release, but firmware fixes have pushed it back. That would place the iPad 2 launch at exactly one year after the first iPad. Maybe we can count on April being the official iPad release month, as are June and July for the iPhone.

Previously reported that the new iPad would add five exciting new features: video calling, an improved display, a USB port, a 3-axis gyroscope, and better mobility. After the inclusion of the front-facing camera on the iPhone 4, and many other brands devices, the dual-camera design is a must.

The iPad 2 is expected to be a dual-mode device, functioning on both CDMA and GSM networks. The current model is GSM-only, and therefore requires a hotspot when connecting to CDMA networks like Verizon. A dual-mode device would not only make the iPad world-capable, but also simpler to produce and distribute.

Apple is in hot war over intellectual rights with Samsung but its dependance on the Korean hardware giant production is just going to grow in 2012. While in 2011 Apple spent nearly $7.8 billion on Samsung-made parts but in 2012, this number will grow further to $11 billion.

"The amount of the current contract is around $9.7 billion, butis expected to rise to $11 billion by the end of this year as Apple is planning to release a smaller iPad, probably with a 7.85-inch screen, and to sell more of its MacBook Air PCs using Samsung faster solid state drive storage," said Samsung executive told The Korea Times speaking on the condition of confidentiality.

Now, while the focus of the executive message the fact that Apple will spend more on Samsung parts, having a confirmation of the real possibility for a 7.85-inch iPad (iPad mini) from a Samsung official is probably even bigger news.

Seven days from now Apple will be hosting an event in New York City at the Guggenheim Museum where they willl be holding an "education announcement", which we can only assume will be their entrance into the textbook market (New iPad ?)

When Apple launched the iPad two years ago, they also unveiled iBooks, which to be honest has not been as much as a success as they probably thought it would be Amazon dominates the eBook market. But what if Apple could start getting schools to buy their iPads in bulk and get teachers to tie their course material into iBooks? That changes the game completely. Plus you can only imagine how eager Apple would be to sell schools several thousand iPads at a time, with insurance thrown on top.

Apple will hold an iPad 3 launch event in early February, according to new rumors, where the third-gen tablet expected to debut a 9.7-inch Retina Display will be shown off for the first time. The press event next month, so Macotakara Asian supply chain sources and "a source in the United States" claim, will precede the commercial launch of the new iPad in early March. Meanwhile, there are also indications that Apple will keep the existing iPad 2 on sale alongside its new model.

Speculation around Apple events is rife, of course, while given the company track record in iPad announcements it would not be hard to guesstimate a debut date. The original iPad was revealed in January 2010, while the iPad 2 was first shown off officially at an event on March 2 2011, and previous rumors have indicated a Q1 launch for the third-gen model.

Apple held its press event in NYC today and unveiled a suite of new and updated apps for education and book publishing. The iBooks 2, an updated version of the eReader app that willl support interactive textbooks for all education levels.

These textbooks will mix traditional text with interactive multimedia content. These textbooks can be updated on a regular basis and will offer students the opportunity to interact with their material instead of just stare at it. Apple showed how students can pinch to zoom on high-resolution images, and then click on the them to pull up additional information.

iBooks 2 is available now for the iPhone and iPad from the iTunes App Store. Apple will launch these interactive textbooks with the help of McGraw-Hill, Pearson Education, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Most of the early textbooks will be science textbooks for college and high school. The books will be priced reasonably with the high school books starting at 14.99 USD. To help you create these multimedia textbooks, Apple also introduced its new iBooks Author app. iBooks Author is compatible with MAC OS X 1.7 Lion and available for FREE from the Mac App store.

Full Event Video

A jailbreak for the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 has just been released by the "Dev Dream Team" just moments ago. Apparently, cracking the A5 was "Not exactly a walk in the park" according to the entire team. The jailbreak is termed GreenPois0n Absinthe and is now available for download on Mac OS X alone.

Users must be on iOS 5.0.1 or this WILL NOT WORK. And for the record if you update to iOS 5.0.2 when it comes out, you will completely lose the jailbreak.

China Daily reports that Proview Shenzhen Technology, a Chinese company based in the city Shenzhen, has pointed the finger at Apple over the iPad.

"We ask the court to stop selling and marketing for Apple iPad in China. We also demand an apology," Proview Technology attorney Xie Xianghui told China Daily.

Both companies claim "iPad" as a trademark, but Proview Shenzhen Technology says it has held the trademark since 2000 or 2001 and is asking for a cessation of iPad sales in China due to patent infringement as well as a fine for damages.

The case is set to come before a district court in Shanghai this month. A similar suit in Beijing is asking for a fine of around $38 million, or 240 million yuan. Late last year, Apple lost a suit wherein it claimed patent infringement on the Chinese company part.

click to view larger photo

Apple is Getting ready for the big announcement of the iPad 3 at the San Francisco Yerba Buena Center with a LARGE colorful Apple logo in the front, If you do not know yet, Next Wednesday Apple is expected to introduce the Apple iPad 3 as the newest and first device in 2012.

With the invitation for the event showing someone touching the calendar application on an iPad screen, it certainly seems as though the latest iteration of Apple tablet will feature a Retina display. The date on the calendar app is March 7th which not so coincidentally is the date of the event.

The splashy colors may refer to the anticipated new iPad Retina display with a 2,048 x 1,536 resolution. Also, the iPad 3 will be the first Apple product with LTE-Support.

Reports we received confirm that the Apple next-generation iPad will be called the "iPad HD", not the iPad 3. Also on other hands, Apple is buying smaller screens for an "iPad mini" from samsung, samsung said the smaller version of iPad is coming this year.

Gizmodo reported on the potential iPad HD name last week, citing accessory listings from Belkin and Griffin. So combining our info with what Gizmodo has confirmed, it seems like a very strong indication that Apple will be announcing the iPad HD Next Wednesday.

via Gizmodo

Currently, Apple Store is down and that phenomenon occurs each time Apple is about to make a major announcement. Of course, we are all expecting for the latest and greatest iPad to date to be unveiled at an official Apple event. For Now, apple store websites show a little yellow note saying: "We will be back soon."

The End will Start in 1 Hour, Stay Tuned!

Apple stock is down in an up market today, after the new iPad announcement. The drop passed 1% at the time of writing this, so we are curious about the close and the next few days.

Apple shares had a great run-up until the announcement and speculators are probably getting out in droves now, cashing in on handsome profit margins, especially if they bought options a month or so ago.

Conan O'Brien never misses a new Apple release without making a good Joke out of it, and we have already witnessed Conan takes on the iPad 2 and Siri.

This hilarious comedian now pointed its mocking gun to the Apple new iPad, since nothing really negative can be said about a 9.7-inch screen loaded with more than 3.1 million pixels, he went in a different direction.

It is not the screen itself, but rather what people usually do with even the most high-tech toys that is in the crosshairs of Team CoCo in the video below, I will Not spoil it for you!

Foxconn industry supply sources claim that Apple will use the thin-film touch panels on the upcoming 7.85" iPad Mini which will launch by then of the year just before the Holidays, as the Wall Street Journal already already reported.

The sources also said to name the suppliers of the innovative G/F2 touch panel, which will shave off thickness, and make the display cheaper to boot. Nitto will be making the thin-film materials, while Nissha Printing and TPK will be laminating them in the screens for the iPad Mini.

The G/F2 design, standing for glass + layer of touch film with the electrodes top and bottom laminated to it, is thinner than the traditional G/F/F design, which puts two layers on top of each other. This technology will make the 7.85" iPad Mini screen cheaper to produce, thinner and with smaller bezel too.

Amazon always mocking of the iPad ever since the first version of it launched, but the latest effort of the online retailer is pretty good even for its own high standards.

Amazon points out that if you happen to have 500 Dollars to spare you might want to purchase a poor-sunlight-display iPad or better get an Amazon Kindle eReader + 2x Kindle Fire slates for the same 500 Dollars with Android OS.

After Apple and Samsung long war last year, Apple unveiled the new iPad as its first product in 2012. This Morning, Samsung has called a last-minute hearing in Federal Court, sparking speculation the South Korean giant could launch an attack on Apple new iPad.

The company had in fact submitted an interlocutory application calling for Apple to set aside recently submitted evidence in its case on the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

However, the proximity of the hearing to the announcement yesterday of the third-generation iPad has prompted suggestions it could seek to ban the rival tablet sale in Australia before its official launch on March 16.

Here is a Comparison between the Samsung latest tablets Galaxy Note 10.1 and the Apple new iPad, this comparison (on the table below) focus on the content creation and creativity level of each device not just the specs and OS. So its fair enough, Take a look!

click to enlarge

Good sales of Amazon Kindle Fire tablet led to significant gains for Google Android operating system in tablet market share during the fourth quarter of 2011, according to new data from mobile analytics firm Flurry.

Flurry, which purports to measure application sessions on more than 90 percent of all Android devices, found that Android tablets gained 10 percent share from Q4 2010 to Q4 2011 and now represent 39 percent of the overall tablet market.

The Kindle Fire, which only just debuted this past November, has managed to best Samsung Galaxy Tab in terms of application session usage. The Kindle Fire already represents 35.7 percent of total Android tablet application sessions, while the Galaxy Tab has been reduced to just 35.6 percent, according to Flurry data that accounts for most of January 2012.