Steve Jobs On Stage to Unveil New iPad 2 with March 2 Ship Date

Apple CEO Steve Jobs, 56, briefly emerged from his medical leave and walked on stage to standing ovation Wednesday to unveil the second-generation of the popular iPad, which will go on sale March 11 in the U.S.

The Apple iPad 2 has a completely new, thin design (thinner than an iPhone 4) with two cameras that work with FacTime, and style available in black and white. The A5 chip is dual core, up to 2 times faster CPU, 9 times faster graphics, same low power as A4, first dual-core tablet to ship in volume. The iPad 2 was personally demonstrated by Apple CEO Steve Jobs on Wednesday at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco. He walked on stage to a standing ovation.

The A5 chip was showcased with 9 live video streams simultaneously. Video can be edited and sent directly to Apple TV.

New javascript engine runs the Safari browser twice as fast.

Battery life is the same at 10 hours with one month of stand-by time.

On the cellular front, the iPad (WiFi + 3G) two will work on AT&T and Verizon Wireless (also functions as personal hotspot).

Built-in gyroscope. Includes HDMI video out (up to 1080 out).

The iPad 2 includes smart covers that clean the screen when moved and also function as a stand.

GarageBand now works with the iPad as a virtual instrument (including guitar and keyboard) thanks to the gyroscope and accelerometer. The virtual guitar automatically shows complementary chords you can strum, pick or mute.

The iMovie app also allows editing from the iPad 2 with the capability of sending projects directly to Apple TV

The new iPad 2 will ship on March 11, 2011 in the United States.

Pricing for the iPad 2 will be the same as the original iPad ($499-$699 for the WiFi only model, $629-$829) for WiFi + 3G)

Over 15 million of the first version of the Apple iPad have been sold.

A reporter added that Steve Jobs looks good — his stamina looks better than his last public appearance.

See also …
apple.com/ipad