If you bought a Mac product in the last six months, there’s a good chance that a thinner, shinier replacement already exists. On March 2 in San Fransisco, Apple will be holding an event to announce their latest upcoming products. The main announcement will most likely be the new iPad, or the iPad 2 as most tech blogs are calling it.
According to Bloomberg Businessweek, the invitation for the event said, “Come see what 2011 will be the year of,” along with a picture of the corner of an iPad.
It has been almost a year since the company released the first iPad back in April of 2010, which means it is about time to release a new one and make millions of current iPad owners regret their purchase.
Current rumors suggest that the new iPad will most likely feature at least one front-facing camera for use with Apple’s FaceTime software, which allows the user to video-chat with other Mac users. There is also the possibility of a second rear-facing camera, which could be used for taking photos and video. It is also rumored to be thinner and lighter than the previous model.
As a college student, I can only afford to buy technology every once in a while. My next purchase was going to be an iPad, because I am tired of carrying my old, heavy MacBook in my backpack all the time. But now, I feel like I have to wait until the new iPad is released so I can stay up-to-date. However, the only reason I feel this way is because I have been trained to always want the newest thing out there. I don’t use FaceTime at all, and I have no need to take pictures with my iPad. As for it being thinner, I don’t think that really makes much of difference, because the original was less than half an inch thick.
I’ll admit it, the only reason I want the new iPad is because I want people to see that I have the new iPad. It will be payback for the past few months that I have spent walking around with my iPhone 3g, feeling uncool every time someone pulls out a shiny, square iPhone 4.
Apple knows exactly what they are doing. The technology for a camera clearly already exists if they can put two of them in an iPhone that is less than half the size. They specifically waited for a year before they added a camera so they can force Mac fans to buy the same thing twice.
This type of marketing has worked on me before, but I am getting tired of it. I bought the iPhone 3g when it was released, only to find out that the iPhone 3gs was going to be released a few months later with a built-in video camera. However, there was a free downloadable application for the iPhone 3g which allowed you to take video. Obviously the option for video was already there, but it was being held back on purpose.
I don’t think I will buy the iPad 2 when it is released, even though it’s tempting. Maybe I’ll wait for the thinner, lighter, shinier version that will surely be released in a few months. Or maybe I could try to break my Mac addiction and buy one of the many other less-shiny Andriod tablets that are now available.
Matt Grippi is a junior journalism major and contributing writer for the Daily 49er.
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