For geeks who love Valentines and Apple products, suppliers for the company are indicating that the second-generation iPad will start heading to stores in February.
The report that surfaced late last week came from unnamed contacts at an Apple components maker in Taiwan who said Apple had originally planned to begin production of the iPad 2 next month.
The launch was delayed a month, the report noted, because software components were still being tested.
The iPad 2 will primarily come from production facilities in Shenzhen owned by Foxconn. A first shipment of between 400,000 and 600,000 tablets is estimated.
A spokesperson for Apple declined to comment on the report.
Apple sold nearly 4.2 million iPads in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year. That number fell short of industry expectations, but analysts predicts iPad sales would increase during the holidays.
The iPad 2 will also likely have two cameras. The front facing camera for Apple’s FaceTime video chat component in a given feature on the new device. With the popularity of video and photo applications, it makes sense for the next iPad to also have a rear-facing camera. Apple is also likely to make video editing on the iPad possible with its iMovie program. Since iPhone users can already edit video on those smaller screens, it would be logical to give the iPad the same or very similar capabilities.
Specific details on the iPad 2 are just speculative at this point, but the device is almost certainly going to be lighter and thinner than its predecessor. Consumers have commented that the original iPad was heavier than they expected and Apple has a long history of shrinking its products over time.