New iPad 2 Media Event Scheduled for March Only?

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The first week of February is almost over and there’s still no sign from Apple that a special iPad 2 media event is going to take place in the very near future. Unlike last year, when the tablet was unveiled in late January, this year Apple might only announce it in March, a few days/weeks before the official release date.

A Japanese blog is saying that Apple has scheduled said event for March, and we’re looking at a “small event” whatever that might mean. Why would Apple postpone so much the launch of the iPad 2? Well there’s nothing official yet on that but we can think of a few reasons for Apple to want to do delay the iPad 2 announcement.

1. Original iPad stock

Apple might want to sell more of its existing iPad stock before announcing the next-gen tablet. Although Apple tablet connoisseurs would rather wait for the iPad 2 instead of purchasing the original tablet.

2. Android Honeycomb competition.

With the Motorola Xoom arrival, the iPad has some serious competition out there. We’re going to see a bunch of Honeycomb devices later this year with the Xoom being the flagship Android tablet. Apple, while it would never admit it’s afraid of the competition, could have waited for Motorola and Google to show off the Xoom, its features and future pricing details. That way Apple could potentially announce a brand new tablet of its own that’s better and cheaper than the Xoom. After all we’ve seen various iPad 2 specs and features so far which could mean that various iPad prototypes might be in testing as Apple decides which one to go for.

3. iPad 2 supply build-up

The iPad 2 will probably have a great launch as Apple will sell a few million units in the first few weeks so Cupertino might want to make sure it has enough iPad 2 supply before publicly announcing it to the crowds. This argument would contradict point 2) as, if true, it would mean Apple already has a final iPad 2 version that has already entered production for a while now.

4. Steve Jobs comeback

Is Apple waiting for its charismatic leader to come back from his medical leave and take the stage to announce the iPad 2?

5. iOS 5.0

Is Apple working on the next-gen iOS version, which will debut with the iPad 2 and bring some new “magical” features to the iOS environment? That could also be a potential explanation for Apple wanting to delay the iPad 2 announcement to March.

6. Possible design flaws

In case Apple is already having the iPad 2 mass-produced by its China-based suppliers a manufacturing issue could certainly stall the tablet’s launch. Although we would have seen some rumors in case an iPad 2 flaw would have prevented Apple from launching the product.

Of course we can’t support with confirmed statements or facts any of the suppositions above, not to mention that we’re still looking at an unconfirmed March media event too. We’ll keep searching for the iPad 2 launch date, so make sure you subscribe to our feed and follow us on Twitter to get timely iPad 2 updates.