Apple’s iPhone has two cameras. So does the latest iPod touch and at least one competing tablet computer.
But Apple’s hit iPad, which rolled out of the factory into the waiting arms of some three million consumers since its April launch, is still “blind” and unable to capture images or enable video chats, an increasingly common feature for mobile devices.
That could change soon.
Coming Soon?
A blog that focuses on Apple products is reporting that the Cupertino, Calif.-based computer giant will rush through a FaceTime-capable iPad as soon as this holiday season, breaking its usual pattern of one year between device refreshes. FaceTime is Apple’s application, first introduced with iOS 4, that allows video chatting via Wi-Fi, utilizing front- and back-facing cameras.
At the latest, the iPad refresh could be available on shelves and Apple’s online store in the first quarter of 2011. The report cites “a person with proven knowledge of Apple’s future product plans.”
Apple Insider also speculates that Apple is eager to promote widespread adoption of FaceTime on multiple devices so it will become the industry standard for mobile video chat.
But insiders are skeptical. A competing web site, noting that Apple has struggled to keep up with orders for the iPad, called the report “bull,” and ABI Research mobile-devices analyst Jeff Orr told us it’s all but impossible to manufacture a new iPad version in time for Christmas.
“All products destined for end-of-year holiday 2010 retail shelves are already manufactured,” Orr said. “Manufacturing slots, space on manufacturing lines, for the first half of 2011 have already been committed by device vendors. Whatever evolution the iPad will incur — perhaps a January 2011 CES announcement — it won’t be for this year. Apple has demonstrated a one-year cadence for device introductions [such as] Mac, iPod and iPhone. The same timetable is expected for…