Top reasons iPad 2.0 is worth waiting for: iOS 5, $$$, camera, more

The iPad 2 is coming… sometime. Its new specs and features: largely unknown. Apple’s pitch thus far for the product: none. In fact Apple is still running ads trying to get you to buy the current iPad. But history shows there will be a second generation iPad released within the next two months or so, and while Apple isn’t even admitting there’s an iPad 2 let alone wanting you to wait for it, here are compelling reasons why it’s worth the wait if you’re currently considering buying your first iPad and can’t decide whether to dive in now or wait for the iPad 2.0 era to arrive.
$$$: Will the iPad 2 start at a price lower than the current $499 and up iPad? Doubtful, considering how well it sells at the current pricing. But whether Apple keeps the original iPad around as an official bargain-bin model or not, the launch of the iPad 2 should see the original iPad at least temporarily available for less than $499 while supplies last. And even if you do actually want the new iPad and not the outgoing one, suffice it to say that its improvements (whatever they are) mean you’ll get more for your money with a $499 and up iPad 2 than you can get from a $499 and up iPad 1.
iOS 5: Apple’s history shows that iOS 5, the next version of Apple’s mobile touchscreen operating system for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, may not arrive until the fifth generation iPhone this summer. But it should be released for iPad at that time as well. Apple’s recent iPhone history has shown that it’s not afraid to make certain new iOS features only fully work on the latest hardware. By the time iOS 5 arrives, the original iPad will be perhaps sixteen month old hardware. Sure, it’ll run iOS 5, but maybe not as fully as you’d like. The iPad 2, on the other hand, will be the hardware iOS 5 was built to run on. It’s not unlike how a new computer operating system (the latest version of MacOS X or Windows) runs better on a new computer than an old one.
That camera thing: Even with all that’s floating around, the only truly confirmable iPad 2 feature is the fact that it’ll have a camera. That may not sound like a big deal to everyone (“Why would I want to take pictures with a tablet?”). But the first time you find yourself using your iPad, wanting to take a photo of something, and instead having to set your iPad down in order to take your iPhone out of your pocket just to take the photo with it instead, you’ll be wishing your iPad had a camera. And unless a landslide of evidence turns out to be wrong, the iPad 2 will have a camera of some kind. Here’s more on the iPad 2.