Your Predictions for Apple's iPad Event

By  |  Tuesday, March 1, 2011 at 11:38 pm

Sleep in Wednesday morning. See an early movie. Perform admirable charity work. Do whatever you want–you’ll have the time, because you won’t have to keep tabs on Apple’s iPad event, because the Technologizer community has made its traditional, traditionally uncanny predictions about what will transpire. And here they are.

Oh, okay, I jest. Actually, I hope you’ll attend our live coverage at 10am PT over at Technologizer/ipad2. I’ll be reporting from San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center and will be joined in the Technologizer newsodrome by Ed. We’ll also have a special guest star from Techland: Doug Aamoth. And much of the color commentary will come from…you guys.

Back to your predictions. More than two hundred of you made ’em, and as usual, I’ve aggregated them all into one unified set of prognostications. For questions in which you were only allowed to make one prediction, we’re going with the answer that a plurality of you chose. If you were allowed to make multiple predictions, then any one that got at least fifty percent of the votes counts. Got that?

For each of the items below, the number is the percentage of you that made the prediction.

Will Apple announce a new iPad on Wednesday?

Yes, it will (99%). Only three of you thought otherwise.

What features will it have?

It’ll have a front-facing FaceTime camera (96%)

It’ll have a faster processor (87%)

It’ll be thinner (86%)

It’ll be lighter (80%)

It’ll have more than the current 256MB of RAM (80%)

It’ll have better graphics technologies (56%)

It’ll have a rear-facing camera (54%)

(It won’t have a higher-res screen, more than 64GB of storage, a screen that’s brighter or otherwise more legible, 4G, longer battery life, a removable battery, a memory-card slot, a USB connector, a Thunderbolt port, NFC, better audio, fewer buttons, better case materials, a physical keyboard, or a stylus. Nor will it run on both GSM and CDMA networks–which is a breaking news item considering that much of the conventional wisdom said it would!)

Which US carriers will it be available on?

AT&T and Verizon Wireless (98% and 94%, respectively).

When will it be available?

More than two weeks from the announcement, but less than a month (34.4%)

What will the cost of the lowest-priced version be in the US?

$499 (50%) An insanely optimistic one percent of you say it’ll be $199 or other.

Will Apple discuss the next major upgrade to iOS for the iPad?

Yes, it will (77%)

What features will it have?

FaceTime (93%)

A better notification system (58%)

And that’s apparently it! Less than 50 percent of you said it would have widgets, wireless synchronization, other synchronization improvements, a better Safari app, better Mail, better Calendar, better Photos, better Maps, better iBooks, new streaming media features, new gaming-related features, new voice-control features, improvements to the Home Screen/Folders, and improvements to the App Store/In-App Purchases/Subscriptions. Startlingly, you also don’t think it’ll pack Flash or SilverLight.

When will the next major version of iOS for the iPad come out?

It’s going to be more than two weeks but less than three months.

Will Apple announce any other products at the event?

Yes, a new version of MobileMe (78%). But not a new streaming service, new iOS apps, a new iPhone, a new iPod, a new Mac, a new Apple TV, new iPhone accessories, or any other new products.

Who will be the primary host of the event?

Tim Cook (37%). For the record, 16 percent of you think it’ll be Steve Jobs.

Any other predictions?

The iPad will come in both white and black, with the white one being available at the same time as the black one. And the white iPhone 4 will finally be available.

This might turn out to be an iPhone 3G to 3GS type of launch where they do internals updates. I hope not but it’s possible.

MobileMe will become a free ad supported service with iAds.

I predict that Thunderbolt support will be via a Dock connector cable to thunderbolt connection, beginning their move from USB. It will be similar to how they went from firewire iPods to USB.

Due to the sheer amount of speculation and hype, nothing announced will surprise the majority of tech commentators and journalists covering the launch…if anything, we’ll come away thinking what have they left out that will feature in the iPad 3.

iLife for the iPad

Higher quality iTunes Digital Audio (24-bit)

App store for Apple TV??

I predict that the iPad will actually go up in price but drop the 16gb version. 32mb version $449 and $549 for the 3G model. The Android tablets launching at ridiculously high prices allow Apple more wiggle room with the iPad to raise the price and still be considered the least expensive tablet entry point.

Probably incorrect, but the colorful dots decorating the Yerba Buena Center had me thinking about multiple color options, like with the iPod nanos and shuffles. That said, having color options would be fairly silly.

Wireless will not work for attendees

Harry will miss the event due to traffic.

Jacqui Cheng will be prettier than Harry.

The earth will shift on its axis, ever so slightly.

And with that, we’re done with predictions–at least for a few hours. See you at 10am!

 
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