Speculating on new features is fun, due to the amount of secrecy around new Apple products. But anyone who takes it too serious is being foolish. Apple users know that while the products keep improving, there is not a big change with every new model. Every other intro usually is a hot upgrade, but every new model brings a new feature, either software support, or new hardware. This model will be a few tweaks and a camera. The next model will probably be the Retina display and SD card slot along with performance improvements.
You're absolutely right. I think the most fascinating thing to watch for is the price point. Many Apple observers say that the price could be the biggest surprise. It may not have as many features as rumored, but possibly expect the price point to drop and make it assessable for many more users financially. Then, expect a price bump up to around current pricing with a fall release of the iPad3, with a lot more of the features that had been rumored for
this release. Why? This would give a much larger ownership base to salivate for all the new features of iPad3 and give Apple the opportunity to sell kazillions (?) of iPad3's just in time for Christmas at a price that's not a dime more than current iPad pricing.
This whole scenario is based on the belief in Cupertino that once people use the iPad there's no going back.
You don't think you want one until you use one. Lowering the price for the iPad2, with fewer feature upgrades, brings in many of those, "Wow. This is life changing," buyers and then a Christmas-ready-loaded-iPad with many new features makes the iPad a slam-dunk tablet winner. Android stopped in its tracks by brilliant pricing strategy with the iPad2. Game over. If this is what happens, a year from now we'll all look back on the lower-priced iPad2 as a phenomenal strategy that allowed Apple to dominate the tablet market --- all as we talk about the rumors of the
iPad4!
