Apple staffer: Forget iPad 2, iPad 3 is where it’s at

By Andrew Couts March 2, 2011

iPad-2-leak-photos — Image used with permission by copyright holder

With today’s big iPad 2 event only hours away, an unnamed Apple staffer has revealed to CultofMac that the second-generation tablet is totally lame — it’s the iPad 3 we should all be getting excited about, and it will be out later this year.

The person didn’t give too many details about what we could expect from the iPad 2, just that it isn’t that big of a deal.

“For the iPad 2 don’t get your hopes up too high. That’s all I’m going to say,” said Apple staffer. “They’ve had a number of problems along the way, and the third-generation iPad is the one to make a song and a dance about.”

In addition to smothering all our iPad 2 dreams, the Apple staffer also revealed that MobileMe, Apple’s cloud storage service, would take center stage at today’s event. MobileMe rumors have been flooding out for weeks, including talk that Apple could incorporate iTunes and MobileMe, which would allow users to stream music from the MobileMe cloud on any device, rather than having their media trapped on a particular computer.

Expanding on that rumor, the staffer said there had been some talk at Apple about users being able to upload all their music and video content to a MobileMe online “locker,” whether the media had been purchased through iTunes or not. That functionality would mimic that of the LaLa music service, which Apple purchased in late 2009, and shut down last April (presumably to repackage it as an Apple-exlusive function).

If you still care about the iPad 2, there have been a number of other rumors about the device out this morning, including pictures (above) via Chinese site Dgtle.com, which reveal a larger speaker. Plus, Amazon Germany leaked its iPad 2 listing page, revealing some specs: 9.7-inch screen, 1.2GHz dual-core processor and a high-speed Thunderbolt port.

Whatever the iPad 2 will be — lame or completely, mind-blowingly awesome — we will know in just a few hours. So check back with us later today for all the latest iPad 2 news.

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