The fact that China is just now getting the iPad does not mean that Apple cannot launch 2nd generation iPad in November. China has very restrictive rules on a lot of things. For example, Apple was selling iPhones with disabled Wi-Fi in China because of the China's government restrictions. I would not be surprised if the Chinese government banned the iPad with Face Time, so Apple may be forced to continue offering camera-less iPad for the Chinese market.
There is also a chance that Apple would carry both generations at the same time for the holiday season while marking down the 1st generation iPad. There are a lot of people who would choose a camera-less iPad if it cost $100 less. Not everyone uses video chat, so the benefit of the front-facing camera is lost on many people.
Apple just may surprise everyone and come out with the 2nd generation iPad in November. As for the reviewers, this would be an incremental update to the hardware - nothing revolutionary. Back in the beginning of 2010, the iPad was something so conceptually new that Apple really needed to create positive PR about this product, which they successfully achieved before launching the product. This time around, the iPad is so hot that they don't even need to advertise it. There are certain markets in the US where there is still a long waiting list to get one.
I beg to differ for several reasons:
1) Current production barely meets the current demand, so concurrent sales of the current model and a newer one is highly unlikely unless Apple was silently sitting on a stockpile, and especially becauser Apple doesn't like to drop the price on their stuff.
2) If a new iPad was so close, they wouldn't have
ramped up production of the current model, with plans to further increase production for the holidays.
3) Currently the rumour mill is ticking over veeeery slowly when it comes to iPad Gen 2 news - most of it is just rehashed or opinion, and especially telling is the fact that a lot of the rumours come from "anonymous" and "unnamed" sources (which probably means someone misread something and made a mountain out of a molehill). If the next iPad were really only two months out, we'd have a LOT more solid information - if the iPhone4 leaks are anything to go by.
And finally:
4) The current iPad still hasn't rolled out world-wide, and probably still won't have by the
end of the year. Sure, you could argue that those who haven't gotten the iPad Gen 1 yet could be supplied the Gen 2, but then you'd be ignoring the fact that they can barely meet demand right now for the current version. They'd have to be secretly knocking out thousands of the Gen 2 a day right now in order to meet the expected demand for the holidays. Considering that they sold a million units in
28 days first time around, this would mean that if iPad Gen 2 started production right now, they'd need to knock out around 14,000 units
a day in order to be ready for release at the end of November (1,000,000 units/70 ish days until 1st of December = 1,000,000/70 = 14,286 units a day). That's a big ask.
I think that a lot of the stuff going around about the next iPad's "immininent" release is because people want the next generation with certain features so much that they wish it would come so soon, and consequently interpret any evidence, irrespective of how tenuous, as suggesting that an update is just around the bend because then their desire for a new Apple gadget could possibly be satisfied sooner than well-grounded logic tells us will most likely be the case.
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