Second generation iPad to be introduced with a second dock port

After many rumours of a second iPad being in the pipelines, it has been revealed that a trademark submission has been made to the European Trademarks and Designs Office by Cupertino for a second 30-pin docking port to be placed on the side of the iPad. This new feature will allow users to dock the iPad into a more natural horizontal position rather than the portrait only dock on the current release.

This seems to be another piece of ingenuity from the mastermind behind most of Apples success stories Jonathan Ives, who along with Apple CEO Steve Jobs are said the have signed the submission to the European offices.

Steve Jobs did make a statement though, that users should not hold their breath about the possibility of a smaller 7″ version of the iPad.

The reason we won’t make a 7-inch tablet isn’t because we don’t want to hit that price point, it’s because we think the screen is too small to express the software,” Jobs said, according to Apple Insider, adding, “As a software driven company we think about the software strategies first.”

Jobs said he believes

“the current crop of seven-inch tablets are going to be DOA, Dead on Arrival.”

According to Steve this is because the tablets are “too small”

We’re not holding our breath on this statement though as he has been known in the past to be misleading abput upcoming products from the firm; he had mentioned in the past that there were NO plans to develop a new TV interface, however a mere 4 months later, the updated version of Apple TV was launched.

There are also a number of other rumours surrounding the next generation of iPad, but following the design sketches that were sent along with the submission, it seems that the overall design of the iPad will remain unchanged. Other features that are said to appear are two integrated cameras (one front facing and one on the rear) and Facetime, much like the iPhone4. Even though these are not Apple’s most radical updates seen to a device, it does show that they are listening to the consumer market in creating a device that has more like a tablet come desktop screen.

If there was a 7″ model alongside the current 9″ despite the submitted sketches, the only real benefit I personally see would be at the retail price, although if Facetime and the two cameras were included, the price to the end user would not be that dis-similar from what the current iPad is retailing for.

What are your views on the current iPad and what would you like to see with the next generation of iPad? Post you comments below.