All Things Digital’s Kara Swisher says that Apple is going to hold a San Francisco event on March 2nd–that’s a week from tomorrow–to announce the second-generation iPad. Assuming that happens–and Kara seems quite certain–the timing will be fortuitous, since it’ll let anyone who’s considering a Motorola Xoom or RIM BlackBerry PlayBook or HP TouchPad or any of umpteen other imminent arrivals see what Apple has in store before making a buying decision.

The conventional wisdom is that the new iPad will have a front-facing camera for FaceTime video chat and a thinner case; there’s also scuttlebutt about it running on both GSM and CDMA networks, for compatibility with wireless networks around the world. Earlier rumors about it having a high-res “retina” display and a rear-facing camera seem to have faded away.

Me, I hope that Apple bucks the pundits’ pronouncements and announces a 4G iPad–at least one that runs on AT&T’s zippy HSPA+ if not on Verizon LTE. But I haven’t seen anyone predict that, or anything else that counts as a Great Big Change rather than a Pleasing Refinement or an Expected Addition.

If a March 2nd event is indeed in the works, we won’t have to wait much longer for confirmation: Invites will go out in the next few days.

 

 
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