iPad 2 tablet

Apple has launched the second generation of its iPad tablet computer at an event in San Francisco.

The company said the machine featured a faster processor, improved graphics, and front and rear cameras.

Apple leads the industry in sales of tablet devices, but has recently begun to lose share to rivals such as HP and Samsung.

The event was hosted by Apple chief executive Steve Jobs, who has been on medical leave since January.

It had been widely speculated that he would not appear owing to his ill health.

Mr Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2004.

Speaking on stage, he said: "We have been working on this product for a while and I just didn't want to miss today."

Apple has billed the iPad 2 as slimmer, lighter and faster than its predecessor.

The new device features the company's latest dual core A5 processor, which, it is claimed, delivers twice the processing power of the original iPad.

iPad 2 will go on sale in the US on 11 March, followed by 26 other countries, including the UK, on 25 March.

In the United States, pricing will remain the same as for the first iPad, between $499 (£305) and $826 (£505). Other countries are also expected to retain their original pricing models.

OPINION:

Lately the business of tablets computers has grown a lot. At the first time only Apple produced, but now HP and Samsung are producing and selling a lot of tablets PC. Currently Apple has the market dominance but the competition are growing their market. Anyway Apple is the most advanced company with the tablets PC so they developed a new version of her iPad, the iPad 2. I believe that the iPad 2 will be more slim, light and fast because it have a best microprocessor, but there is a thing that I don't think is true: The price will be the same of her predecessor. I think that this is only a dream, I don't remember any case in the world where that happened. Maybe it will be true and if it happen it would be a heavy hit by the competition of HP and Samsung.

I'm sure that a lot of people will buy that wonder of the electronic engineering and maybe I will be one of them.