Apple iPad 2 is here and tablet rivals need to hit the drawing board - Chicago Sun-Times

Apple iPad 2 is here and tablet rivals need to hit the drawing board - Chicago Sun-Times:

The second most powerful evidence of this happened just a minute ago, as I pulled out my iPad and keyboard here in my San Francisco hotel lobby to write this very same column.

“Looks like you’re going to have to buy a new one of those,” said an electrician as he passed by me on the way to his truck. “The new one’s coming out on the 11th.”

I didn’t tell him that I had attended the Apple iPad 2 press event that morning. No, sometime in the previous hour or two, this random stranger had heard about the new version of the iPad ... and he remembered the ship date. That’s how successful Apple’s been. Consumers aren’t just aware of the iPad ... they’re actually excited about it.