Hasta La Gadget!

With the next-generation iPad rumored for a spring 2011 release, Asian websites are posting images of purported third-party cases for the device.

The cases, spotted by Apple fan blogs MacRumors, Powerbook Medic and iLounge, sport common characteristics: a hole for a rear-facing camera and a rectangular hole that could be for an SD-card slot.

The premature-accessory game is a crapshoot. Occasionally accessory makers have sources connected to Apple in the plastics industry, who leak characteristics of new Apple hardware so they can get a head start on making cases. There have been times when leaked case designs accurately foreshadow new hardware features, but also times when they were wrong.

If the iPad cases above are based on real characteristics of the iPad, they reveal some interesting tidbits. Many have speculated the iPad 2 would gain a front-facing camera, but a rear-facing camera, as the cases suggest, was less expected. Also, the possible addition of an SD-card slot would eliminate the need for buying a camera-connection accessory made by Apple.

See Also:

• Ten Things Missing From the iPad
• Moleskine-Shaped, Bamboo iPad Case
• A Look at Some M-Edge iPad Cases
• Leather Cases Turn iPad into a Book