What iPad v2 needs to have

I managed to talk myself out of buying an iPad when it first came out. The Responsible Brian narrowly edged out the OMG Gimme Gimme Brian, but it fell just short of what I wanted for that price. If version 2 has the following, then, unless the world implodes, I will happily fork over my cash.

• Front-facing camera. This is a must. Video conferencing is business critical in this household, with me a “remote knowledge worker” and the grandparents all in other states. A rear-facing camera would be really nice, but it’s not a dealbreaker.
• Retina display. I was suitably happy with the display on my iPhone 3… until the 4 game into my life. Now, looking at non-Retina devices, including the iPad, makes me feel like I’m playing Mask of the Sun in the year 1985. Don’t get me wrong, videos look tremendous on the iPad, but a lot of what I do is text-based blogging and email.
• Multitasking. I know this is coming soon to the iPad, so I’m not worried about it. But if I’m going to use it for light business, I need to be able to have Skype up all the time and still get other work done.
• User profiles. This too isn’t a must, but it would go a long way towards making it a family device. Ideally I would have a profile that has my icons, email accounts, and other preferences configured the way I want them, and my wife would have her own profile with all of her stuff.

That’s it! Not too bad, right? At this point I fully expect iPad v2 to have at least the front-facing camera and FaceTime, given that it’s already available in a much smaller form factor device. There may be formidable technical challenges to scaling up the Retina display in the near future. Multitasking will be available on iPad v1. User profiles don’t have enough of a WOW! factor so I give this a 20% chance. Hmmm, in retrospect, I guess I just need a front-facing camera to justify it.

Hop to it, Apple!