Apple's iPad camera: truth or trash?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Wednesday, 03 February 2010 11:02

Opinion and Analysis

As the world watched the unveiling of the iPad, only to discover no mention of any cameras, front facing or otherwise, the evidence keeps on piling up that a camera was planned, and might still appear on shipping models - or is being held back for the iPad 2.0.

When it comes to Apple products and what they do or don't include, consumers have always been very vocal about features that Apple has purposefully left out of its devices, especially when most, if not all of the competition offers features that Apple doesn't.

From multi-tasking, to Flash, to cut, copy and paste, and the absence or presence of cameras, people know what they want, even if it takes Apple some time to deliver it.

Of course, as we all know, the lack of certain features on the iPod or iPhone didn't stop either device from becoming a smash-hit with consumers, but the iPad naysayers have been very vocal on the seeming fact that the iPad is camera-free.

But as seen all over the web (here's a link to Wired), and over at the Mission Repair blog, it looks like the pre-release iPad that Steve Jobs was holding either has a camera built into it, or has a shiny reflection that could be a camera.

One commenter at Wired even suggested it was the iPad 'home button' being mistaken for a camera, with the iPad held upside down, but the 'evidence' over at Mission Repair is more damning.

Apparently, for some strange and potentially unbelievable reason, the Mission Repair people have already started receiving 'spare parts' to repair future broken iPads.

Why Apple would send out repair parts so soon is unknown and unusual - especially when the metal frame within the iPad itself contains a slot that takes an existing MacBook camera perfectly - if, of course, Mission Repair can be believed and isn't hoaxing us all out of the park.

Continued on page 2, please read on...