The device was announced on March 2 at an event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, California. CEO <name>Steve Jobs</name> emerged from sick leave to make the announcement.

The new model has cameras on the front and back.
The iPad 2 has an all-new design and has several improvements over the original iPad. The device runs on a dual-core Apple A5 CPU. According to <name>Jobs</name>, the CPU's new dual-core capability enhances multitasking and doubles the processing speed. Apple additionally introduced a magnetic 'Smart Cover' accessory that snaps to the front screen of the device along with several new apps ported from the Mac OS X operating system and the iPhone. These include iMovie, GarageBand, and Photo Booth. The new iPad introduces front and rear cameras which enable FaceTime and video. The new tablet is fifteen percent lighter and 33 percent thinner than the previous version—thinner than an iPhone 4—and has beveled edges. It is available in black and white and continues to be capable of ten hours of battery life on a single charge.