The iOS world got a bone when several pics of supposed iPad 2 cases surfaced with rear camera holes. And according to the Wall Street Journal, someone’s extremely unhappy about these images circulating.

After e-commerce site Alibaba.com posted those pics, they were yanked from the website. The Wall Street Journal reported this was in response to some sort of demand from an unknown party. Now, that doesn’t legitimize the photos exactly; it’s possible that these renderings were based on speculation. But then again, why would anyone have a problem with inaccurate images?

”We do not know whether these products are what they say they are, but we have received a legitimate takedown request and are removing the listings,” Alibaba Group spokesman John Spelich said Wednesday.”

So no one knows who made the demands to pull the images, including Alibaba, but after some digging by the WSJ, some south China phone numbers surfaced. One of those numbers belongs to Fullchance Industrial Co, a company that reportedly works with Hon Hai Precision Industry (the same company that happens to assemble the iPhone and iPad). And according to the man who answered the phone, the product designs in question were “extremely accurate.”

In addition, a recent 9to5Mac post was also updated — to remove images of the design molding for iPad 2 cases, which were sourced from “an Asian case supplier.”

From 9to5Mac:

“Update, we’ve been told (not so nicely) to remove those mold drawings because they are the property of someone else. We’ve complied.”

But both sets of images — the product pic and the design schematics of the case molding — are already widely circulating. (See the vid below, as well as the designs here and here.)



So in the end, what can we gather from these latest developments?

1. The cases suggest that the iPad 2 may get a vaguely iPod Touch-ish kind of design inspiration, with some tapering at the edges. They also appear to have a new slot on the bottom, for an enhanced speaker system, plus a rear camera hole.

2. The designs for the case moldings also reveal that the edges are tapered, that the iPad 2′s backing slopes slightly (like current iPad and previous iPod Touches) and that a hole exists on the back (for the rear camera). The size of the camera hole is akin somewhat to the iPhone 4′s, which suggest it could be similar hardware back there.

3. The sketches also show something else that’s very, very unusual — a new port opening on the left side. What is this for? USB? MicroSD slot? Either of these would be an extremely radical departure for Apple. Going back to the design, 9to5Mac thinks the drawings look like an SD card is going in there — or it could be some part of the molding machinery. Then again, there are recent rumors that either a mini or full USB port is on tap for that.

Apple’s never included direct USB ports on its mobile devices, and I’d normally be inclined to call this a hoax… but this year, the company has spent an awful lot of time and resources hyping multimedia-out and printer capabilities for its iPad. It would make some sort of sense to include a design tweak to make those connections more seamless.

Bear in mind, this is ALL speculation at this point. And it would be easier to gloss over this as entertaining fiction, if it weren’t for the fact that many bloggers, journos and one lone e-commerce site seem to be hitting someone’s raw nerve with all this. Think it was Cupertino? Or its vendors? Weigh in with your conspiracy theories below.

Via: MacRumors, 9to5Mac, Wall Street Journal

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