Edible Apple

It’s hard to say that the iPad 2 really caught anyone off guard given that Apple tends to release/announce its products on a fairly predictable schedule. But one aspect of the iPad 2 that threw some competitors for a loop is that the next-gen iPad is ultra thin. So thin, in fact, that it prompted Samsung to readjust their tablet strategy midstream.

In the wake of the iPad 2 announcment, Samsung executives realized that an upcoming 10.1-inch tablet they were working on was too bulky to adequately stack up against the iPad 2, not too mention way too pricey.

All Things D reports:

“We went back to the drawing board,” said Samsung Mobile executive Omar Khan, noting that the company already had some things cooking in its research labs. “We will not be outdone. It accelerated some of the commercialization of technology we already had in the works.”

Barely a month after showing the first 10.1-inch tablet, the company had a new, thinner design ready to announce. The actual devices, however, won’t ship until summer.

Indications that the products are still a work in progress abound at the Samsung booth. Although the company has working units of both the 8.9-inch and 10-inch tablets at its booth, all are in older, thicker shells. Even the working versions of the 8.9-inch model, which was only ever introduced in a thin casing, bears remnants of the older, thicker design.

And not surprisingly, a sign displayed next to the aforementioned Samsung tablets reads, “Product design and specifications are subject to change without notice or obligation.”