Apple iPad 2 Launched But No Support For USB Flash Drives

Apple pulled back the covers on the iPad 2 yesterday to reveal a prettier, slimmed down version of the original iPad but with a little more “grunt” under the hood.

Whilst it's sure to appeal to the growing army of Apple fans this new lighter, thinner and faster iPad didn’t include a

host of hoped for, and much speculated on, additions including Retina Display, Thunderbolt™ connectivity and perhaps most importantly an option to add additional memory via a SD Card or a USB Flash Drive.

All of Apple's computers including the recently launched MacBook Pro™ and Air have included SD card slots and USB ports and for many Apple have missed a trick by not including at least one of these options on the new iPad 2. Of course cynics might suggest that these options have not been included because their inclusion would dent sales of Apple’s “Connector Kit” albeit even this won’t allow you to plug in a standard USB flash drive.

For the growing number of companies that use USB flash drives as a way to build brand recognition, drive brand loyalty and to disseminate information the lack of a USB port is likely to be a disappointment. The disappointment is likely to be felt the most by those companies that market themselves to a typical iPad buyer and that’s a pity because these consumers are typically high-net worth individuals, they’re often professionals or executives and they’ll have a reasonable disposable income and of course they’ll be flash drive users.

The disappointing lack of a USB flash drive on the iPad 2 is unlikely to have any detrimental impact on the burgeoning sales of promotional USB flash drives but it might just make one or two marketing executives think twice if they’re target customer profile is closely aligned to the profile of the typical Apple or iPad user.

So with all hopes of a USB port on the latest version of the iPad dashed yesterday what are the bets on iPad 3 including a USB port or will it just skip this connection protocol altogether and include a Thunderbolt™  port instead!