Steve Jobs Unveils Apple's iPad 2 [PHOTO/VIDEO]

Mr. Jobs, who strode onto a San Francisco stage Wednesday to a standing ovation, showed off the thinner, faster iPad 2 in a presentation full of swipes at competitors flooding into the market. The crush of tablets includes Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc.'s recently released Xoom and the forthcoming Playbook from BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd.

Apple has a more than 90% market share and "our competitors are just flummoxed," Mr. Jobs said, adding that if 2010 was the "year of the iPad," he might call 2011 "the year of the copycats."

The iPad 2, which like its predecessors starts at $499, will ship in the U.S. on March 11 and in 26 more countries on March 25. It comes with front and rear cameras—addressing an omission in the initial model—and a new Apple-designed chip that Mr. Jobs said performs standard calculations twice as fast as its predecessor and offers a nine-fold boost in graphics performance.

(...) Viewed from the front, the iPad 2 looks largely the same as its predecessor, aside from the addition of a small camera. It comes with a white as well as black front, and with and without 3G wireless service provided by either AT&T Inc. or Verizon Wireless in the U.S. Unlike some rival tablets, the new iPad cannot connect to high-speed 4G cellular networks.

Apple will also sell a new cover that snaps to the side of the device with magnets and comes with cloth on the inside that can help clear smudges off the glass screen.

The company also showed a new version of its mobile operating system and other internally developed software, including a version of its music recording program Garage Band.

() Analysts, in particular, praised the iPad 2's design, which is thinner than the current iPhone and 15% lighter than the original iPad, shrinking from 1.5 pounds to 1.3 pounds. Those changes could make the iPad more portable and appealing as a reading device for books and periodicals.

What's under the hood of the iPad 2 could also be important, illustrating Apple's unusual role as both designer and user of chips. The new A5 chip in the iPad 2 adds a second calculating engine--an aid in doing multiple computing chores at once- plus a big increase in graphics circuitry that could inspire game developers.