The faster, lighter, thinner iPad 2

Apple Inc. Chairman and CEO Steve Jobs introduced the iPad 2 at an Apple event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco, on Wednesday, March 2, 2011.

Apple Inc. Chairman and CEO Steve Jobs, on medical leave, demonstrates the Mobile MIM application for iPad at an Apple event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater in San Francisco, Wednesday, March 2, 2011.

The iPad 2 is faster than its predecessor.  It is also thinner - 8.8 millimeters, or about a third of an inch, instead of the current 13.4 millimeters. It weighs just a bit less - 1.3 pounds, compared with the original 1.5 pounds.

iPad 2 has two camerasbuilt in for taking photos, recording video and video chatting. The batterylife will be the same as the original - about 10 hours of usage or a month onstandby.

With a $39 accessory,people can connect the tablet to televisions, so they can watch high-definitionvideos on the bigger screen.

The next-generation iPadswill cost the same as the originals - $499 to $829, depending on storage spaceand whether they can connect to the Internet over a cellular network. Applewill add a white model to the current black.

After its March 11 U.S. launch, the iPad 2 goes on sale March 25 in26 other markets, including Mexico,New Zealand, Spainand other European countries.

Apple also announced new software designed for the iPad, including a $4.99 version of iMovie for video editing and a $4.99 version of GarageBand, its music recording and editing software. GarageBand includes instruments that can be played by touching the iPad 2's screen, and it can even sense whether you're tapping quietly or banging on the "keys."

Underscoring the tablet's importance to Apple, CEO Steve Jobs briefly emerged from a medical leave and made a surprising appearance to unveil the iPad 2 himself. "We've been working on this product for a while, and I just didn't want to miss today," Jobs told an audience that included bloggers and Apple enthusiasts. "Thank you for having me." He did not address his health or say if and when he would return.

The iPad 2 shared the spotlight with the man who presented it - Jobs, who announced in January that he would take a third leave of absence to focus on his health. In the last decade, Jobs, 56, has survived a rare but curable form of pancreatic cancer and undergone a liver transplant. Jobs, looking frail in his signature black mock turtleneck and blue jeans, was greeted with a standing ovation.

Apple Inc. Chairman andCEO Steve Jobs speaks at an Apple event at the YerbaBuena Centerfor the Arts Theater in San Francisco,on Wednesday, March 2, 2011. Tablet computers existed long before the iPad, but took Apple to build a device that made it popular. Apple simplified the software, designed a sleek, shiny shell and sold 15 million of the iPads in nine months. The iPad was initially used for checking e-mail, surfing the Web and watching online video. But as the number of apps grew, the tablet made itself at home in offices, shops, restaurants and countless other settings.