"Come see what 2011 will be the year of," reads the invitation, implying that only refers to one product.

On March 2, we'll find out whether the next iPad can render other tablets obsolete. We've this before from the other side(s) of the table, but now let's consider what the iPad 2 needs to crush Motorola's Xoom and any other tablets that spring forth in 2011:

Software is every bit as important to a tablet as hardware, and the software we've seen on the Xoom, the HP TouchPad and the Blackberry Playbook puts the current-gen iPad to shame. At a minimum, the iPad OS needs a better notification system, a fresh approach to multitasking and wireless syncing between the iPhone, iPad and iTunes. The question is whether Apple will withhold its iPad OS updates until the fall, as the company did last year, or introduce some software changes alongside the new iPad hardware.