Apple’s “We have something for you to see. And touch” iPad 3 Invite Suggests the Demise of the Hardware Home Button

It’s official, Apple will be unveiling the iPad 3 next week. How do we know that it’s official? Well, Apple has already sent out invites for the event. But with Apple being Apple, it’s a sure bet that the invite has so much more to tell than just a date and a venue. And sure enough, it does.

Gizmodo theorises that the “And Touch” phrase in the Apple invite suggests that Apple will do away with the iconic hardware home button in the new iPad.

Here’s what Gizmodo has to say:

…there seems to be NO home button, which explains the mention of the “And touch.” in their invitation. How can we know? First, the photo they are showing is on portrait mode. You can’t achieve that icon spacing in the landscape mode (which is the only explanation for the lack of home button). Moreover, the icon falls right onto the same water drop that the current iPad 2 falls while in portrait mode. It’s clearly a photo of the iPad in portrait mode. And there’s no button to be seen.

Rumours of a home button-less iPhone/iPad have been around for ages but in the iPhone 4S and iPad 2, this no button vision didn’t happen. Could the iPad 3 finally confirm this rumour to be true? It sure does look like it.

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