iPad 2 said to ship from February 2011

According to a report the next generation iPad is said to begin shipping from February 2011.

The next version of iPad is reportedly expected to ship as soon as the end of February 2011.

Component makers in Taiwan say Foxconn--a key maker of iPhones and iPads--has been notified that it should be ready to ship 400,000 to 600,000 units of the next version of iPad in the next 100 days, according to a DigiTimes report today. The Taiwan-based Foxconn reportedly declined to comment.

DigiTimes reported that Apple had originally expected to begin mass production of the unofficially dubbed iPad 2 in January, but Apple postponed that schedule because the device's firmware is still undergoing testing.

Apple representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The iPad 2 has been widely expected to come out in the first quarter of 2011 and feature a front-facing camera. Some analysts also expected Qualcomm will provide chips that allow the iPad to run on both CDMA and GSM networks, a so-called "world" iPad. The current 3G version is GSM only.