Prior to Wednesday's event, most people expected some Apple executive to do his or her best Steve Jobs impression in unveiling the iPad 2. This alone would have been big news. However, the expected is never a goal of the geniuses Cupertino, California.

Prior to Wednesday's event, most people expected some Apple executive to do his or her best Steve Jobs impression in unveiling the iPad 2. This alone would have been big news. However, the expected is never a goal of the geniuses in Cupertino, California.

Ailing Apple CEO Steve Jobs strolled onto the stage in San Francisco, which quickly generated substantial conversation on social media websites and Google searches. According to Google Realtime search results, “Steve Jobs” became a trending topic moments after he took the stage and remained among the most frequently mentioned people for the remainder of the week. This, even before he got around the main event of his appearance – the unveiling of the iPad 2.

After flouting his company's success with the original iPad for 15 minutes, Jobs mentioned the iPad 2 for the first time to great applause from his captive audience. Almost immediately, the device, which offers improved graphics, speed and convenience, became the leading technology topic on the web. Between 1:17 p.m. and 1:27 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, “iPad 2” mentions on Twitter and Google searches more than doubled.

Aside from the speed, improved by the newly developed dual-core processor A5 chip, Jobs said the device is one-third thinner than the original iPad. Some elements of the device did not change from the original iPad, it’s price, for example, has not changed, nor has its 10-hour battery life, which Jobs modestly referred to as “legendary.”

Naturally, anticipation for the device's release set in immediately. Some expected a summer release, as has been the case with most Apple products. However, Jobs proudly declared the iPad 2 will ship on March 11 in the U.S. and March 25 for international release.

Prior to dubbing 2011 “The Year of the iPad 2,” Jobs sheepishly wondered if 2011 would be “The Year of the Copy Cat,” referring to tablets from Motorola, HP, BlackBerry and other companies. With more than 90 percent of the current tablet market share, Apple is hardly in danger of losing out to its competitors, however, the unexpected March 2 announcement led some to say Apple acted preemptively to halt any market advancement of new tablets – especially those powered by Google's Android.

With the release of the Motorola Xoom came the first tablet as capable as the iPad. However, the price of the device, $799 without a contract and $599 with a two-year contract, discouraged some from investing. Still, some reports this week detailed the benefits of Honeycomb, Android 3.0, and its future in the dynamic tablet market.

Computerworld discussed some of the benefits in an report released on Friday. Aside from the high-end hardware Motorola equipped the Xoom with, Computerworld's J.R. Raphael mentioned that Honeycomb differs from iOS in that it is more than just a larger version of the Android iterations developed for smartphones. On a single screen, users can use a number of widgets that update automatically based on customizable settings.

Jobs may not think Android has much of a chance to compete, but web searches and mentions of “Android Honeycomb” remained consistently high this week, as people discussed the capability of their tablets equipped with Google's latest mobile OS. Interest in Honeycomb, paired with the rise of Android as a leading smartphone OS, led RBC Capital Markets general manager Mike Ambramsky to claim Android will be among the dominant tablet operating systems by 2014. He expects enterprise and consumer tablet sales to reach 400 million by that point, with 40 percent of the devices running Android.

Apple will also see competition from Research In Motion’s BlackBerry PlayBook later this year. While BlackBerry products as whole have suffered, its grasp of the enterprise mobility market helped the company remain among the premier smartphone vendors in North America. On Wednesday, hours prior to Apple's iPad 2 revelation, the device became a trending topic on Twitter, as an April 11 release date leaked. No official word came from RIM, but the timing of the supposed leak led many to wonder just how accidental it was. Since, “BlackBerry PlayBook” has remained a popular topic on the web.

Both Honeycomb and the PlayBook demonstrate major advancements for their companies in terms of mobile OS development. However, Apple also used its event on Wedneday to unveil iOS 4.3, which the iPad 2 will run.

Apple did receive one bit of bad news this week, as Verizon announced the end of unlimited data plans for the iPhone. Instead, the company opted to implement a tiered-pricing structure, which will help it boost revenue. The move is unlikely to impact sales negatively. Verizon made the announcement Tuesday morning and “Verizon iPhone Data Plan” remained a frequently searched and mentioned topic throughout the week.

While Jobs has hailed the iPad as a product likely to revolutionize every element of life, from education to entertainment to healthcare, Abramsky also noted that tablets are still relatively sparse in global use. His report found 99.7 percent of people in the world do not own a tablet at the moment. However, the expansion of the market is essentially inevitable. Aside from his prediction that Android will be the dominate OS for tablets in coming years, he expects Apple to maintain a healthy base with 34 percent of devices running some version of iOS. Beyond that, Microsoft, BlackBerry and HP's WebOS will round out the market.

For Microsoft, though, entrance into the market is likely to wait at least one more year. On Friday, reports surfaced stating Microsoft does not plan to release an OS for tablets until the “latter portion of 2012,” according to CNET.

At the moment, tablets are the primary conversation piece in the technology world. Most people don’t own one, and they won’t for a while. However, expect the devices to remain in the news, especially next week, when people flock to Apple.com and the company's retail stores to pick up their iPad 2.

Joe Meloni is Brafton's former Executive News and Content Writer. He studied journalism at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and has written for a number of print and web-based publications.