Whew, I almost got a heart attack reading the headline. As long as it's compatible with my Shure EC2 headphones, I don't care what the headphone jack looks like. Still remember the iPhone 1 headphone jack fiasco ...

My iPod touch (3rd generation) also seems to use pogo pins. I got a toothpick and played around with the contacts to see if they buckle. (Would be nice if someone could confirm that.) The headphone jack also looks otherwise exactly the same. (The iPod touch has, like the iPad 2, tapered edges.)

All headphone contacts buckle, and that's not enough to determine whether they're cantilever or pogo pins. The biggest difference I've seen in Apple jacks is that in their cantilever design the pins alternate from one side to another, while their pogo pin patent shows all the pins on one side.

Can anyone who has access to an iPad 2 look inside the jack and see whether they're alternating or not? I could absolutely be wrong with my assessment based on the few photographs I found online prior to the iPad's availability.

I'd also be very interested to see a photo of what a headphone plug looks like plugged in to the jack, to see how much of the ground pin is still exposed by the tapering.

Ah, ok! Looks like my iPod doesn't have pogo pins after all, those pins alternate.

The iPad 1 has them too. I don't think this is anything new.

The iPhone 3G (and I assume the 3GS) as well

My current generation Shuffle does, also.

You know, I didn't even notice the new headphone jack design, but that's very clever. The iPad 2 is a very thin device; it's frankly amazing how they fit everything into this case. It might not be the most technically powerful device on the market but it's the feel of the device, not the specs, that are impressive. There is a bit of the headphone plug exposed when you have some plugged in, but touching it doesn't produce any sound issues, so I imagine this is a nonissue.

The specs aren’t technically unimpressive. I thought they would be, too, but Anandtech just started with their benchmarks and CPU performance is great [1], GPU performance leaves everyone in the dust [2]. This, together with best in class battery life makes me wonder why anyone would currently buy a competitor. (The cameras are horrible. I guess if you really love cameras – seriously love – then you might want to check out competitors.)

[1] http://www.anandtech.com/show/4215/apple-ipad-2-benchmarked-...

[2] http://www.anandtech.com/show/4216/apple-ipad-2-gpu-performa...

At the risk of being labeled an Android fanboy - I've bought three Viewsonic G tablets after owning an iPad 1 for a few months. There's this thing out on the web called "Flash" that quite a few sites seem to use that the Froyo on the G-Tab supports. With Dolphin HD I also have integrated Password and Bookmark sync with my desktop computers using LastPass and Xmarks. In Android I am able to do some very nice things with Live Wallpapers to keep me updated on weather, and give me a nice animation of the current conditions. Since the G-Tab uses a Tegra 2 it has similar CPU and GPU ratings (Fruit Ninja HD looks positively lovely). Oh, and it's WiFi, comes with 16 GB of RAM, a Micro SD slot, a USB connection (external keyboard or USB stick) and costs $359.

So, there might be a FEW reasons to check out the competitors...

Yeah, there are definitely reasons to check out the competition. I don't know why this has to be a competition between owners. I enjoy the device I own but I acknowledge it has limitations.

I'd like to reiterate the 'probably' I mention in the OP. I don't know that this jack uses the new pogo pin design, but even if not, the tapered lip and exposed ground pin is something new.

"...since the ground ring is, well, grounded..." fyi, not true at all.. think about it, how is a device that you're holding in the air (and NOT connected to a power outlet through any sort of cables/adapters/etc) grounded? It's not. If you plug your ipad into a wall socket via the 5V battery adapter it would be a different story, but not until then.

Yes, I noted in my blog post that the story about the patent application came out September. 'Breaking the pogo pin story' wasn't the purpose of the post.

iPod touch 4th gen is same curved body design and you can clearly see pogo pins - so its nothing new in iPad 2

so this means my headphones will work now with VOIP sip calls on my ipad?