Videos providing peeks into Apple iPad 2 escalate anticipation

Apple has posted fourteen promotional videos of the upcoming iPad 2 on its product website escalating the already high anticipation levels in the tech world.

The iPad 2 videos dubbed 'Guided Tours' is the latest weapon in Apple's vigorous marketing blitz ahead of the the device's 5 p.m. launch on Friday, March 11.

The video tours introduced Apple's two flagship content creation apps for the iPad 2: iMovie and GarageBand. The apps will be available for $4.99 each on the App Store starting Friday.

The video on FaceTime app highlighted the front and rear cameras that the tablet boasts of.

AirPlay, with upgraded third-party support in iOS 4.3 released Wednesday, was also highlighted through a video detailing the wireless streaming capabilities of iPad 2.

The other videos included information on Maps, iTunes, App Store, iPod, Find my iPod, Photos, Mail, Safari, iBooks, and Videos.

The videos emerged at the height of media coverage ahead of the launch. Late Wednesday, reviews of the tablet began pouring in.

The tech critics jumped on the fact that the upgrade from the predecessor could best be described as modest. The rhetoric remained the same as year-ago when iPad was introduced to the world wondering what void a tablet could fill in the presence of laptops and mobile phones among other gadgets.

Consumers seem genuinely baffled by why they might need it, said Businessweek. Bloomberg dubbed it, Nothing more than a luxury bauble that will appeal to a few gadget freaks. Marketwatch simply put it as: Insanely great it is not.

Nevertheless, there were outlets that seemed genuinely intrigued by the second generation of the fastest selling gadget in the history of electronics, although for different reasons. While USA Today declared iPad 2 is even better than the original, New York Times argued Appeal of iPad 2 Is a Matter of Emotions.