So Apple will be launching the iPad 2 today. That we are very certain about. However, rumors circulating in the Apple community suggests that the new iPad 2 has been leaked before being launched.

The last couple of days has seen several alleged leaks circulated around the internet. There is the picture above which surfaced a few a couple of days ago.

I can guarantee you there will be a few more leaks to come before Apple eventually unveils the new iPad 2 at 10:00 am PST.

You can take a look of this pictures of the alleged iPad 2 leakage. Just know these pictures are not authenticated and even the source is not sure of the legitimacy. Even if it turns out to be faked, the looks are in conformation with recent description rumors.

The pictures show the new iPad 2 with a bigger speakers on the back, having a flat back, it looks slimmer and spots twin cameras. Despite it’s similarity to the rumors circulating online, the pictures show no Thunderbolt  port. The latest rumors say the new iPad has the thunderbolt port. The picture below shows a supposed listing by Amazon.de of the new iPad 2 on it’s website.

Alleged leaks on Amazon of iPad 2

The supposed listing shows the iPad 2 being listed with a March 17th ship date. It also lists specifications of a 1.2GHz CPU, which is faster than the first iPad , a Thunderbolt port and a camera. These pictures have also not been verified but but it is not uncommon to see a real listing being listed earlier than it was intended. The rumored listing has since been removed from the Amazon.de site so we once again have to wait a few more hours for apple to officially launch the iPad 2.

Whiles there have been rumors circulating around concerning the iPad 2 launch date, I can now confirm the second generation Apple tablet will be launched today March 2nd baring any mishaps.

This conclusion came about after several technology magazines such as T3 were handed invitations from Apple with the words, “come see what 2011 will be the year of” The invitations were sent on a calendar-like page with a corner peel of an image that subtly reveals a product that looks very much like the iPad 2.

Also the people are The Loop have confirmed that invitations were sent to tech magazines in the U.S. about an event that will take place on 2nd March at 10:00 am at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Now Apple regularly uses this venue to launch a lot of it’s major products.

iPad 2 launch date rumors

Rumors around the tech blogoshpere suggested that the iPad 2 release date had been shifted to June after initial reports said it will be launched in April. This was reported by the guys at Yuanta. The reported that Apple had just recently made new design changes to the iPad as recently as the beginning of February.

They claimed that the delay was due to production bottlenecks at the plant where they were making the iPad 2. Rumors circulated that it was this last minute design tweaks by Apple that resulted in the alleged bottlenecks.

Now if this rumored delay to the launch date of the iPad is true, then this is really going to hurt Apple in their fight against a stream of new tablets coming into the market such as the Motorola Xoom and Blackberry PlayBook.