Before the release of the original iPad in 2010, rumors were flying around that it might feature not one but two dock connectors. And while the official version didn’t, a prototype has just emerged on eBay with the two. The two dock connectors mean that you can charge your iPad easily in both landscape and portrait orientations.
The prototype doesn’t have iPad printed on the casing, only a prototype identification number printed in several locations. According the listing, it is in almost working order, the only problem being the unresponsive touch screen.
It’s the 16GB model, and seeing as it’s a prototype it runs Apple’s switchboard testing software. If it isn’t genuine, it’s a phenomenal fake, so you’d assume that it is the real thing.
As of writing, there has been one bid at $4,800, however the seller has listed a $10,000 Buy It Now price in the description. We’ll have to see whether Apple take any action, but the short length of the auction suggests that they probably won’t have time to do much about it.
While at the time there was probably a practical aspect to having two dock connectors, now it seems pointless and aesthetically ugly. Most people use iCloud and rarely connect their iPad to their computer nowadays, and having a second dock connector where you could have one piece of solid bezel is a questionable, probably why Apple scrapped the plan.
