Apple Clearing iPad Inventory Ahead of March 2 Event

Apple has reportedly stopped producing the original iPad, as well as halted all shipments to retailers, in anticipation of the iPad 2 launch scheduled for tomorrow, at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

The move to halt all iPad 1 shipments indicates Apple is planning to make the iPad 2 immediately available, following tomorrow’s announcement 10:00 a.m. PST (Pacific Standard Time).

Buying an iPad through Apple’s own channels is still possible, with the company’s online store listing all iPad models (WiFi-only and WiFi+3G in their various storage configurations) as available for shipping in 24 hours or less.

In the meanwhile, workers on site at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, California have likely finished dressing up the venue for the event prepared to ceremoniously launch the second-generation of iPad tablets.

The devices are most probably equipped with dual cameras, faster processors and more RAM.

The iPad 2 is also rumored to boast GSM and CDMA radios for enhanced carrier support, and a new, slimmer design.

Feverish talks of the tablet’s screen have cooled down lately, with most Apple observers agreeing that iPad 2 will feature the same-resolution screen as the original.

The most notable enhancements, which should take advantage of the dual cameras and higher internal specs, should be leveraged in a new firmware version, likely iOS 4.3.

iOS 4.3 beta builds seeded to developers have indicated the presence of most of the aforementioned hardware specifications, as well as camera-centric applications, like Front Row (ported from Mac OS X), and FaceTime.

Apple is expected to heavily market the iPad 2 using FaceTime, the video-chatting standard introduced in iOS 4 with the debut of the iPhone 4 last summer.

A MobileMe announcement may also be featured at tomorrow’s event.