Camera in the iPad?

After the iPad’s unveiling last week, rumours are still rife about future versions of the device, with the latest claiming that the current iPad version has an empty space for a camera.

MacRumors.com has a photo from a repair company, Mission Repair, which claims to have parts of an iPad that indicate an empty space in the machine’s design for a camera. The photo compares an alleged iPad part to the MacBook part that holds the built-in iSight camera. The iPad isn’t yet available, but the company supplying the photos said that it obtained the parts through unofficial channels.

At the Apple event last week, CEO Steve Jobs did not mention a camera in the iPad, though Cult of Mac claims that one of the tablets Jobs used in his demo appears to have a built-in iSight camera. The observation was made after the official iPad podcast, and the site has still images from the podcast that appear to show an object on the iPad, similar to where an iSight camera might live on any future versions.

No camera is mentioned on any of the official Apple specs, and many analysts and bloggers have said that a built-in camera will be sure to feature on the next version of the device, as its omission puzzled many spectators.

While the camera surely won’t appear in the first version of the iPad, the device seems to have a hidden nook that will allow for future versions to seamlessly integrate the iSight camera that features on other Mac computers.

The wi-fi equipped iPad is expected to be available worldwide in late March, but the iBook store will be available in the US only.