Better products often offer consumers more choices.  Compare the original Model T (which Henry Ford supposedly approved in "any color so long as it’s black") to a modern Rolls Royce (available in thousands of paint, leather, and trim combinations), for example.  And now a rumor claims three versions of the iPad 2 will be produced.

Joseph Tsai reported this morning, "Apple is expected to release three versions of iPad 2, supporting either or a combination of Wi-Fi, UMTS and CDMA, for 2011 with mass production to start as early as the later half of January.  Apple will ship about 500,000-530,000 units to channels in January with shipment ratio of Wi-Fi, UMTS and CDMA models at 3:4:3, according to industry sources, citing upstream component makers."

That CDMA version is significant, allowing the iPad to follow the iPhone onto the Verizon network, and potentially helping the device appeal to a whole new audience.

Then here are a couple other interesting points: "Apple is also working on strengthening the iPad 2’s anti-smudge and anti-reflective treatments in order to compete against Kindle and attract more consumers, the sources noted."

Anyway, according to Tsai’s sources, total iPad 2 shipments in 2011 are then supposed to number near 40 million.

This should all constitute very good (though unconfirmed) news for Apple fans.