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The Apple iPad has a single USB connector on the bottom of the tablet which you can use to connect the device to a computer, dock, or other accessory. But the iPad is meant to be used in portrait or landscape mode and that USB port is kind of awkwardly positioned if you’re holding the iPad in landscape orientation.

It turns out Apple considered a solution: another USB port on the side of the device. The folks at Patently Apple uncovered a patent for what looks like an original Apple iPad with two USB ports, one on the left and one on the bottom.

Clearly this device never came to market, and now that the Apple iPad 2 is already available it’s unlikely that the dual USB port-toting first generation iPad will ever see the light of day. But the patent shows what might have been.

For now, if you want to pair a keyboard with an iPad in landscape mode, you’re probably best off going with a Bluetooth keyboard.

via TUAW