iPad 3 launch event seems slated for first week of March

Until last year's delayed iPhone 4S launch, Apple had been very good at getting its iDevices out the door on an annual refresh basis, and with that, iPad 3 launch rumors are going wild, as the last version of Apple's hot iOS tablet was introduced in March 2011.

AllThingsD, usually very accurate with regard to the industry, says that Apple is planning an iPad 3 announcement during the first week of March. Given the source, this is pretty reliable information. Typically, Apple sends out invitations to a media event about a week in advance of it, so we don't expect any official confirmation of the event until the week of
Feb. 27 - March 2.

Also typically, Apple tends to run these iPad events on Wednesdays, so this infomation points to a March 7 event, at 10 a.m. PST. We'd guess the location of the event to be Apple's favorite for huge announcements, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. Once Apple's spaceship-style new headquarters is built, we will probably see most of these held there, at the new, larger Town Hall.

There is supporting information in that the company is reportedly pushing hard in order to line up apps and demonstrations for the presentation. They've still got about three and a half weeks to prepare, but Apple's events are always full of apps that they want to spotlight as highlighting the new product's best features.

Sources have added that apps that show off graphics and visuals are in high demand. It's still more evidence that the iPad 3 will indeed sport a display that (true or not) will be labeled a "retina display." It's been assumed, thus far, that the iPad 3 will sport a resolution double that of the current iPad, or 2,048 x 1,536. However, assumptions are that the device will maintain nearly the same form factor, right down to the 9.7-inch display.

There are a lot of unknowns about the device, though. Earlier, it was rumored the device would be slightly thicker, about 1mm. It's unclear that's the case, coming into the event. Other rumors that are not a given include a larger battery and LTE support.

What's probably a done deal is a faster processor, perhaps even quad-core (although this has been discounted of late) and a much-improved GPU to support the retina display, particularly in gaming.

Rumor has been that to fight lower cost tablets such as the Kindle Fire, Apple will keep around the iPad 2 as a lower-cost option. In order to reduce the price, our guess would be that Apple would drop the internal storage to 8GB and only sell a wi-fi version --- assuming this actually happens.

It would make a lot of sense, since Apple has a history of continuing to sell "older" iPhones as new ones are introduced.

Final questions are on pricing, street date, and availability. The iPad 2 was not available for online pre-ordering. We're assuming that will change for the iPad 3. We expect the iPad 3, based on past history to be released say sometime in March, say 1 - 2 weeks after the announcement, on Apple's typical Friday.

We're guessing the iPad 3 will maintain the same data tiers and the same pricing tiers as the iPad 2. Once again, with Apple's secrecy, this is just a guess.

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Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

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