Apple will unveil the next-generation iPad on March 2, according to reports. Frenzy over Apple's tablet plans has reached a white-hot level.
Apple could be gearing up to unveil the next-generation iPad March 2,
according to an All
Things D report. If that holds true, then media invitations should be
imminent.
All Things D's Kara Swisher is basing that March 2 date on unnamed "multiple
sources." A little later Feb. 22, The
New York Times reported that Apple will indeed use March 2 to unveil the
next iPad. Neither source offered a date for when the device will hit store
shelves, nor whether Apple CEO Steve
Jobs-currently out on medical leave-will take the stage for the big
unveiling.
Previous rumors had pegged a March unveiling date for the tablet. In a
Feb. 9 posting, Daring Fireball's John Gruber circulated a theory in which
Apple whipped the curtain away from the iPad 2 sometime in March, ahead of an
early-April shipping window, and then followed that up with an iPad 3 in
September.
"How could Apple release a third-generation iPad just six months or so
after the second one?" he wrote. "Maybe it won't be an actual
next-generation model. Maybe it's more like an iPad 2.5, or iPad 2 Pro."
Despite existing purely as guesswork, Gruber's posting was quickly picked up
and circulated by media and blogs. That alone speaks to how white-hot the iPad
rumors have become ahead of the device's possible unveiling. Apple's refusal to
comment on upcoming products, combined with a steady flow of "leaks"
from anonymous sources, regularly drives bloggers and analysts into a frenzy of
speculation-which in turn gives Apple untold dollars' worth of free marketing.
Current iPad theories suggest the device will be lighter and smaller than
the original, with a front-facing camera for video conferencing, more memory
and a boosted graphics processor. Some reports have suggested the device will
lack a Retina Display or similar high-resolution screen. "Our sources say
Apple has requested that manufacturers begin work on displays with that
resolution for the iPad 3," IDC
research manager Tom Mainelli told PC World, following a DigiTimes report that
the next iPad would boast a resolution of 2,048 by 1,536.
Apple sold nearly 15 million iPads in 2010, creating a consumer tablet
market that other competitors-ranging from Research In Motion to
Hewlett-Packard to Samsung-are starting to enter in ever greater numbers.
Whenever Apple finally introduces its next-generation iPad, the device will
compete with Samsung's Galaxy Tab, RIM's PlayBook, Motorola's Xoom and Dell's
Streak 7. Many of these run Google Android, although both RIM and
Hewlett-Packard are developing tablets with proprietary operating systems designed
to make them stand out from the crowd.
Nicholas Kolakowski is a staff editor at eWEEK, covering Microsoft and other companies in the enterprise space, as well as evolving technology such as tablet PCs. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, Playboy, WebMD, AARP the Magazine, AutoWeek, Washington City Paper, Trader Monthly, and Private Air. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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