iPad 3 To Launch At March Apple Event: REPORT

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc plans to introduce its latest iPad tablet at an event in the first week in March, the website AllThingsD reported, citing unnamed sources.

The event will be held in San Francisco, likely at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, which is Apple's preferred site for product launches, the website said.

An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment.

Apple has typically introduced the latest versions of its iPad in the first few months of the year. The current iPad 2 was introduced on March 2, 2011. The original iPad was introduced at the end of January 2010.

Apple's iPad dominates the nascent market for tablets even though deep-pocketed rivals are taking aim at the lucrative segment. Amazon.com Inc's Kindle Fire, which sells at half the cost of an iPad, has chipped away at the lower end of the tablet market.

Apple iPad tablet sales doubled in the December quarter to 15.43 million units from a year earlier.

(Reporting By Poornima Gupta)

Comments

[mairs]

02:14 PM on 02/12/2012

Someone mentioned "planned obsolescence" in iPads. Planned obsolescence is when a company no longer supports an older device, such as no OS updates, no replacement parts, no tech support, no compatibility with current programs.

Planned obsolescence isn't changing screen sizes or going from a 5 megapixel camera to an 8.

[liberaldawg]

08:54 PM on 02/10/2012

Rumor: The next rumor about the release of the ipad3 will be released tomorrow. But that's
only a rumor.

[LemonMeringue]

08:45 PM on 02/10/2012

Rumors are the MacBook is going to become more like the AIR.

[jordan2]

01:10 AM on 02/11/2012

Actually, the technology is already there to do that. You will carry a small device in your pocket. When you are away from home, use your finger to draw a screen on any surface like a wall. You will be able to even use the palm of your hand as a numeric pad. If I can find the link, I will post it. I don't know where technology is heading but it's scary for old timers like me. Maybe the Unabomber was correct.

[brandon20678]

05:48 PM on 02/10/2012

Another product that Apple is able to get people to purchase and make them think this is the next best thing to Jesus.

[liberaldawg]

08:55 PM on 02/10/2012

Can't play Angry Birds on Jesus.

[Onutz]

10:43 PM on 02/10/2012

((Can't play Angry Birds on Jesus.))

LOL, but apparently you can play Angry Nerds on HP

[mairs]

02:20 PM on 02/11/2012

I don't know.... the Galaxy Note looks pretty close to Jesus too. Where's the sour anger about that lovely piece of equipment, eh?

[Camille Michelle]

02:44 PM on 02/10/2012

Why do Apple haters purposefully read Apple articles so they can spew their nonsense about their inferior Androad phones and how cool their inferior Kindles are. No one cares, sweethearts. Being on the Apple bandwagon is just as fashionable as hating on Apple. Either way, Apple products are more beautiful, more functional, more streamlined and are of superior quality, technoligically speaking. Get over it.

It's perfectly okay not to go for Apple because of it's price point, but it's not okay to be delusional and pretend that anything else is as smart and savvy as an Applr product.

[brandon20678]

05:47 PM on 02/10/2012

Why do you worship Apple? It's just a company don't take it personal.

[Camille Michelle]

05:51 PM on 02/10/2012

I hardly worship them, so stop hyperbolizing you drama queen. Their products make my life easier and the criticism against them is futile and petty.

[LemonMeringue]

08:47 PM on 02/10/2012

Jealous, perhaps. Nobody is forced to buy Apple products, but why be angry at those who do? Makes no sense.

[Onutz]

10:39 PM on 02/10/2012

((Jealous, perhaps. Nobody is forced to buy Apple products, but why be angry at those who do? Makes no sense.))

It's easy to hate the company that brought you Angry Birds, if you happen to be an Angry Nerd

[Camille Michelle]

02:29 PM on 02/10/2012

Yay! I've been wanting the iPad 2 for a few months now and almost caved in this past Christmad. Hurry up, March!

[liberaldawg]

08:56 PM on 02/10/2012

I'm still using my original ipad. Best money I've ever spent. Also waiting for ipad3.

[planetmango]

02:54 AM on 02/11/2012

ditto!!

[funkypost]

10:36 AM on 02/10/2012

*Yawn* Apple is genius, put out an inferior product, make another one a few months later with $8 worth of upgrades and sell it for $850 ....and watch the stampeding ignoramouses who just "have to get the latest gadget"......good luck suckaz!

[theveggiedude]

01:49 PM on 02/10/2012

How can an 'inferior product' hold its resale value far longer than the others?

Here's a couple of interesting stories from today...

iPad retains value longer than Kindle, research finds
http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/09/tech/gaming-gadgets/ipad-kindle-resale/

Study: Android phones don't age well compared to iPhones
http://www.macworld.com/article/165302/2012/02/study_android_phones_dont_age_well_compared_to_iphones.html

[mairs]

02:09 PM on 02/12/2012

Your "iPad retains value longer than Kindle" article is comparing Kindle eReaders to the iPad? Why? The article shows a Fire in the picture, but it's talking about their ereaders.

Here, from the article you linked to:

"How the Kindle Fire, Amazon's first touch-screen tablet computer, will fare in the resale market is unclear. It is only 4 months old".

[mairs]

05:28 PM on 02/14/2012

"Consumers don't care whose fault it is. They do not get 24-bit colour on their devices and it will definitely show in HD movies viewed on screen. Android is the OS, and Amazon even built their own customised version of Android for the Fire. False advertisin­g it is."

Once again you're not being truthful. The 16-bit issue is with the picture gallery which is a separate program that is native to Android. It has nothing to do other functions on the Fire such as watching movies.

I've watched movies on the Fire, and they are excellent.. As a matter of fact I tried to watch free movies on my iPad using my Amazon Prime membership, but they won't play because one needs Flash. I'm really tired of the lack of Flash on iPads. Tech people say Flash is over with, but you could have fooled me. It's still being used all over the place.

[itswhite]

02:10 PM on 02/10/2012

Did you make a superior product? No? That's because you don't have an ingenious thought in your head.When you make anything worth a nickle, you just let someone know so they can tell you your product is inferior.

[liberaldawg]

08:56 PM on 02/10/2012

I have a 7 year old imac. Works like the day I took it out of the box.

[baydolphins]

10:20 AM on 02/10/2012

I didn't buy one, now I know why

[5WordsOrLess]

09:26 AM on 02/10/2012

Prayers to the Foxconn slaves!

[theveggiedude]

01:52 PM on 02/10/2012

Labor Activist Li Qiang (founder of leading advocacy group China Labor Watch) says "I compared Apple with other cell phone companies, such as Nokia,” he said through a translator. “And the conditions in those factories are worse than the ones of Apple.”
“Foxconn is not good,” Li told the New York Times.  ”But if we compare all industries, electronics, textile, toys, Foxconn is one of the best.”

[pitako8]

08:40 AM on 02/10/2012

Planned obsolescence much?

[Pectin]

09:16 AM on 02/10/2012

An absurd notion, given that the older models will still work perfectly, whether there's a 3rd iteration or not.

[WoBuYaoTweet]

03:01 PM on 02/10/2012

Sure, for the next year or so until the non-replaceable battery croaks...
My iPhone 3GS worked great for 2 yrs, but no longer holds a charge and constantly crashes at ~70%, to the point where I'm forced to upgrade. Apple charges $200 to replace the battery, or $300 for the latest iGadget ... Makes Android look better.

[planetmango]

03:03 AM on 02/11/2012

Yeah, just like cars. New and slightly different models every year. How about Android phones? A new model every few months. Ultimately, it's yours and my choice when to buy a new model. When they come out with a new model is pretty irrelevant. I have purchased several iPhones. I get the new one soon after it comes out (if I'm eligible for an upgrade). But I don't see it as planned obsolescence because I've sold each of my old iPhones for more than the upgrade cost. I have no idea why people will pay that much for an old model, but they do. Check the prices on eBay.

[SPITR]

08:36 AM on 02/10/2012

I'm so very glad I waited for an iPad...all those poor people who bought them, not once but twice, are now going to have to shell out even more to keep up!

[illegalneocon]

09:16 AM on 02/10/2012

All those poor people said the same a year ago. Enjoy it, it last for only a year.

[Pectin]

09:18 AM on 02/10/2012

Nonsense. As with an automobile, while you're certainly free to buy a new one every year, you don't have to.

[WeWillWin]

08:22 AM on 02/10/2012

Some of you guys sound like Republicans. If someone asks you to stop supporting slave labor, don't reply, "doesn't your product use it too?". If we are going to respect the rights of people and return jobs to the American worker or our young people, we should start at one of the largest corporations electronics (if not the largest) in history. What if Apple made those changes because of our pressure and their sales went even higher because in these times people understand why American Labor is so important?

[theveggiedude]

01:57 PM on 02/10/2012

The problem is bigger than Apple. It will take a government mandate to bring back industries to USA, and specifically into ONE area, so all your 200+ suppliers are all in one place. We don't have that - China does. Once we have that eco-system of multiple industries, then a company like Apple can do business in America again. Unfortunately, such a mandate would be called socialism, so I doubt it will ever happen.

[WeWillWin]

02:14 PM on 02/10/2012

You are talking about that as if it all happened accidentally, or that Apple moved to where the suppliers were. Apple went to where the labor that they wanted was, and the suppliers popped up around them. Let me say this another way. Apple is the worlds largest Corporation. It is bigger then any oil company. It is lager than any tech company. It is bigger than GE, Ford Motors, Samsung, Monsato. They created the smart phone market and if they wanted, the suppliers would be where-ever they needed them to be because they created the market. Saying the problem is bigger than Apple is certainly true. But there is no larger single driver of the problem. I think people are starting to realize that China has been benefiting from protectionism policies that the US does not engage in, but people are not buying the protectionism crap anymore and it looks like it may be too late.

[itswhite]

02:21 PM on 02/10/2012

Slave labor? Are you saying there are slaves? Can they not leave? Just because they get paid a low wage doesn't mean they are slaves. They can make a living with what they make. They live within their means. Slaves... Geez...

[Akirrah]

06:44 PM on 02/10/2012

The problem with your logic is that you could say the same for actual slaves who are held agaibst theur will, well the slaveowner has to feed , clothe and house the slave...so is it really slavery ? cause the person can still live ....

The people there are trapped into a system of dependence and if you have ever done any research on how Foxconn and other companies operate, you may not be so quick to dismiss the word "slave" While it may not be the exact same type of slavery as other cases, it is a place where they are forced ( there are no other jobs for them and they need money for families )to live 10-12 in a small room in bunk beds, not allowed to talk to each other or know each others names, and any talk of a union is punishable by 15+ yrs in prison.

They actually had to set up nets around Foxconn because so many workers were jumping out of the windows to kill themselves.

"Physical slavery requires the slaveowner feed and clothe the slave... Economic slavery requires the slave feed and clothe themselves"

[imanormalalien]

07:27 AM on 02/10/2012

I feel like I can't buy any Apple products because they just keep replacing them every couple of months

[drdiaboloco]

08:24 AM on 02/10/2012

Don't know why you feel that way... unless "every couple of months" means "once every year".

[funkypost]

10:38 AM on 02/10/2012

last I checked, a year had a "couple of months" in it.....12 if you want to know the answer :)

[imanormalalien]

01:50 PM on 02/10/2012

June 2012 - Iphone 4
October 2012 - Iphone 4s

You guys are all "woefully misinformed"

[AKJM]

08:55 AM on 02/10/2012

A better reason would be to hold out till they are made in the USA.

[illegalneocon]

09:17 AM on 02/10/2012

No really smart.

[itswhite]

02:13 PM on 02/10/2012

Yes, when they cost 4,500 dollars each because they're made in the US.

[Shomali]

07:15 AM on 02/10/2012

Yeah, but it will end up to be ipad 2S or Z or something like that.

[kaniflake]

06:45 AM on 02/10/2012

Please continue to complain about Apple and their ethics. As the old adage goes, the only bad publicity is no publicity
Boy, those $60 shares I bought in AAPL in the mid-2000s are trading at $493 today? Can't wait for iPad 3 and iPhone 5.
Those will push those shares. Keep up the good work.

[jordan2]

01:35 AM on 02/11/2012

Correct. This is great for Apple. We can cut back on our advertising budget while this continues. Then to satisfy the HP posters, we get rid of all of the workers and replace them with robots. Lower costs, lower prices to consumers, more profits, Everyone happy, Thank you, HP.