Report Claims iPad 3 Already In Production, Confirms March Release Date

Apple has already begun iPad 3 production according to reports (Image via Wikipedia)

Get ready for the iPad 3 sometime this March. Apple is said to have begun production on the third-generation tablet earlier this month.

Bloomberg is reporting that production started at the beginning of January and will reach full volume some time in February. Apple enthusiasts have a few good reasons to be excited.

1. The next iPad will be faster than ever. Three separate anonymous sources said to be “familiar with the product” also say that the iPad 3 will use a quad-core processor, giving the iPad increased multi-tasking power.

2. LTE is coming to iPad, sources say. Before 4G LTEcomes to the iPhone, it’s coming to the iPad 3 which will get LTE (long-term-evolution) network support.

3. iPad 3 will look better than ever. The display will be higher resolution than past models, adding pixels and graphics power. The third generation iPad is rumored to have “more pixels on its screen than some high-definition televisions.”

The graphics processor is also more powerful giving video playback and app performance over previous models.

The report claims that at least some of Foxconn’s Chinese factories are running for 24 hours a day.

So far Apple has not commented on the rumors.

The timing of the iPad 3 release coincides with the Nokia Lumia 900 release in March. So far 2012 is once again shaping up to be the year of the iPad, not the year of the tablet as most tablet buzz continues to surround Apple’s products. Of course the year is long and we have miles to go before we sleep.

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Improved IPad May Impend in March

January 17, 2012, 10:20 AM EST By Tim Culpan, Peter Burrows and Adam Satariano

(Updates with screen information in seventh paragraph.)

Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc.’s next iPad, expected to go sale in March, will sport a high-definition screen, run a faster processor and work with next-generation wireless networks, according to three people familiar with the product.

The company’s manufacturing partners in Asia started ramping up production of the iPad 3 this month and plan to reach full volumes by February, said one of the people, who asked not to be named because the details aren’t public. The tablet will use a quad-core chip, an enhancement that lets users jump more quickly between applications, two of the people said.

Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook is counting on the new model to ward off mounting competition in a market that Apple pioneered two years ago. After its debut in 2010, the iPad emerged as the company’s second-biggest source of revenue -- after the iPhone -- and inspired rival products from Amazon.com Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Apple has sold more than 40 million iPads, generating at least $25.3 billion in sales.

Natalie Kerris, a spokeswoman for Apple, said the company doesn’t comment on rumor and speculation.

The Cupertino, California-based company has been working on making the iPad compatible with a wireless standard called long- term evolution, or LTE, said one of the people. Carriers such as Verizon Wireless and ATT Inc. are rolling out LTE networks to give users faster access to data.

LTE Networks

Smartphone makers, including Samsung, Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. and Nokia Oyj, have already introduced smartphones that work on the faster networks. Apple is bringing LTE to the iPad before the iPhone because the tablet has a bigger battery and can better support the power requirements of the newer technology, said one of the people.

The new display is capable of greater resolution than the current iPad, with more pixels on its screen than some high- definition televisions, the person said. The pixels are small enough to make the images look like printed material, according to the person. Videos begin playing almost instantly because of the additional graphics processing, the person said.

The new iPad is being assembled by Apple’s main manufacturing partner, Foxconn Technology Group. Like most technology companies, Apple contracts with companies in Asia for labor to assemble its devices. Foxconn, which also builds the iPhone and other Apple products, gets about 22 percent of its sales from Apple, according to supply-chain data compiled by Bloomberg.

Boosting Production

Mass production began at the start of this month, with factories running 24 hours a day in China, one of the people said. Manufacturing will halt over China’s Lunar New Year holiday this month and then ramp back up to a peak in February, the person said.

The introduction of the new iPad will be Apple’s first major hardware release since the death of company co-founder Steve Jobs in October. The company is hosting an education event focused on electronic textbooks next week that won’t include any hardware introductions, said a person familiar with the matter.

Apple, the world’s largest technology company by market value, was little changed today in U.S. trading at $419.81. The stock rose 26 percent in 2011, marking its third straight year of gains.

--Editors: Nick Turner, Romaine Bostick, Jeffrey Tannenbaum

To contact the reporters on this story: Tim Culpan in Taipei at tculpan1@bloomberg.net; Peter Burrows in San Francisco at pburrows@bloomberg.net; Adam Satariano in San Francisco at asatariano1@bloomberg.net;

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael Tighe at mtighe4@bloomberg.net; Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net

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Apple iPad 3: Launching in February, March, or later?

Apple rumors -- they seem to work readers, writers and editors up into a frenzy producing an echo of reports around the Internet. These blips of salacious speculation seem to spawn anew multiple times each week and, from time to time, they also fail to line up with one another, instead butting heads in contradiction.

The latest example of such conflicting rumors is the recent reports published on the pending release of what the tech media has dubbed the "iPad 3," Apple's eventual follow-up tablet to the hugely successful iPad 2 of 2011 and first-generation iPad released in 2010.

Late last week, as many tech reporters were hustling to keep up with wacky gadgets and the evolutionary advancement of TVs, smartphones and tablets at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Bloomberg News reported that Apple's next iPad would go on sale in March with 4G LTE connectivity (the first two iPads have Wi-Fi or 3G), a faster processor and a higher resolution touch screen.

Bloomberg didn't mention when it believed Apple would unveil the iPad 3, in its report, which cited three anonymous sources that reportedly have knowledge of Apple's plans.

Aside from the March-debut nugget of information, the rumored iPad 3 specs have been reported and re-reported countless times since Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad 2 on March 2, 2011, ahead of the tablet hitting U.S. stores on March 11, 2011.

On Tuesday, the Japanese website Mackotakara reported that the unveiling of a so-called iPad 3 along with an update to Apple's iOS 5 operating system would take place in February. According to PCMag and Apple Insider, Mackotakara cited an unnamed Asian supplier and an anonymous source in the U.S. for its report.

So, do the Bloomberg and Mackotakara reports line up or contradict? When is the iPad 3 coming -- February or March?

In all likelihood, only Apply really knows when it will launch its next iPad. And Apple, which is known to reschedule its events and product launches up to the last minute, isn't saying. The company never comments on speculation about its product launches.

But it could be that both Mackotakara and Bloomberg are right? Maybe (and yes, I'm speculating here) the iPad 3 will be unveiled in February and go on sale in March?

Apple introduced the original iPad on Jan. 27, 2010, but it didn't go on sale until April 3, 2010.

Complicating matters is the Taiwanese website DigiTimes (which has a reputation for publishing inaccurate tech rumors). The DigiTimes has reported that the iPad 3 would be released sometime this month -- but the site has also said its unnamed sources have also said the iPad 3 may arrive in March or April.

Well, here's one thing you can count on: Whenever Apple's next iPad is released, the Technology blog (and the much of the tech reporting world) will have plenty of coverage of the eagerly anticipated new tablet.

RELATED:

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Apple iPad 3: Retina display and 5 more features we'd like to see

-- Nathan Olivarez-Giles

Nathan Olivarez-Giles on Google+

Twitter.com/nateog

Photo: The Apple iPad 2. Credit: Nathan Olivarez-Giles / Los Angeles Times

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