Those eagerly awaiting the iPad 3 shouldn’t have to wait much longer. By mapping circulating rumors against Apple’s traditional release timeline, it’s becoming easy to divine that the iPad 3 should be unveiled the first week of March.
Last week, technology blogger Jim Dalrymple posted that Apple would not be holding a February iPad event, according to his sources. Meanwhile, sources close to AllThingsD now indicate the launch event will be held the first week of March in San Francisco.
If Apple holds to tradition, this means the iPad 3 would likely be on sale the week following the announcement.
The venue, AllThingsD claims, will be San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the same arena the past two iPad events have been held. The iPhone 4S was, unusually, announced at Apple’s own headquarters in Cupertino, California.
If Apple wanted to get cute, the company could hold its announcement the last day of February, the 29th. Apple iPad announcements are normally on Wednesdays, and as The Verge‘s Joshua Topolsky pointed out on Twitter. And that’s the same day Microsoft is planning to release its consumer preview of Windows 8. If the Cupertino company wanted to really stick it to Microsoft, that’d be the day to pick.
The iPad 3 is expected to be similar in size and shape to the iPad 2, sport a high-resolution Retina Display, an improved processor, and possibly a larger battery.
Apple has not commented on the rumored launch date, or issued invites to the upcoming event (at least, that we know of).
