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iPad 3 has been rumored by Daring Fireball blogger John Gruber and MG Siegler of Tech Crunch as possibly landing this fall, but recent information suggests to T-GAAP that iPad 3 will not be arriving this year.

Any delay in launching the iPad 3 is not due to parts availability or the lack of retina display production, it is because of iPad 2's tremendous holding power in the market. iPad 2 is besting Apple's highest world-wide demand expectations, and therefore may not trigger a speedy iPad 3 launch.

iPad 2 achieving such success is also due to a lack of competitive products in the market place, as nothing is currently seen as a threat to the new iPad's momentum. Even Motorola's massive ad campaign for their Xoom tablet has failed to light the Android market on fire, and the entire program is said to be on waivers.

iPad 3 will contain a 2048 x 1536 retina display, double RAM capacity a higher-resolution rear facing camera, but is to keep it's current dual-core A5 processor with integrated Imagination SGX543 graphics and current enclosure design. Whether iPad 3 loses the home button, replaced by the current iOS SDK multi-touch features, is unknown.

There are two launch timelines in consideration for iPad 3:

• September, 2011
• January, 2012

September is said to be a complete outside possibility, but their is one company that could change that current position — HP. Apple is keeping a close eye on the webOS-based TouchPad tablet and smartphone-rebirth. Like Apple, HP is driving a completely vertical solution and has the financial and channel distribution powers to buy their way into some market-share to solidify the webOS as a viable platform.

If the HP TouchPad or some other unforeseen tablets catch fire, it could resuscitate a 2011 iPad 3 launch date, but this is highly improbable looking at iPad 2's blazingly hot start and the lack of forthcoming competitive products.

1 Comment

1. ViewRoyal ~ March 29, 2011 17:27
   Right now it's all rumors, and it's anybody's guess when the next iPad comes out. I'd prefer to see the release in September, rather than later in January. It's a case of "You snooze, you lose." Competitors are constantly moving quickly to update their tablets.It's better if Apple keeps ahead of the pack than fall behind.

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