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iPad 3 out in March/April say part maker moles

Evidence pointing to production ramp-up?

The next iPad will be out in three to four months' time after going into production in January. Component makers are already shipping parts.

So say a variety of moles in Asia, by way of DigiTimes.

Their timeline puts the iPad 3's release in March or April 2012 - a year on from the shipment of the iPad 2, and two years on from the debut if the original iPad.

It's Apple's fondness for one-year-on updates that gives these largely unsubstantiated rumours some little credence.

But a variety of different outlets - market watchers mostly - have separately claimed that Apple is starting to scale back iPad 2 production and to have commenced work on manufacturing the iPad 3.

The new tablet's key feature is expected to be a 2048 x 1536 display, possibly from Sharp. ®

Apple kit holds its value pretty well...

... so an annual upgrade does make quite a bit of sense to many: keep the new machine for 12 months, then sell it on eBay for a pretty good sum of money (usually well over 75% of its original purchase price) and pay the relatively small difference for the new model. If you're a video editor or developer, this means you can have the fastest Apple for peanuts each year. In many ways, it's a lot like leasing.

Then again, lots of people appear to be quite willing to pay an annual subscription for sports games, so I don't understand what your problem is.

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Current?

The Playbook is still current? Currently what? Badly thought out? Ugly and clunky even by the standards of Blackberry owners? A black eye on RIM's Reputation?

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Just like cars, really. Your choice when you buy one - be an early adopter if you like, upgrade every year if you really want, or wait for the 3 release before you dive in at all...

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Oh thank God! I was worried how on earth I was going to get through the next couple of weeks without the promise of a product update from Apple!

Time was a product release from any major company actually meant something but now they seem to be every other day and the amount of difference between products is so minimal and only seems to be exaggerated by those desperate to justify filling the coffers of a tech company!

Well at least if I want a cheap iPad 1 to mess about with, no doubt they will be two-a-penny on eBay come March 2012, every cloud and all that.

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Anonymous Coward

well..

I work for somewhere which sells iPads.

As part of an upcoming things for the diary spreadsheet, there was an "iPad 2 Gold" listed for march release.

Not sure if it means anything or not.

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