iPad 3 to be Released this Fall?
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According to Daring Fireball and TechCrunch, and even though the iPad 2 has not even been officially announced yet, its successor may be released as early as the third quarter of this year. While this news is far fetched, both websites seem pretty convinced that the third generation iPad will be released much earlier than expected.
The early launch could be motivated by the slew of “iPad killers” currently in the works. While the iPad 2 will be powerful enough to compete with the upcoming wave of new tablets, it will not have the edge performance wise, as its specs should be very close to what Motorola, HP and RIM already released, or plan to release very soon. In other words, the iPad 2 is expected to be to the first generation iPad what the iPhone 3GS was to the iPhone 3G, as the device will be faster and more polished, but will not be dramatically ahead of the curve.
According to John Gruber, the main editor behind Daring Fireball, the decision to release the iPad 3 early is mostly motivated by the new WebOS-powered TouchPad announced earlier today, a tablet that will feature very aggressive specs. Since the tablet is not expected to be released before the summer, he believes that Apple will do its best to accelerate its iPad 3 plans, and launch a new version of its tablet soon after, to make sure that the iPad remains the most most powerful tablet on the market: “Summer feels like a long time away. If my theory is right, they’re not only going to be months behind the iPad 2, but if they slip until late summer, they might bump up against the release of the iPad 3. And not only did they announce this with a distant ship date, they did it with no word on pricing.”
TechCrunch also believes the new iPad 3 rumor to be true, as a “very good source” told the site that Apple was getting ready for an unusual “big fall surprise.” While the website does not seem to know much more than that, its editors are expecting the event to be related to the launch of the third iteration of Apple’s tablet.
Again, to be clear, my information on this isn’t a guess (though my thoughts as to the reasons why Apple would do this are). Apple’s plan, at least right now, is to release another version of the iPad in the fall. That may change, but that is currently the plan.
If TechCrunch and Daring Fireball prove to be correct, Apple will have a hard time to convince iPad owners to buy a new device, barely six months after the release of the iPad 2. On the other hand, since most iOS-powered device owners typically skip one generation before upgrading their device, Apple may be betting on the fact that most first generation iPad owners will wait until the iPad 3 is out to splurge.
