Sunday, October 30, 2011

iPad 3 Launch

Now that the iPhone 4S was launched consumers are now waiting for the new iPad 3 to be released. We can assume that the iPad 3 will launch in spring 2012. Asian sources estimate that the launch could happen during March next year at the earliest. I expect the launch to happen closer towards the middle of next year.

One of the challenges in determining the launch date is Apple's dominance in the tablet market. Many companies launch a new product to compete a competitor. There are no tablets that are currently able to compete with the iPad 2. Apple's recent earning show that iPad 2 sales have increased  146% to $2.8 billion compared to the same period in the previous year. Apple sold 11.1 million iPads which marks a 166% increase over the previous year.

The lack of competition may push Apple to delay the lauch to later in the year to allow the company to further maximize iPad 2 sales.

The iPad 3 is expected to have the following:

  • Retina Display: People were expecting a retina display with the iPad 2; but the iPad disappointed them with the same display of the previous iPad. Now followers are waiting for an iPad 3 with a retina display. There is a rumor that the iPad 3 may offer a resolution of 2048×1536 pixels.

  • SD Card Slot: People are expecting a revolution in Apple iPad 3 with an SD card slot. Hopefully Apple may introduce SD card slot with the third generation iPad.

  • Improved HDMI: Yes iPad 2 also supports HDMI playback but you need to have Apple digital AV adapter, and that comes at an additional cost of $39. So it is much expected from iPad 3 to have an HDMI port that eliminates additional requirement of the HDMI cable.

  • Camera Flash: A camera with flash is a much-waited feature of the iPad; people were expecting iPad 2 to have camera flash; now we would be wondering if iPad 3 will have camera with flash.

  • Thunderbolt: The iPad 3 may have a Thunderbolt port. That will offer power, video and data connectivity using the same connector at lightning speed.

  • Wireless Synchronize: People are expecting iPad 3 to offer wireless sync of content rather than the traditional wired connectivity.