iPad 3 Release Date

It is official. Apple will be showcasing iPad 3 to the world on March 7^th. Apple distributed the invites to select media for the big event to be held at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco at 10 AM PST. The invite per se does not list any of the features. But as always with anything associated with Apple, the invitation is being scrutinized to find any hidden clues. This makes sense as Apple does everything for a reason with attention to even minute details.

The invite shows a display that is of much higher quality than an iPad 2. The Web is buzzing with pictures comparing the invite picture with an iPad 2 featuring the same apps. A higher resolution display can be easily distinguished and this might very well confirm the retina display.

The invite says “We have something you really need to see. And touch”. If the “see” is a clue for retina display, what is it with ‘touch’? Interestingly the display on the invite doesn’t feature a physical home button. Analysts view the absence of this Home button got to do something with the ‘touch’. Absence of home button is from the observation that the invitation shows the device in portrait mode, which is deduced based on the spacing between the apps featured on the invite display. It is surprising how and why Apple missed the ‘hearing’ part of iPad 3 in the invite! Is it deliberate to surprise us or does it mean no Siri integration on iPad 3? Come March 7^th we can ‘feel’ the iPad 3 with all our senses.

Images via Gizmodo

Apple unveiled iBooks2 last week in New York City as part of its education event. iBooks2 was released to set the stage ready for the coming iPad 3 to boost up its educational credentials. According to Phil Schiller, Apple’s Senior VP of Worldwide Product Marketing, “now with iBooks 2 for iPad, students can have a more dynamic, engaging and truly interactive way to read and learn, using the device they already love”.

According to Apple pundits, this latest update of iBooks gives enough clues about the ‘Retina Display-like’ high resolution screen that has been rumoured to come with the iPad 3. High quality iPad images were found in the iBooks app in January, 2011 and it triggered speculations about 2048X1536 resolutions for iPad2. That didn’t materialize, but as per experts, the recent update of iBooks2 contains a third image with 2X equivalent resolution of the iPad. Similar high-resolution images were found in an iOS 5 beta last summer too.

iPad and iPad2 were launched with a resolution of 1024X768. A 2X resolution for iPad3 means a resolution of 2048X1536 – which comes to 264 PPI (Pixels per Inch). iPhone 4 has a pixel density of 326 ppi. But this much pixel density is not required for an iPad, considering the distance at which screen is held from the eye. A recent beta update of iOS 5.1 showed references to debut of A6 quad-core processor with the iPad3. Now iBooks update affirms 2X resolution. Are the iPad 3 specs finally starting to become clearer? Do you think Apple is intentionally leaving these bits and pieces of the puzzle just before the launch of iPad 3?