[IPodPJ]

Who here is going to buy the new iPad 3/iPad HD/whatevertheycallit when announced on Wednesday?
 
I sold my iPad 2 last Saturday in anticipation of it.  It was perfect timing, too, because on the Sunday after Best Buy lowered all iPad 2 prices by $50, so I got maximum dollar for it.
 
Which of the rumors do you think will be true?  The one near certainty we can expect is to see a near-retina quality display.  But what about the other rumored features like LTE, faster processor, new dock connector, better battery life, etc.?
 
I will be glued to my computer at 10 a.m. on Wednesday as the event is streamed live.  I won the iPad 2 in a contest and it had become an indispensable part of my life in business and leisure.  It replaced 90% of the tasks I performed on a home computer.

 

[hdufour]

Same here - the iPad 2 almost replaced my laptop for daily work use (and I'm a pc tech).  I will be glued to my computer at work to watch the announcement to see what when, and my credit card will be on hand for the preorder the minute it is available....
 
New features I think we'll see:
Retina display
Slightly thicker to accommodate bigger battery for screen
A5X processor (revamped for pixels) not the A6 quad core people talk about.
Siri
 
I'm thinking it is more of an incremental refresh than anything. Beyond that I don't see many changes...they would be dumb to dump the dock connector since it is so heavily used throughout everything - personally I hate the thing and want them to go magtech on it, but doubt that will ever happen.  Too many 3rd party vendors would be ticked off, especially cause apple would patent the crap out of it and they wouldn't be able to pay for the license, which is why you see no third party macbook chargers.
 
LTE is great and fine, but covers so little of the population yet that it doesn't make sense to include it - yet.  Someday, sure.  Wednesday, no.
 
As to the 7.85" iPad rumor - maybe but highly doubted.  That would go directly against things Jobs said in the past and I think Cook is still worried about honoring the man's memory.
 
I think we will see a new appleTV for sure.  Just from how the invite was typed - "We have something for you to see.  And touch."  That to me screams new appleTV first, iPad second.  Maybe I read too much into it....only one way to tell - watch wednesday!

 

[IPodPJ]

Did you see the new Asus tablet that's coming out?  It will have 1900x1200 resolution and a quad core processor, and that was unveiled at CES in January.  If Apple wants to stay on top technology-wise, they would be wise to include at least those features.  But we all know Apple has a bad habit of stringing the consumer along for as long as they can to milk them for as much money as they can.  Apple may very well hold out on LTE but I'll tell you, if they do, people will be very, very angry.  People were angry when LTE wasn't available on the iPhone 4S.  Now, half a year later if they don't include LTE in the new iPad they would be extremely foolish.  Verizon and AT&T have already stated LTE will be included on the upcoming iPad so that is pretty convincing.  Apple ordered 40 million displays for the iPad 2, and now they ordered 65 million displays for the iPad 3.  Surely they must be confident that they will sell, and a lot of people will be reluctant to purchase if it doesn't have LTE capabilities.  A 70% production increase over the previous model iPad is more than just an incremental iPad business strategy.
 
Also, keep in mind that Verizon and AT&T, and now Sprint, have invested heavily in the LTE infrastructure.  Verizon LTE has been going for awhile now, AT&T LTE recently launched, and Sprint LTE is under development due by 2013.  They need to start capitalizing on that investment now.  Since the iPad is the most popular tablet, Apple would seriously upset these carriers if they failed to deliver a product now that couldn't make use of the carrier's investments.  Qualcomm now has a chip which runs on all infrastructures, and Apple charges more anyway for the cellular versions of the iPad.  There would be no reason for them to delay the release of an LTE product any longer.
 
As far as the iPad mini goes, I doubt they will release that now, if at all.  But I don't think it's because they want to honor Steve Jobs' wishes.  Steve Jobs is dead, and Apple cares about making money.  If they can compete with the Kindle Fire, why wouldn't they?  But the fact is, they can't compete with the Kindle Fire.  To do that they would need a smaller iPad at $299.  That would be impossible since they sell an iPod Touch for that price.  They can't very well sell an iPad Mini for $299 too!  The iPad isn't carrier subsidized like the iPhone is.  And if they charged $399, people might as well buy a full-sized iPad 2.  An iPad Mini doesn't seem to fit their business model, and that's why it will probably never come to fruition; not because of some misplaced, noble tribute towards the dead visionary.  And let's not forget, Amazon only sold 6 million Kindle Fires.  That's less than 1/10 of what they project to sell in iPad 3s.  It hardly seems worth the effort for them.

 

[hdufour]

Point well made.  

 

[IPodPJ]

Quote:

we know ipad3 will release on May 7th and the price may higher than ipad2 about $70-$80,which is acceptable.
i'm waiting for the best
 

March 7th, and we don't know when it will be released.  It might not be released for a week after the announcement.
 

 

[davidcotton]

Still on the Ipad 1 which will go to a family member.  Tend to skip generations with apple stuff so if it's not too much over £500 (I think I paid something like £429 for the 16 gig wifi) could well get one pre-ordered!

 

[uzi]

Somehow, I initially read the topic on this thread as "iPad 3 appreciation".  Yeah.

 

[mark2410]

do i want a tablet with a 4 by 3 aspect ration an high res?  yes.
 
 
but i have an ipad 2 and its ****, really pretty and great batery life but ios is just plain crap.  that it cannot deal with .pptx files properly when every android device i have can just fine  is big problem.  that itunes has no way to buy apps to see if they work and have them refunded if they dont is the deal breaker.
 
 
pretty is nice but functionally useless means i wont be buying one.

 

[hdufour]

Actually, if you follow the proper channels, you can have an app refunded.  http://www.labnol.org/software/itunes-app-store-refunds/13838/ gives a clue how to do this.
 
Not being able to handle a specific format does not make a whole OS crap.  There are always alternatives and apps that must be searched out (quickoffice pro hd does pptx) Granted, some may not meet your expectations and thats ok, but don't rail on the os cause it doesn't function to your standards (exactly why I can't stand linux!, but I don't call linux crap).
 
4:3, yeah, kinda sucks.  But seriously, how much time do you spend in landscape anyway?  I do 90% of my reading in portrait so 4:3 isn't such an issue there....
 
There, I got my fanboy mentality out of the way....

 

[IPodPJ]

t - 17 hours

 

[KingOfTheWild]

I am excited by this event but not because of the iPad 3 (well partly) but because Apple is rumored to put higher quality movies AND music (the one I care the most for) on iTunes. Now I will have to wait till tomorrow to see if the rumors are true! Apple better not disappoint!

 

[KingOfTheWild]

Or I will be very angry!

 

[IPodPJ]

Less than 10 hours to go!

 

[KingOfTheWild]

Apple still hasn't unveiled higher quality music on iTunes! It doesn't look like they are going to!

 

[KingOfTheWild]

Nope they didn't! That sucks!