If the latest string of reports from the tech industry are to be believed, as of course we hope they are, the iPad 3 release date is to come about no later than mid-March. The suggestions would directly coincide with the usual later Q1 product launch cycle expected for the iPad range, which may or may not be confirmed by a so-called “strange” Apple even to be held later this month.
No official or detailed information has so far been offered in relation to said strange event, but many analysts and observers alike are quashing the notion of an early iPad 3 release date or indeed announcement, given the way in which the iPad 2 is still flying off the shelves the world over.
However, when and where the next-generation tablet finally does hit the shelves, it may face competition the likes of which have never previously been an issue – with the launch of the Amazon Kindle Fire 2.
According to separate reports from the US tech industry, Amazon is experiencing a notable slowdown in original Kindle Fire sales and overall interest, signaling that the time may indeed have come to bring their fabled second-generation tablet to light. The Kindle Fire took the silver medal position by way of overall tablet sales in the US for Q4 2011, shifting no less than 5 million units.
Should the reports prove true, there may be something of a temporary though enormous gap in the market for a new tablet to capture the imagination of the US and indeed the world at large, which Apple would likely have little trouble in filling with the iPad 3. That is of course unless the rumored 8.9 inch Kindle Fire 2 beats them to the punch, which would result in the most heated and exciting battle in the tablet PC market to date.
