Apple set to unveil iPad3 next week

Apple, the giant US technology firm has sent out official invitations for a March 7 media event in San Francisco where it is expected to introduce its next-generation iPad3.

The event will be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, Calif., the same place the last two iPad unveilings have been held.

Apple’s invitation features a finger pushing down on an iOS calendar icon with March 7 as the date. “We have something you really have to see.

And touch,” the invitation reads the invitation from Apple. The mention by Apple that people will “have to see” the new device is likely a reference to the high-resolution Retina Display that Apple is expected to add to its next-generation iPad.

Rumors have suggested the display will have a resolution of 2,048 by 1,536 pixels, which would be twice the resolution of the 1,024-by-768 screen found on the iPad 2.

In fact, the invitation itself could even be a picture of the new iPad display. The image does show a very crisp iPad screen that could be a higher resolution than the current iPad 2.

The March 7 event date has been expected for weeks now, but Tuesday’s invitations were the first official confirmation of the media briefing from Apple and follow recent media reports out of the Far East suggesting the new devices are already being shipped to the Us as retailers have been seen to cut price of existing iPad2 models by $50-$70.

Apple is also remoured to be in discussion with suppliers said to have begun delivering samples of a new 7.85-inch iPad to the company in preparation for volume production that could start as early as the third quarter of 2012.

It could yet be a very busy year for Apple which some analysts have said is preparing to pay a hefty dividend from its huge cash pile this year.

Apple has seen seen its market capitlisation cross the record half a trillion dollar mark once enjoyed by firms like Exxon Mobil and far more than the GDP of nations like Saudi Arabia, Poland, Belgium and Taiwan.

For comparison, last year Apple unveiled the iPad2 on March 2, and the device became publicly available in the U.S. just over a week later on March 11. The international launch of the iPad2 followed a few weeks later on March 25.

BusinessD