March 7: Mark the day, the iPad 3 on 4G is here

Even as the name iPad faces major copyright issues in China  with a tech company, Shenzhen Proview Technology, claiming it owns the name, Apple enthusiasts are gearing for the March launch of the much-awaited iPad 3. Apple can’t afford to overlook the copyright crisis; latest reports suggest the company wants the import and export of iPads banned till the name dispute is sorted. And since iPads are made in China, that could mean trouble for the upcoming event in March. For now, the buzz is all about what features the new iPad will sport. 4G internet seems to be the biggest question on everyone’s mind and according to the latest reports from the Wall Street Journal, Verizon Communications Inc and AT&T Inc will sell the new iPad version with the companies’ 4G network. The paper was citing people familiar with the matter. The other major change could be that Apple could also bring out a smaller screen tablet, perhaps not at the  March event but a little later in the year. The Journal story mentions that Apple has been testing out a tablet with a smaller screen, rumoured to be around eight inches:

Apple Inc. is working with component suppliers in Asia to test a new tablet computer with a smaller screen, people familiar with the situation said, as it looks to broaden its product pipeline amid intensifying competition and maintain its dominant market share.

The current iPad 2 screen is ~9.2~  9.7 inches, which makes it a lot bigger and a bit restricted than some of its rival tablets. Samsung’s Galaxy tab comes in three different screen sizes starting at 7-inches, an 8.9-inch and a 10.1-inch. Clearly the Galaxy tab offers the user a choice of more screen sizes than the iPad. Meanwhile, Kindle Fire, launched last year by Amazon comes with a seven- inch screen, costs half of what the iPad does, and has proved to be quite a tough competitor to the iPad. Amazon reportedly ended up selling nearly 1 million of these devices per week  last year. [caption id=“attachment_213053” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“An iPad with a better camera and faster processing memory could make Apple’s latest gizmo, the most multimedia friendly device in the market.  New York Times”]  [/caption] AT&T and Verizon Wireless are the only two US  carriers that currently sell the iPad in the US, and are also the only two that offer the fast, next-generation wireless technology known as LTE, according the news report. The Journal said that Apple was unavailable for comment outside regular business hours on the reports of smaller screen testing. The new iPad is likely to be priced at $499, which is quite a bundle to pay for a 16 GB tablet. In India that price is likely to be even higher. Amazon has been quick to highlight this fact in its latest advertisements, mocking Apple for its high pricing. The punchline Three Kindles are still less than that… couldn’t lay it on thicker. Does Apple need to reduce its price to beat competition? A lot of people are praying for that to happen. Meanwhile if the TheNextWeb is to be believed, the date for the new iPad release is likely to be 7 March. It quotes iMore, which states:

The March 7 date fits with what AllThingsD reported last week, about the next iPad event being scheduled for the first week of March, and Wednesday is a traditional day for Apple to hold these types of events.

The other big speculation that the iMore report has sparked is if the iPad will come with a more powerful, quad-core A6 processor and a 8 mega-pixel camera on the back with a five-inch mega-pixel one on the front. If that does turn out to be true, along with a “ Retina Display ,” then we could be looking at  one damned powerful iPad. A quad-core A6 processor will out-power the Samsung Galaxy tab which has a dual-core processor for now. An eight mega-pixel camera will leave Samsung very worried, since the current Galaxy tab comes with a 3.2 megapixel, which is not really that much. Smartphones come with higher mega-pixels than that. An iPad with a better camera and faster processing memory could make Apple’s latest gizmo, the most multimedia friendly device in the market. The speculations are likely to continue for sometime or till 7 March or till the time Apple actually announces the date for the launch of the new iPad. Meanwhile you can check out our review of Samsung Galaxy Tab 750 vs iPad 2 here . To know more about “Retina Display”, click here . And for bonus view, here is the Amazon Kindle ad that mocks Apple’s pricing: