The iPad 2 hasn’t even been formally announced yet, but Silicon Valley is abuzz with rumors of the iPad 3–thanks to Daring Fireball’s John Gruber.
On Wednesday, Gruber wrote a short blurb on his blog in response to HP’s announcement of the TouchPad (which will reportedly be released this summer):
If you look closely, you’ll notice that Gruber has casually dropped the words “iPad” and “3” in that post. Gruber is a rather well-known Apple writer, so this little slip didn’t go unnoticed by the tech media. Business Insider immediately jumped on the comment, suggesting that the iPad 3 will indeed arrive by the fall of 2011–just six months after the iPad 2 is expected to arrive.
Gruber later posted an update on Daring Fireball, with detailed speculation on future iPad ship dates:
“So, here’s my guess at Apple’s iPad plans for 2011:
· An iPad 2, fairly soon. Say, a March announcement, shipping in the first week of April. Faster, more RAM, maybe more storage, thinner and lighter, a front-facing camera.1 Running iOS 4.3.
· iOS 5, announced at a developer event in March, shipping in June.
· iPad 3, shipping in September, announced at the annual iPod event. Running iOS 5.1, same as the next-generation iPod Touch.”
Gruber believes that an annual September release date makes a lot more sense for the iPad, than does a January or April release date. Also, he’s skeptical of the rumor that the new iPad generations will have both a front-facing and a rear-facing camera (yeah, so am I).
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