Apple iPad 3: What to Expect, Pent Up Demand, a Pre-Preview

On Wednesday, Apple is set to announce its Apple iPad 3. We’ll be covering this event for you blow-by-blow with in-depth analysis from our team of tech pros and journalists. Check out what might be the closest pre-preview yet to what we’ll see from at least one Apple iPad model we expect to see on March 7.

Now a pre-preview is a strange kind of story — we go to great lengths to avoid reporting rumors outside our rumor column. But the hype and pent-up demand for the Apple iPad 3 is a strange phenomenon. I’ve never seen anything like it. Even typically clueless non-techies are feverishly talking it up and have been for months. And it’s happening globally.

Case in point: A new study from inMobi shows that some 29 percent of some 700 individuals it polled said they planned to buy the Apple iPad 3 as soon as it’s available. And more than half of those, about 55 percent, report it will be the first tablet they ever bought. This dwarfs the 1995 excitement around Windows 1995.

It feels more like Beatlemania. And there are so many questions. Will there be more than one version? Will it really be .80 mm thicker? Apple has confirmed its planned near-retina high-def display with a pixel density of 2048 x 1536, but will Apple be able to handle the yield rates? I say it’s too much, too risky and will add too much expense — and I also believe a business version with a dock will come out — but it’s all speculation. And it’s the pent-up demand that has everyone speculating.

“The excitement around the iPad 3 release will likely increase iPad penetration in the tablet market,” says InMobi’s vice-president, and not because of the obvious reasons. She says 65 percent of respondents said they also “would consider buying an iPad or iPad 2” regardless of whether they buy the upcoming Apple iPad 3.

Those polled listed speed, improved battery life, the near retina display, 4G connectivity, better camera and slimmer profile to be the reasons why they’re so excited.

As we wait for the real details — rumors abound as Leo Laporte and our John C. Dvorak point out — check this out. The site MIC Gadget claims it put together parts reportedly in the Apple iPad3. If it’s true, we’re looking at a larger camera lens entirely and a wider shell. Notice the home button — most pundits have said they believe that was going away. It will be interesting to compare this with the real McCoy.

Our team at aNewDomain.net is divided about the Apple iPad 3. Then again, we might be jaded. We see a lot of hardware around here. And we’re … selective.

Our editor Joy Ma says she is going to wait. “I like my iPad2,” she says. “It is small enough for me to carry easily in a tote.” Further, reports of its increased size — watch for that in the M.I.C. video — are a turn-off. “A larger size would make it seem more like a laptop. I’ll wait.”

Watch aNewDomain as we cover this for you all week long.  Rather than contribute to the hype, our aim is to give you the most reliable information possible so you don’t get caught up in the frenzy and you make the buying decision that’s right for you — or others in your family, business, school or organization.

We’ll be updating this report with comments from the expert tech pros and journalists on our team today and tomorrow …  and we’ll sort out the announcement for you. Because obviously you want to know. And so do I. And I’m not even tablet-crazy. Keeping the laptop, thank you very much …