Apple event: Coverage of the iPad 3 annoucement

It’s March 7th, which means Apple’s next event, which kicks off at 1pm EST, is just minutes away. If the rumors are correct today we’ll meet the iPad 3, iPad HD, Apple TV, iOS 6, and/or any number of other products from Apple. Regardless of what actually happens it’s a big day for anyone interested in tablets, mobile computing, Apple, and technology at large.

We’ll be updating this page throughout Apple’s event, so check back early and often. Some of the sources we’ll be following include PCMag, Technologizer, GDGT, The Verge, and Ars.
And Apple’s online store is down for maintenance, so we know something is on the way.

It’s 1pm and the event is underway. Tim Cook is on stage. He is running through the preliminaries… Post-PC devices made up 76% of Apple’s Q4 2011 revenue and the Post-PC devices/era play to Apple’s core strengths. The company now has 362 retail locations, including news ones in Amsterdam and NYC’s Grand Central Station. There are over 100M people on iCloud and 25B apps have been downloaded.
Today, Siri is moving to Japan. It’s actually part of iOS 5.1, which is available today and rolling out over Japan over the course of the next few weeks.

And first up for the big announcements… there is a new Apple TV. It’s 1080p and has an iOS-like interface according to Apple’s  Eddy Cue. It will be able to access iCloud, watch movies, watch TV and so on. It’ll be $99 and available March 16th. So yes, iCloud supports movies.
And it’s iPad time… The iPad has been a huge, huge success — Apple shipped 15.4M units in Q4 2011. It’s great at playing games and has over 200K dedicated apps.

Phil Schiller is on… and what’s that? A new iPad. It has a retina display, as expected, and still uses a 9.7-inch display. The resolution is 2048 x 1536, 4x that of the iPad 2, just as predicted. That makes for 264 ppi and a very nice image quality.

They are still calling it “the new iPad”. Phil – we need a name.
Before that though: the new iPad will have an A5X SoC. The X part? That means it has quad-core graphics… and 4x the performance apparently.
The camera has been updated as well. It’s now 5MP with backside illumination and a 5 element lens. It has autofocus, auto white balance, and face detection too. It’ll record video at 1080p — perfect for the retina display.
And, here’s the big one: 4G LTE. This connectivity will make for up to 72Mbps, well over the iPad 2's 42Mbps. Sample videos show that 4G LTE (as we already knew) is much faster and has much lower latency than 3G. It’ll land on AT&T and Verizon in the US. There will be two different LTE models, both of which will be 3G compatible. The new iPad has the most radio bands of any mobile device apparently. On 4G the battery life is 9 hours, normal battery life is 10 hours (just like before).

The new iPad will start at $499, will be 9.4mm thick, and 1.5 pounds. Prices will be at $ 499, $599, and $699 for 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB. If you want 4G they will be $629, $729, and $829.

Pre-orders start today! (The store is still down though, so keep reading.)
Hey, uh, Phil, what’s this thing called?
[It's demo time, so you'll have to watch the video of the event later on to see what's happening right now. The presenters include Namco, Autodesk, and Epic Games.]
According to Schiller, the new iPad “has more memory and higher screen resolution than an Xbox 360 or PS3.”

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