Apple to announce iPad 3 in early March?

Apple will hold a special event in March to unveil the iPad 3, according to “All Things D” (http://macte.ch/pd7uw). The event will be held in San Francisco, “presumably at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts,” the article adds.

In writing for “All Things D,” John Paczkowski speculates that the iPad 3 will most likely go on sale the week after it’s unveiled at the special event. Apple, of course, declines to comment.

In a note to investors — as reported by “AppleInsider” (http://www.appleinsider.com) — Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore says he’s expecting the third generation iPad next month that will sport a high-resolution display, a quad-core CPU, graphics performance four to five times faster than the iPad 2, and Siri voice control.

More juice in the iPad 3 will leave competitors further behind and drive Apple market share gains, he adds. Estimates from Deutsche Bank, combined with data from IDC, suggest that Apple currently has a 25% share of the combined notebook and tablet market.