Apple’s ipad 3 will sell, but it might not dazzle us

Apple Inc. is poised to unveil the third iteration of its dominant ipad Wednesday amid the typical media hoopla.

“It’s nearly been a year since the ipad 2 was released so the time is right for an upgrade,” said Queen’s University media studies professor Sidneyeve Matrix.

“There are many rumours on what updates will be added — higher resolution screen, Siri (the popular voiceactivated assistant that was recently added to the iphone 4S), and a cheaper 8-gigabyte ipad to compete with lowcost competitors.” he said. “No matter what the updates are, there will be a buying frenzy from Apple’s die-hard users the day the ipad 3 hits the stores.”

But some analysts say this launch under Tim Cook, named Apple CEO after the death of co-founder Steve Jobs, may lack some of the magic of the past.

“I think people are going to find it disappointing,” said Silicon Valley technology analyst Rob Enderle.

The principal analyst with San Jose, Ca.-based Enderle Group said Apple is benefiting from a sort of a Pavlovian pattern that has consumers rushing to buy everything the company makes. But he said a foundation is being laid for a time when they won’t. “I expect a new ipad to do reasonably well. But I’m very concerned with Apple being able to maintain its very high numbers. Up until the fourth quarter, it can probably roll through on a substantial amount of momentum.” Enderle noted that Apple’s tablet dominance faces intense challenges from the raft of lower-priced Android offerings. And the marketing blitz around Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system supporting tablets with all of the functions of a Mac desktop computer “is going to hit them (Apple) hard.” While Apple has not revealed what it will announce Wednesday, a device called the ipad 3 or ipad HD is widely expected. It is anticipated the tablet will fea- ture LTE 4G cellular technology, an improved camera, a much faster processor and higher resolution HD graphics display.

Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu speculated in a note that the device will actually have longer battery life, despite the heightened power consumption of the long term evolution standard for high-speed data.

There are also rumours about a 7-inch ipad, though the offering would put Cook in the crosshairs of many Apple fans since Jobs was adamantly opposed to a smaller tablet. The new device is expected to sell at the lower end of the ipad 2’s typical price point to compete with Android tablets and Amazon’s Kindle Fire.

Apple accounted for more than 60 per cent of global tablet shipments over the first three quarters of 2011, according to Bloomberg Industry analyst Anand Srinivasan.

But he said the ipad could lose U.S. market share to rivals including Samsung, Amazon and Asus that are all slashing prices. Srinivasan said tablets running Google’s Android software are expected to grab 44 per cent of U.S. tablet shipments this year.