• PC Magazine, Friday, December 9, 2011 12:30 PM

Hoping to remain king of the tablets, Apple plans to roll out the iPad 3 in February, according to Citi analyst Richard Gardner. “Apple could head off competition from similarly priced Android tablets at the pass by getting its latest, greatest tablet technology out a bit sooner than expected,” Gartner writes in a research note out this week. “That would also have the effect of reducing prices for older versions of the iPad, which would encourage consumers attracted to the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet to instead climb aboard the iOS platform at a discount.”

In the research note, Gardner said sources indicated that Apple would launch its next-generation iOS tablet as much as a month earlier than it released the iPad 2 in 2011. “As a general rule, Apple likes to release new versions of its main consumer hardware products about a year apart,” notes PCMag.com. A key selling point for the iPad 3 will be a superior screen that will boast double the resolution of the iPad 2. Meanwhile, Gardner also predicts that Apple's final iPad sales tally for the fourth quarter of this year will be between 12 and 13 million units.

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