Update: The new iPad is available for pre-order and will ship March 16. LTE is confirmed, as well as a host of other new features.
March 7, 2012 – This is not the morning to order a new product from Apple – the online store is closed today. The same thing happened a year ago when Apple was gearing up for the launch of the iPad 2. The closing of the store presumably gives the company time to prepare for the expected traffic deluge that will come once the new product is available.
Apple insiders have been told to expect very heavy order volumes for today’s new product, widely presumed to be the iPad 3. This week Apple confirmed that it will not be opening a “pop-up” retail store at Austin’s South by Southwest Interactive Festival this weekend. Last year, a temporary downtown retail store sold the newly-released iPad 2 during SXSW.
At Apple’s 247 existing US retail stores, keen observers are keeping a lookout for plain-clothes contractors from Verizon Wireless, rumored to be installing LTE network equipment so that an LTE-ready iPad 3 can be demonstrated in the stores.
Apple will begin the press conference to announce its new product at 10am Pacific Time today.
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