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Rumor: iPad 3 launching in March, ‘strange’ Apple event due February (UPDATED)

Japanese blog Macotakara has a satisfying accuracy score in the Apple rumor business, and it was widely quoted earlier this month on a claim that Apple’s contract manufacturers Foxconn Electronics and Pegatron Technology issued orders to begin assembly of next-generation iPads for an early-March launch. Today, Macotakara reported that Apple would announce the iPad 3 in a media event due in March— ahead of the launch.

Previously, the blog claimed that a special Apple event to announce a new iPad was due in February and that the device was meant to go on sale the following month. Weirdly enough, Macotakara also said it heard from sources from Apple’s supply chain that the company will indeed hold an event this month, which was described as “strange.”

According to MacRumors’ Arnold Kim who contacted the author of the Macotakara report, “The February event would not be a product event.”

UPDATE: The Loop’s Jim Dalrymple disputed the story, saying Apple will not hold an event in February (he’s been right on these things before):

This is not going to happen, according to my sources. Apple will not hold an event in February, unusual or otherwise. That’s it.

The story confirms an earlier Bloomberg report that backed the March launch timeframe by claiming production will reach “full volumes by February.” The Bloomberg report also claimed that this next-generation iPad sports an ultra high-resolution display, quad-core processor, and LTE functionality. These features were corroborated in yesterday’s BGR article based on screenshots of a debug tool.

Here is the machine-translated quote from the Macotakara article:

I reported that Apple was going to hold Special Event in early February according to Asian supplier and source from united states, but this report told a half-side of truth. Apple will hold “Strange” event at February instead of Special Event.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watchv=ol3Xt4imVK4]

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