Another day, another iPad 3 rumor. As rumors surrounding Apple’s next tablet have heated up, Taiwanese news site DigiTimes has consistently argued that Apple would be launching not one, but two iPads in 2012. Today they are offering a timeline for the release of these tablets, apparently dubbed the iPad 3 and the iPad 4.

According to the report, the iPad 3 will launch in March with an improved display and a better battery, though otherwise the tablet will be rather less spectacular than most industry watchers are expecting. Even so, Apple will use the launch of this interim iPad 3 as an opportunity to drop the price of the iPad 2 to $399, a change that will position the iPad 2 at the upper end of the price range currently occupied by the iPad’s Android-based competitors.

October is when things are really supposed to get interesting: according to the report, Apple will launch a second iPad, the iPad 4, in October. This iPad will have the same 9.7-inch display as previous iPads, but will feature a number of major hardware and software upgrades designed to compete with the next generation of Android tablets.

So, if this report is to be believed, we will see two separate iPads this year, roughly six months apart. Frankly, I’m sticking this one in the “I’ll eat my hat” file. Rumors like this are very nearly as old as the original iPad. In fact, the same sort of rumor has also swirled around the iPhone every year for years. And yet, Apple has consistently proven itself to be a creature of habit. Their pattern of releasing one device per year has served Apple extremely well since 2007, we should expect them to hold to it for as long as it keeps working.

[Source: DigiTimes]