iPad 2 Price On Sale at Best Buy in Advance of iPad 3 Release Date by Apple

The iPad 2's price has been slashed by Best Buy in advance of the iPad 3 release by Apple, which could occur as soon as March 7.

Anticipating the decreased demand for the iPad 2 that will result from the release of the iPad 3, Best Buy is hedging its bets, discounting the current-model tablet's price by $50.

The new iPad price on sale is just $450 for a 16-gigabyte Wi-Fi-enabled iPad 2. That's down from its $500 asking price, meaning that you'll be saving a cool 10 percent on your new Apple tablet. The 32-GB version is selling at Best Buy for $550, down from its previous price of $600.

But it may be worth waiting a little while. Rumors have been flying for weeks that the iPad 3 will be released as early as March 7, when Apple has stated it will be making a major announcement in San Francisco, Calif., which will coincide with the Game Developers Conference 2012 (GDC 2012), which is also being in San Fran that week.

Gizmodo suggests that if you are looking to buy a new Apple tablet in the near future, that you should wait until the Apple Store gets a stock of refurbished iPad 3's. That day may be a little ways off, but you'll be getting the top-of-the-line iPad, at a more-reasonable price than you'll be able to when the iPad 3 is released. It's certainly at least worth considering. This Gizmodo article has more details about shopping for refurbished Apple products (which are covered by Apple warranties.)

A host of exciting new features are expected to be included in the iPad 3. Though all speculation at this point seems to be little more than informed rumors, industry sites have released a variety of reports about what features the iPad 3 may have.

The rumored upgrades include the addition of a quad-core processor, a retina display, an NFC chip and more. And some reports state that two different sizes may be available for the third-generation Apple tablet.