iPad 3 Release Date Likely in March: Will Battery Drain, Data Suck Issues be Addressed?

Rumor mills surrounding forthcoming Apple products are getting busier every day... a fact that surely indicates something big is going to happen in the technology world.

Most rumors seem to hint the Cupertino-based tech giant is set to release its third-generation tablet - the iPad 3. Different tech blogs and commentators have been speculating on the different dates of release for the product, as well as differences in rumored specifications.

However, the one piece of hardware that is a certainty is the A6 processor. The A6 is Apple's successor to the A5 chip currently powering devices like the iPhone 4S and the iPad 2. Reports of the probability of the A6 processor finding its way into the iPad 3 are based on the fact the A5 dual-core chip was launched with the iPad 2.

The second confirmed element of the iPad 3 is its Operating System. Since Apple has already released iOS 5.1 beta to developers for testing, it is very much evident the new device will be running either on iOS 5 or its updated versions.

So much has been written about the quality and specifications of the iPad 3 so far that it is perhaps prudent to concentrate on some problems that may work against the new device.

Users of the iPhone 4S are still complaining about battery-related issues, even after release of the iOS 5.0.1. Although the latest update of the iOS 5 is still in its beta stage and is going through the testing procedure, the chances of addressing battery-related issues in the new devices are fewer.

Apple fans, before going ahead to buy an iPad 3, will give a thought to data uses which are going up by almost 100 percent. Most of the credit for the increased data usage goes to Apple's voice-assisted artificial intelligence software.

According to a recent study quoted by Mashable.com, the iPhone 4S users are the 'hungriest' data consumers, demanding twice as much data as iPhone 4 users and three times as much as iPhone 3G users.

If Apple fails to address these two problems in its forthcoming device, the maker of iConic products like iPhones, iPads and iPods could find a minor hump in an otherwise smooth road leading to a successful product launch.