iPad 3 Preview: What's New With Three



Hopes are high for Apple's newest iPad. Faster, thinner and lighter is guaranteed when it comes to new Apple products and the iPad 3 will surely be no different.

When the first iPad launched in 2010 it was an instant game-changer.

With an impressive array of features including a bright and crisp 10-inch screen, it single-handedly revolutionized the way we read, socialize and keep ourselves entertained.

"If there's going to be a third category of device it's going to have to be better at these type of tasks than a laptop or a smartphone," Apple's former CEO Steve Jobs said during the iPad launch. "Otherwise, it has no reason for being."

The iPad did just that by creating a more convenient and intimate way to interact with a computer.

And as the popularity of this new genre grew, it spawned an entire industry of imitators. Competitors quickly flooded the market with alternatives to the iPad like the Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab and the Blackberry Playbook.

A year after the first, Apple launched the iPad 2 adding to it cameras and making it thinner, lighter and faster.

With noticeable speed upgrades like the A5 dual-core processor, the iPad 2 opened the doors for its uses in all industries making it more than just a portable entertainment device. So far, the possibilities have been endless.

Educators are using the iPad as an interactive textbooks, restaurants are using it to take orders from customers and musicians are creating music on-the-go using the iPad as a mixing board.

The tablet now commands more than 60 percent of the market, and Apple's stock price is hitting all-time highs.

The anticipation is again sky-high as rumors of new features fill the interwebs. As the iPad 3 announcement date is upon us, the world is waiting to see what's new with three.

"It's like Christmas," tech journalist Greg Ferenstein said. "You know you're going to get something great, you just don't know what it is. And we get to find out, on the day it gets released."