It’s full steam ahead for tablet production at one Silicon Valley company: Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) is putting the finishing touches on the third version of the iPad, which is now expected to ship in early 2012, according to a report.
The iPad 3 will include a higher-resolution display, according to the Wall Street Journal, which doesn’t use the marketing term “Retina Display” that Apple uses to describe the iPhone 4’s display, but that type of display been rumored as a feature of the next iPad for quite some time. The actual size of the iPad 3 will be the same as the iPad 2, however, according to the report.
Earlier in the year there was a school of thought that a redesigned iPad would be available in time for the holiday shopping season, around the time it became clear Apple was holding the iPhone 5 back for a fall launch. Few details have surfaced about the device since then, but Apple has apparently started placing orders for the iPad 3 with its suppliers, which means we’re still a few months away from Apple having enough quantity to launch.
Making sure you have enough supply to launch effectively is not a problem that any other tablet vendor is having these days. Apple continues to sell millions of iPads each quarter, while no one else has really gotten off the ground and HP (NYSE: HPQ) has decided to exit the tablet business altogether.

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