iPad 3 Release Date to Coincide With New Apple Retail Store Openings?

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Apple is reportedly going to hold a special iPad 3 media event on March 7 to unveil the upcoming iOS tablet, and we expect the company to sell the device in the following weeks, with March 16 being a potential release date candidate for the new device. Last year Apple unveiled the tablet on March 2 and started selling it nine days later on March 11 in the U.S. and two weeks after that, on March 25 in international markets, so we wouldn’t be surprised if the company would follow a similar scenario this year.

In fact, there are other details that suggest Apple is going for a mid-March iPad 3 launch, the opening of two important retail stores for the company, one in Amsterdam, the first in the Netherlands, and one in London, in the Harrods department store. Since the iPad 3 is also coming in March, we would assume that Apple wants these two stores to be opened in time for the launch.

The Amsterdam store will be open on Saturday March 3 at 10 AM, according to MacRumors, with the Netherlands being the twelfth country to have at least one Apple retail store. Some will say the opening of the Amsterdam store does not indicate that an iPad 3 launch will follow soon, but I’m sure Apple wants to have an actual retail store open in the region in time for its third-gen iPad launch.

Meanwhile, 9to5mac reports that sources inside Harrods suggest the Apple store will open in mid-March. Harrods is a world renown shopping location and it makes plenty of sense for Apple to want to open the Harrods retail store around the same time, if not at the same time with an iPad 3 launch.

We’ll be back with more iPad 3 details as we get near to its official announcement and subsequent launch, so keep us bookmarked for more iPad coverage.