iPad 3 media event invitations sent out by Apple

March 7th, 10AM Pacific/1PM Eastern/8AM Hawaii/6PM England, March 8th 3AM Japan/2AM Hong Kong.  The event will be held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

You can already see the impressive resolution of the Calendar icon for the iPad’s Retina Display.

In the meantime, MacRumors noted that CNBC jumped the gun with a tweet just prior to Apple sending out the official invitation.  CNBC’s tweet basically said “ALERT: Quad-Core iPad 3 with 4G LTE to be unveiled in New York next week. -Sources“.  Shortly after, Apple sent out the invitations, directly contradicting what CNBC had tweeted about a New York unveiling (and according to the MacRumors article, was reporting on their broadcast and web site).

Unsurprising.  I tell people that watching and relying on CNBC for critical financial information is like playing russian roulette with your money.  There might be a few times where some of the coverage is useful, but for the most part, it is financial infotainment.  The above is a prime example of shooting first, then asking questions later.  Some people were writing “there goes CNBC’s credibility…”  The reality is that CNBC hasn’t had much credibility for awhile.

Oh, and yes, I do hear people speculating that the “7” could also mean Apple may release a iPad mini/nano/whatever in some 7″ form factor.  Supply chain logistics wise, I don’t think so since there would’ve been some sort of leak by now had such a product been in the manufacturing process (sort of like how all these bits and pieces of iPad 3 parts were leaking over the last few weeks).  Others are speculating the next iPad may include some haptics feedback (as Apple has some interesting patents in this area).  I doubt this tech will make it into Apple’s touch based products for the foreseeable future until the technology is ripe with thinner and more flexible screens which allows minute surface changes (vibration based haptics like what Immersion has been working on isn’t likely what Apple wants to do).