Apple’s iPad media event has just gone live. The company will be providing a live video coverage of the new iPad keynote event. The event is being held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.

Apple CEO, Tim Cook, will take the stage to announce new product launches and updates for this year before we enter the holiday season. The email invite sent out to the media suggests that the company will “cover” many product announcements.

Rumors and reports published in the past provide enough evidence to expect new iPad 5 (fifth gen) and second gen iPad mini. We could also get new Haswell MacBook Pro models, final release of Mac OS X Mavericks, new iLife and iWork software updates and more.

iPad 5 is widely expected to feature a thinner and lighter design inspired by the advancements made with iPad mini. Hardware specifications are expected to include new 64-bit A7 chip, improved camera and possibly new Touch ID sensor.

There have been many conflicts reports about a second gen iPad mini with retina display. It is unclear if Apple will introduce the new smaller iPad with a high resolution display.

During WWDC Apple showcased a sneak peek at the new Mac Pro. Apple could use today’s event to announce shipping date for the high end Mac for the professionals.

This year Apple is offering a live video feed of the iPad launch event. Live video stream of the event is available on Apple’s website. In order to view live video streaming of the October iPad event you’d require Safari 4 or later on OS X v10.6 or later, Safari on iOS 4.2 or later. Streaming via Apple TV requires second- or third-generation Apple TV with software 5.0.2 or later.

On Wednesday, Apple introduced “The new iPad” (third generation tablet) with a Retina Display coming in at 2048 x 1536 pixels. With iPad 3 Apple aims to redefine the category it created with the original iPad.

The new display on “the new iPad” is retina quality, with indistinguishable pixels when held at the proper 15” viewing angle. The new iPad is powered by the new A5X system-on-chip with quad-core graphics and this display now shows 44% more color saturation than the second gen model.

All of Apple’s stock apps available on the iPad have been updated to work with the Retina Display. As for cameras, the new iPad 3 now be sports 5-megapixel rear camera with advanced optics very similar to the 8-megapixel camera on the iPhone 4S.

HD Video recording up to 1080P is now standard and Apple has also brought over Voice Dictation into the keyboard from the iPhone 4S. Cellular models of the iPad now not only support 3G networks from carriers but now have 4G LTE capabilities. Rumors of 4G LTE enabled iPads were floating around for quite some time prior to the event. The iPad now supports data speeds of up to 21 Mbps on HSPA+, 42 Mbps on dual-carrier HSPA+, and 73 Mbps on LTE.

4G connectivity allows iPad users to browse significantly faster than they have in the past. LTE partners include AT&T and Verizon in the United States and Rogers, Telus, and Bell in Canada, however, due to separate network offerings, AT&T and Verizon will require two different models to operate.

The new iPad, with its higher resolution screen, faster processor and better cameras has still retained the same 10 hour battery life on Wi-Fi and 9 hours on 4G LTE. The new iPad is now slightly thicker than the iPad 2 and slightly heavier but offers many more features coming in at 0.6 mm thicker than the iPad 2 at 9.4 mm thick, and weighs 1.4 pounds versus the 1.33 pound iPad 2.

All other aspects of the iPad remain the same including pricing, coming in at $499/$599/$699 for Wi-Fi models and $629/$729/$829 for 4G LTE models, with capacities coming in at 16 GB, 32 GB, and 64 GB. As rumored, the new iPad will be available on March 16th in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia.

iPad 3 rumors have reached an all time high as the release date for Apple’s third gen tablet nears. iPad 3 keynote event will kick off on March 7th at 10 AM in San Francisco and details about the launch event continue to leak.

According to a new report published by DigiTimes, during iPad 3 launch event Apple is expected to introduce 8GB iPad 2 model in addition to 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB iPad 3 models. This move could be seen as Apple’s attempt to lower the price of entry level iPad thus making if more affordable.

We are familiar with Apple’s strategy to offer previous gen iPhone in 8GB model while the new iPhone models are made available at higher price points with more storage. The report oddly does not mention 64GB iPad model, it only mentions iPad 3 in 16GB and 32GB variation.

As Apple has scheduled an event on March 7, sources from its upstream supply chain pointed out that the company is expected to launch two iPad 3 models – a 16GB version and 32GB version.

In addition to iPad 3, Apple is also expected to unveil an 8GB iPad 2, allowing the tablet PC series to cover different segments and to defend against Windows 8-based tablet PCs, the sources noted.

While most rumors in the past have centered around iPad 3, DigiTimes brings focus to Apple’s strategy for its second gen tablet. 8GB iPad 2 would help the Cupertino, Calif. based company to create product differentiation and at a lower price point Apple would be able to grab a much larger share of the tablet market.

It will be interesting to see if Apple lowers the price of iPad 2 and offers 8GB model. Let us know what you think in the comments below.

During WWDC 2010 when Steve Jobs unveiled the new iPhone 4 Facetime video calling features he mentioned that Apple will ship “10’s of millions FaceTime devices is 2010″ It was very clear from that statement that we’ll see the iPod touch and iPad include Facetime too.

There have been numerous rumors about the second gen iPad and if one studies Apple’s product cycle then it would be easy to guess the upcoming features of the new iPad. Digitimes earlier reported that Apple will have an ARM Cortex-A9 based SoC for the next iPad, boost the RAM, include retina display and feature gyroscope.

Appleinsider is reporting that “Apple’s iPad is unlikely to endure the company’s traditional 12-month product cycle for iOS device refreshes before seeing its first major enhancements” They further added that Facetime video call features for iPad have “already progressed to the advanced testing stages”

Even though their source claimed that Apple could possibly launch the new tablet device “ahead of this year’s holiday shopping season” it will be interesting to see if Apple will hold another special event in spite of continuing strong iPad sales.

Newsy.com has posted a great video which summarizes the rumors very well. Check it out!

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