Like Jell-O, there's always room for iPad rumors. And the latest gossip concerning Apple's mega-popular tablet is a doozy: the iPad 3 will feature a 3D display, although it's unclear if we're talking about one that won't require those clunky glasses.
This rumor is courtesy the RCR Wireless blog, which was tipped off by a "Hollywood insider close to the big movie studios."
"The fact that the iPad 3 is 3D is a dead cert," the LA studio source told RCRWireless, which posted the rumor Tuesday. Major film studios are scurrying to create 3D content in time for Apple's launch of the third-generation iPad, the source said.
Meanwhile, Taiwan-based manufacturer Foxconn, which builds a lot of Apple gear, has apparently been quite chatty about Apple's plans for a 3D-enabled iPad. In fact, the company "has already spilled the 3D iPad beans to several of our close industry sources," reports RCR.
If true, Apple's 3D ambitions may be similar to those of other tablet players. Then again, the iPad's 3D implementation may be quite unique. The LG Optimus Pad, an 8.9-inch Android Honeycomb slate, can record video in 3D, and port 3D content via its HDMI port to a 3D TV. And Research In Motion's BlackBerry PlayBook platform can output stereoscopic 3D visuals to a larger display, as shown in this concept demo.
Of course, with the recent launch of the iPad 2, it's likely that we won't see the iPad 3 until sometime next year. Until then, it's always fun to speculate on what Apple's cooking up.
Contact Jeff Bertolucci via Twitter (@jbertolucci) or at jbertolucci.blogspot.com.
Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.