If the iPad 3 actually comes out in March, it would be just weeks after Sony launches the Vita.

Apple will show off the long expected iPad 3 the first week of March, alleges AllThingsD, a publication that has reliably predicted Apple media events a few weeks in advance in the past.

For all the rumors and speculation about Apple, the company often works in predictable cycles. The iPad was announced on January 2010, the iPad 2 was revealed on March 2011 and previous reports had pegged the first news on the iPad 3 for early this year.

The Loop, another reliable source of Apple information in the past, gave AllThingsD’s report a thumbs up.

What the iPad 3 features other than updated hardware specifications remains to be seen, but it’s largely expected it will sport a much improved “Retina display,” first introduced with the iPhone 4.

The screen resolution would be much higher--rumored at 2048×1536--which would be really pretty.

The turnaround from announcement to release on Apple products is usually pretty quick. The iPad was announced in January and released in April, while the iPad 2 was announced in March and released...later in March.