Apple iPad 3 event: as it happened Almost half - 44 per cent - of you say you're likely to buy the new model. You can read our news story here: Apple unveils new iPad with 'Retina' display 9.55pm For those of you wondering about Android tabets versus the new iPad, this is the verdict of app developer Derek Byrne of Virtual Universe: "The iPad is the tablet equivalent of a German sports car - blisteringly fast and with no requirement from its owner to do anything more than enjoy the ride. Yet even the best Android tablets still have more than a whiff of the kit car. Fast though they may be, prospective owners should be prepared to get greasy under the bonnet. 9.44pm Analysts at Forrester are sold on the iPad too: "Apple's insistence on blending hardware innovation with services innovation will keep the iPad at the front of the tablet pack for the forseeable future," writes Sarah Rotman Epps in a new blog post. Forrester forecasts that 112 Americans - one-third of US adults - will own a tablet by 2016. 9.30pm Unscientific poll update. At the moment, the largest proportion of you are sold on the new iPad. That may be unsurprising, given you have been reading a live blog about it, but there you have it. At the moment 44 per cent of you say the third iteration has finally convinced you to buy a tablet. Vote below. Will you buy a new iPad? 9.19pm The Lucan-like mystery of the missing "iPad 3" is solved, thanks to Miguel Helft of Fortune, who was granted an audience with Apple's marketing kingpin Phil Schiller. 9.11pm Video time. Apple has made one of its very tasteful adverts for the new iPad: 9.05pm Despite the irrelevance of the new iPad's 4G connectivity to Britons, analyst Andy Castonguay, of Informa Telecoms & Media thinks it's the most important update the device contains. Strategically, the most important updates were those made to its wireless technology, adding a strong array of mobile connectivity including HSPA+ for global markets and LTE, initially targeting the US market. The addition of LTE will provide the new version with considerable marketing support from US mobile operators AT&T and Verizon Wireless as they continue their efforts to drive greater adoption of their 4G networks. Given the considerable increase in pricing tiers for the new iPad, mobile operator subsidies and marketing support will be important to sustain Apple's tablet sales trajectory. 8.58pm Enough rumour-mongering. For anyone just catching up, here's our news story on Apple's new iPad. Apple has announced its new iPad, which adds an improved display, a faster processor and an upgraded camera to the leading tablet computer. Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive, announced the new iPad at an Apple event in San Francisco. He described the device as the flagship among the company's "post-PC" products. 8.51pm Yesterday we gave you a gripping guide to the pre-event rumours. Now it's time to judge those rumours. A catalogue section in the App Store. This wasn't mentioned in the presentation. It's probably true, but definitely dull. Improved display. Ding ding! Correct. Improved processor. A new smart case. Nope. Apple TV. True-ish. Not the all-singing Apple-branded internet TV some expected, but an incremental improvement to the exisiting product. Ho hum. 4G connectivity. Yes but, sadly for Brits, useless. The mini iPad. This hardy perennial never fails to disappoint. And we didn't mention it yesterday, but we'd like to give an honorable mention to the outlandish rumours that the new iPad would include haptic touch technology, allowing it to produce the sensation of texture despite its glassy screen. This would have been a genuine first. But alas, not yet. 8.40pm Ever wondered what the bit of an Apple media event where the hacks get to try out the new gadgets is like? No? Fair. Well, anyway, it's a lot like an Apple store, with people gathered round tables, staring blankly: 8.30pm Pre-orders are now live at the Apple Store, according to some websites, the store is still down for us. 8.20pm Our man at the Apple event, Shane Richmond has filed a feature for tomorrow's newspaper. Here's a sneak preview of the article, which will also appear in full online in the morning: 8.05pm Apple's press release has just confirmed UK prices for the new iPad - available in black or white on Friday, March 16 for a suggested retail price of £399 inc VAT for the 16GB model, £479 for the 32GB model and £559 for the 64GB model. Add £100 for 4G. Pre-orders open today, and the iPad 2 is now £329 for 16GB Wi-Fi £429 with 3G. It's not clear who would want a 4G iPad in the UK, where no such network exists and won't on any extensive basis for at least 18 months, but there you have it. 8.05pm Prepare to be unscientifically polled. As it were. 7.58pm Back to absolute trivia. The new iPad's name - "The New iPad" - is generating a lot of debate. Some are suggesting that an "iPad 3" with 4G connectivity could have confused consumers. Others point out that Apple doesn't number iterations of its laptops or desktops, so perhaps it wants to move its mobile branding away from the geekier numbered nomenclature. Will there ever be an iPhone 5? Oh my... 7.55pm While the fanboys salivate, it's worth recalling that Apple has been under fire recently for its use of low cost Chinese labour under sometimes appalling conditions. Mike Daisey, a self-confessed "former worshiper in the Cult of Mac," has written for the New York Daily News: Apple can't deny problems exist - it has paid an outside organization to inspect its factories, even though its own inspections have shown widespread problems for years. It is hoping that the public will forget about the suicide nets stretched between the buildings to catch workers who try to kill themselves. 7.48pm Like most observers, Adrian Kingley-Hughes of ZDNet thinks the new ipad is bad news for Apple's already-struggling Android competition. He's listed his reasons: This iPad refresh is bad news for Android tablets on a number of fronts: The iPad has a tremendous graphics advantage over Android tablets, even ones powered by NVIDIA's Tegra 3 processor. Apple claims the A5 chip in the iPad 2 had twice as much graphics power as the Tegra 3. The new A5X has four times the graphics power. - Screen density will blow away the competition. - Price is exactly what consumers expected it to be. No nasty surprises. - Awesome battery life for a high-end device. - Availability is a little over a week away, not weeks or months like many tablets. - The 16GB iPad 2 will continue to be sold at a reduced price of $399 for the WiFi model and $529 for the WiFi+3G ... that's a clever ploy that helps stitch up the mid-range market. 7.40pm Journalists are just starting to get the first chance to play with the new iPad, and The Verge reckon it's impressive - but that it will take some serious gaming to form a judgement at this stage. Our own Shane Richmond will be sending his views over in the very near future. 7.33pm Reaction is starting to pour in. The announcement pretty much stuck to the script, and the entertainment industry is pleased. Here's Liz Bales of the Industry Trust for IP Awareness: The launch of the iPad 3 is great news for the audio-visual industry. In the last year alone we've seen a whole host of new film, video and TV apps for tablet devices enter the market, from Blinkbox to Crackle. We expect the iPad 3 to drive even more demand for these, as people explore how to get the most from their top-end devices and capitalise on the growing wealth of legal film and TV services available online. We hope the halo effect of this will be to tempt those who currently use illegal sites to enjoy the innovative and flexible benefits these official services offer. 7.25pm Apple has just wrapped up its keynote: the new iPad features a better processor, the A5X, a Retina Display, voice dictation and an improved camera. A series of better apps are released too, and the highlight looks to be picture editor iPhoto. But it's name is a big surprise: it's called 'new iPad'. 7.20pm News just in: iPad 2 will remain on sale - a boon for those who wanted a cheaper iPad. In the USA it will be $399, and the new iPad will start at $499. 7.15pm An interesting quote from Phil Schiller: "Don't let anyone ever tell you that you can't create on an iPad," he says. That's basically Intel's whole marketing strategy for the new (impressive) ultrabook laptops. 7.10pm We're getting a detailed demonstration of the new iPhoto app. It looks quites impressive, taking full advantage of that new A5X chip and its four cores. British analyst Benedict Evans saw this coming: 7.07pm Phil Schiller shows off the difference between the iPad 2 screen and the new iPad (still no name!) retina display (right): 7.05pm Apple is introducing iPhoto, its sophisticated image editing software, for the iPad. It looks like the Photo app's days are numbered. 7.01pm Shane Richmond has news of an either exciting or depressing new feature of GarageBand, depending on your point of view: GarageBand demo shows 'jam session', four people sitting round a coffee table with iPads, each playing a different 'instrument'. 6.58pm Updates to iMovie and GarageBand are emphasising that Apple's iPad is meant to be all the computer many users will need - an entire HD digital video can now be filmed, edited and published with the iPad. 6.54pm Unfortunately, it looks like our reader poll's top request has not been met - the iPad will be the same price, and no word yet on making the current iPad 2 available for less either. Business apps Keynote, Pages and Numbers are all being updated to take advantage of the retina display, however. 6.50pm Three demos to show off the capabilities of the new iPad's imporved processor - two games, including Infinity Blade: Dungeons, and a sketching app, but not the one beloved of David Hockney. 6.44pm The new, still nameless, iPad is slightly thicker and slightly heavier: 8.8mm goes up to 9.4mm and and 1.3lb to 1.4lb. But same price, same battery life. 6.40pm Prices and battery life unchanged for the new iPad, despite the upgrades. But there's still no name - if the rumours are true, maybe it'll be called iPad Touch. It'll start at £399, (16GB, WiFi) up to £649 (64GB, 3G/WiFi). Available from 16 March. 6.35pm Apple is using their favourite service, Vimeo, for videos, and also announcing that the new iPad will have LTE - which is much faster than the mobile networks we have here in Britain. 6.35pm Here's Tim Cook announcing the new iPad, which we still don't have a name for: 6.33pm Voice dictation also added to iPad 3, further emphasising Siri-type functions. 6.32pm Apple press release confirms new Apple TV will be £99; available from March 16. 6.29pm Apple's new iPad has a new 5MP camera with auto-exposure and auto-focus, as well as that Retina Display and updated A5X processor. 6.24pm Apple has confirmed the new iPad - features high definition 'Retina Display' at 2048 x 1536 pixels and new quad-core A5X processor. Phil Schiller says it has more 'over a million more' pixels than an HDTV in your living room. This, like Asus's Transformer 3 Android tablet, is more than the human eye can see. Phil Schiller: Images just pop out. They are so much more colourful and richer in their detail. 6.20pm We're onto the iPad now - it sold more than any rival PC maker's entire range, Tim Cook tells us. Apple is castigating the Twitter's app on a Samsung Tablet - 'like a blown-up smartphone app'. 6.15pm Here's Shane Richmond: New Apple TV pre-orders from today, available next week. Still $99 (so still £99 in the UK, I'm guessing). 6.13pm Apple updates Apple TV - boss Eddie Cue says it has a sharper, easier to read interface, and it now incorporates the 'Genius' music recommendation tool for films. It will automatically sync with photos taken on your iPhone, and now supports 1080p HD, and iTunes' Genius recommendation engine now covers movies. 6.10pm Apple announces iOS 5.1 - an update to the operating system that runs iPod, iPad and iPod Touhc. It will bring Siri, the personal assistant, to Japan, and is available today. 6.07pm Here's Apple's CEO and Steve Jobs' successor, Tim Cook, as he takes to the stage: 6.03pm We're getting the standard Apple opening to a keynote - a restatement of the company's beliefs combined with some sales figures and data on how well they are doing. Which is pretty well, all told. Cook also is promoting Apple's big new shops in Amsterdam and Grand Central Station, New York. 6.01pm Here we go. Our man Shane Richmond is at the satellite event in London. Tim Cook is speaking in front of the Apple logo and a splash of colour. "We're talking about a world where the PC is no longer the centre of your digital world but rather just a device," he says. Cook calls the iPad, iPhone and iPod "blockbuster post-PC products." 5.51pm We all know what to expect from an Apple event by now, don't we? If not, the masters of the spurious list of arbitrary length, Mashable, have put together "11 Moments To Expect." One more thing? A staple of Jobs keynotes, the last-minute surprise was lacking in Cook's unveiling of the iPhone 4S. Perhaps this is a permanent change, a recognition that no one could carry it off like Steve. But if there is one more thing, it might be the ideal moment to reveal the new Apple TV box - or maybe, just maybe, the fabled iTV - and showcase its ability to connect seamlessly with the new iPad. 5.43pm US journalists are in the building in San Francisco and tweeting their impressions. Here's Miguel Helft of Fortune: 5.35pm To return to Apple's Chinese concerns for a moment, we've just seen a picture of Proview's factory in Shenzhen, Guandong Province. It's not exactly a going concern: As the banks indicated below, the firm has been in financial trouble for some time, and its trademark attack on Apple appears to be a near-final throw of the dice. Wounded animals can be the most dangerous though. There's probably some sort of Chinese proverb or Sun Tzu quote along those lines. Steve Jobs would know. 5.20pm We've had some more analysis from IHS, who normally have their finger on the pulse of Apple's supply chain in the Far East. According to their sources, the new iPad's "Retina" screen will be made by Sharp using new IGZO (Indium, Gallium, Zinc Oxide) TFT technology that will allow it to offer increased resolution - without needing to cut back on brightness to conserve battery life. That sounds super. However, Sharp having some problems with manufacturing the panels, which could limit supplies early on, we're told. Here's IHS: Sharp now is working to ramp up the production of IGZO TFT panels at its Gen 8 fab in Kameyama, Japan, but the company is experiencing manufacturing problems that could affect both the availability of displays for a full rollout of the new iPad, as well as the cost of the iPad displays. In addition to Sharp, the panel suppliers for the iPad 3 are believed to be Samsung Display and LG Display. "Apple is likely to incur a significant price premium for using the higher-resolution display in the new iPad," Jakhanwal said. However, manufacturers are expected to grant discounts, especially because Apple, in all likelihood, has made investments in display makers like LG, Sharp and Toshiba Mobile Display. By investing in its partners, Apple not only can mitigate these costs to a degree, but it also can be assured of the availability and quality of the displays. 5.05pm Our head of technology editorial Shane Richmond has left Telegraph Towers for Apple's London satellite event near King's Cross station. The event won't be streamed online, so Shane will be providing this live blog with updates from the event. So stay tuned for 6pm. 4.59pm It's often noted that while the reponse to the iPhone from Apple's rivals was swift and successful, they have so far had no real answer to the iPad, which remains the dominant tablet. The Kindle Fire looks like it may have a chance to change that, but for other Andorid manufacturers, who don't have Amazon's content business to back up their devices, the outlook appears quite bleak and set to get worse if Apple takes the technology lead today. CNN has had a look at the issue today, and it's worth a read. One year after the iPad's debut, more than 100 non-iPad tablets were on sale or in the works. But by then, Apple was already onto the iPad 2 -- and most of the would-be contenders never even made it to market. Those that did were almost all dead on arrival. As a Samsung executive put it bluntly last month: "Honestly, we're not doing very well in the tablet market." 4.45pm Away from its expertly-choreographed media event, Apple is still fumbling its way through the Chinese municipal court system in a trademark dispute with Proview, a Taiwanese firm that says it owns rights to "IPAD." The Financial Times has news today of the latest twist (£), which sees a group of banks take aim at Apple's claim it bought the rights from Proview in 2009. He Jun Vanguard Group, a consultancy that represents Proview Shenzhen's eight Chinese creditor banks, said on Wednesday that since the banks had taken control of Proview's assets in March 2009, it would have been illegal for the company to sell the trademark at the time. Apple closed a deal nine months later with a sister company of Proview Shenzhen, under which the US company claims to have acquired the China trademark. The dispute is potentially important for Apple not only because China is a big and growing market for the iPad, but because the device is manufactured there. Any import or export restrictions arising from the trademark row could disrupt global supplies. 4.27pm Not everyone's excited about the prospect of yet another incremental technology update from Apple. Here's Brad Stone of Bloomberg Business Week with a note of humbug: 4.10pm When Apple launched the iPhone 4S last year, its share of the global smartphone market was slipping, but the updated device reversed that trend and powered the firm to record-breaking quarterly results. Analysts raved that the firm had "achieved the impossible." This time, they're fully expecting an update to the iPad to push back the (albeit smallish) market share gains that Android tablets have made. Here's a take from IMS Research, which forecasts the iPad's market share will rise from 62 per cent to 70 per cent on the back of today's event: IMS Research forecasts that approximately 70 million iPads will be shipped in 2012, which would represent a 71% year-on-year growth. Gerry Xu, PC Market Analyst at IMS Research says, "There is a large customer base loyal to Apple products that have been waiting for the latest tablet. Many owners of the iPad 1 are also expected to upgrade to the latest release. In addition to this consumer demand, growth is also forecast as a result of sales into enterprise and education. Whilst Apple is forecast to enjoy increased success, the market is becoming increasingly competitive for the other tablet vendors. "Only modest growth was forecast for non-iPad tablets," Xu adds. Of these, the Kindle Fire from Amazon and several Win8 tablets, which will be released in late 2012, are forecast to be most successful. However, to date there is no significant threat to the iPad's continued dominance in the tablet market. In fact, the share of Android tablets is forecast to fall from 35% in 2011 to 26% in 2012. 3.52pm Here's the scene down at the Church of Apple, the Yerba Buena Center for Arts, in San Francisco. Looks like a another rather nice day there. 3.40pm Williams here to take over for a bit. I think it's a safe (ish) bet that the "And touch" bit of Apple's invite to today's event does indeed refer to some sort of haptic tech. Nothing about the firm's marketing materials is accidental, and haptic is the cutting edge of touch screen technology. Charles Arthur at The Guardian has been polishing his crystal ball on this one and has fingered a Finnish company called Senseg as a potential tech provider for a haptic iPad screen. He also explains how it works, which is useful. The suspicion is that the company which has provided the technology is Senseg, a Finnish startup whose executives have in the past few days become increasingly reticent about discussing any contact that they might or might not have with Apple. Pocket-lint.com meanwhile rang Senseg and was told "we won't be making any statements until after Apple's announcement" by a spokesperson who obviously hasn't studied at the Steve Jobs School of Corporate Trappism. 3.05pm The Apple Store has now been taken offline, as is the usual way with Apple's major announcements. It's also step one of the Keynote Bingo. Big and exciting as Apple events are, not everybody takes them completely seriously... Apple's Store is down in preparation for the new product announcement 2.30pm The rumours may be all about the new features, but according to our poll the single most important thing readers would like is for the iPad to be cheaper. 2.20pm It's looking likely that Apple will release the new iPad on 16 March, according to 9to5Mac - but UK release dates a usually a bit later. The 30th looks likely for Britain, at the earliest. Whenever it is, it's a fair bet that users will be queuing round the block. For the iPad 2, the queue started 33 hours in advance. 1.45pm Searches for the iPad 3 now account for 1 in every 2000 web queries - consumer interest in the company appears to be insatiable. According to Experian Hitwise UK, searches have rocketed recently, but the graph below reveals that interest dates back to last year - and what's the most popular iPad app? Angry Birds of course.