PluggedIn

The wait is nearly over folks, the iPad 3 is almost here. Well, it is according to the latest titbits rolling off the rumour mill production line.

The release date for Apple’s next-gen iPad has generally always been thought to be in the spring at some point, going on Apple’s release-date history.

And the latest rumours are now suggesting that it will be an early spring release, with reports slating the launch for the first week of March.

It is an exciting prospect, as it means that this highly-anticipated device is less than a month away. But we’ve been in this game far too long to take anything at face value.

And whether these rumours come from a website or blog just trying to make a name for itself, or from Apple trying to keep up the hype ahead of a release, they can go around the web in seconds.

There seems to be a new one almost every day. So how do these rumours get started? And what do you need to get all us techies talking?

A trusted source

It’s no use just saying ‘I heard that’, or ‘apparently’; you need something a little more official to lend weight to your claims.

So instead of ‘my mate Dave thinks…’, try ‘a trusted source with connections inside Apple said…’. And then there’s the fact that you can’t possibly name your source, otherwise they’ll never tell you anything again. It’s win-win.

A photo or two

The latest iPad 3 snaps doing the rounds apparently show the back of the iPad 3’s casing. People have been pouring over them (us included), trying to see what they can gather from the shots.

They look fairly genuine, but could just as easily be photos of a rejected prototype, a modified iPad 2, or simply fake. If you go down this route, make sure the photos are grainy so people can’t read too much into them.

An outlandish claim

If you want your rumour to go global, then you can’t go wrong with a bold statement of some crazy new features.

Last year we were hearing rumours of 3D technology in the iPad 3; not entirely unbelievable but, as it turns out, complete fantasy.