HispanicBusiness

Apple is to launch a new model of its genre defining iPad tablet computer in March, according to a report Thursday in the Wall Street Journal's All Things D blog.

The posting said that Apple will announce the new device in the first week of March at an event to be held in San Francisco. There was no indication of when the new device would go on sale.

The iPad 3 will be similar in appearance to Apple's current tablet computer. The big difference will be a much faster chip, improved graphics processing and a 2048Ã_1536 Retina Display.

Apple is hoping the new device will help it preserve its dominance of the tablet computer market in the face of growing competition from multiple devices running Google's Android operating system.

Tablet computers running Microsoft's Windows 8 software are also expected to present a major challenge when they hit the market late in the year.

Apple sold 15.4 million iPads in the recent holiday quarter, compared to 10.5 million Android tablets sold in the same period by a plethora of manufacturers such as Samsung, Amazon and Asus, according to research firm Strategy Analytics.