Apple's iPad 3 expected to debut March 7

The highly-anticipated next generation iPad could be announced in just one month

The next Apple event has been set for one month from today and many are betting that the iPad 3 will be the the guest of honor.

Apple consumers have been pleading to know when the next generation of the iPad would hit the market almost since the iPad 2 launched March 10 of last year -- and one year later, AllThingsD has heard from its sources, the next iPad will make its debut at the March event in San Francisco. [Update: Apple said on Feb. 28 that its iPad 3 will be released on March 7]

While there is no word how soon after the event, the devices will hit stores or even if the iPad 3 will definitely garner that name -- some suspect there could be an iPad 2 HD in the pipeline before an iPad 3, everyone is having a great time speculating just what new features the tablet device will offer to continue to corner the mobile market.

The iPad 3 is expected have a higher resolution screen, greater speed, an A6 quad-core CPU and improved optics for the rear-mounted camera and possibly greater social media integration and Siri capabilities.

Apple reported in its latest quarterly earnings report that it sold 15.4 million iPads -- heads and tails above the others in the tablet market. Since the iPad 2 came into the marketplace a year ago, tablets have become the must have mobile device for every family -- with nearly one million Kindles sold each of the three weeks leading up to Christmas. 

On the heels of the best quarter earnings report in Apple history, with profit up 117% (73% in revenue) over the first quarter of 2011, Apple will be looking to make an even bigger spectacle in its first post-earnings event.

The last Apple event, a smaller gathering in New York last month, focused on upping the publishing and content available on the iPad and the new iBooks 2 and Author functions would help boost the textbook arena for the device.

In the event, Apple released some interesting numbers about the use of iPads in the learning arena. Apple's Marketing SVP announced that 20,000 learning apps had already been built for the iPad platform.

“Education is deep in our DNA, and it has been since the very beginning,” said Phil Schiller, Apple’s SVP of Worldwide Marketing. 

More than 1.5 million iPads are currently in use in educational institutions and schools -- a number that is only set to increase as more parents, teachers and institutions add iPad to the school year shopping lists and budgets.

Authors, using the new iBooks Author tool, will be able to create rich interaction for learning and integrate different types of media in order to create a new way to interact with educational material. Imagine students able to read the chapter on nutriton and then being able to click on video, pictures and diagrams that they could interact with. 

When the iPad 3 finally drops, we can expect for there to be more reading and education integration in order for the device to seem synonomous with scholarly effort.

Mark your calendar, because something iPad related will be happening March 9.