Bloomberg is reporting that production of iPad 3 has started and Apple will launch the new tablet in March. Bloomberg posted the following about upcoming iPad 3:

Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s next iPad, expected to go on sale in March, will sport a high-definition screen, run a faster processor and work with next-generation wireless networks, according to three people familiar with the product.

The company’s manufacturing partners in Asia started ramping up production of the iPad 3 this month and plan to reach full volumes by February, said one of the people, who asked not to be named because the details aren’t public. The tablet will use a quad-core chip, an enhancement that lets users jump more quickly between applications, two of the people said.

Apple is bringing LTE to the iPad before the iPhone because the tablet has a bigger battery and can better support the power requirements of the newer technology, said one of the people.

The new display is capable of greater resolution than the current iPad, with more pixels on its screen than some high- definition televisions, the person said. The pixels are small enough to make the images look like printed material, according to the person. Videos begin playing almost instantly because of the additional graphics processing, the person said.

Foxconn is manufacturing the new iPad, with rumors that Pegatron is the second manufacturing partner. Mass production of iPad 3 started this month and will then ramp up to peak manufacturing capacity in February after China’s Lunar New Year holiday.

In other iPad related news, Cult of Mac is reporting that contrary to popular belief of iPad 3 being slightly thicker than iPad2, they have heard at CES that iPad 3 will be thinner than iPad 2. John Brownlee wrote on Cult of Mac:

A major accessory manufacturer already working on iPad 3 cases has told Cult of Mac the upcoming device is measurably more svelte than the iPad 2, despite the fact that the iPad 2 is already Apple’s thinnest profile iOS device.

Case makers have been wrong about Apple products before, like the recent iPhone 5 fiasco where many case makers were producing cases for a thinner, bigger iPhone model, even though Apple had no plans of releasing such a product in 2011. But we do agree with Cult of Mac’s conclusion that if we follow Apple’s design pattern for past 5-10 years they have always decreased the thickness of the gadget with each iteration.

iPad 3 will be a very interesting update with the ultra high-resolution display, quad core processor and LTE support. And if Apple could make it thinner and maybe bit lighter that much better.