Will the iPad 3 underwhelm?

Apple wants to blow us all away with the iPad 3, says Roger Cheng at CNET. "But it probably won't." Whether it's called the iPad 3 or the iPad HD, most of the details surrounding the new tablet's best features will have leaked before the curtains are at last raised for an unveiling in San Francisco on Wednesday. Yes, the tablet will probably boast the high-definition "retina" display Apple has long been promising. Yes, it's likely to have an improved camera and a suped-up processor. But with affordable Androids flying off the shelves, and promising Windows 8 gadgets coming soon, Apple's new iPad might actually be met with disappointment from the techies who are constantly clamoring for something newer, better, and shinier. Will the iPad 3 underwhelm?

Don't expect to be wowed: A better screen and a few other improvements might be "enough to draw the Apple faithful and sell a ton of iPads," says Roger Cheng at CNET. But the much-hyped gadget could still "fall short versus some of the other devices in the market." Consider the $200 Kindle Fire and its impressive Silk browser, or the super-fast Asus Transformer Prime and its quad-core processor. The "gap between Apple and its rivals isn't as wide as most people think," and the relatively ho-hum iPad 3 isn't likely to turn that gap into a chasm.

"iPad rivals catching up: Can iPad 3 keep them at bay?"

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Plus, Microsoft is catching up to Apple: "There's a convergence afoot between the mobile and desktop worlds," says Devindra Hardawar at VentureBeat. "Thanks to the rise of smartphones and tablets, we want to touch and swipe all the screens we come across." Microsoft's Windows 8 is "ready for a world where laptops and desktops sport touchscreen displays," and where tablets "can do everything a Windows desktop can." Apple's products aren't nearly as seamless, and adding a "nicer screen" to the new iPad does nothing to address this fundamental problem.

"What we expect from the iPad 3 (and why Apple should be worried about Windows 8)"

Huh? Apple will still trounce its competitors: "Who wants an iPad 3?" says Connie Guglielmo at Forbes. "A lot of people, it seems." A recent survey indicated that 42 percent of iPad users want to upgrade to the new model. And Apple has sold more than 55 million iPads since the device was introduced in 2010. Some analysts predict the company could sell that many tablets this year alone. Do the math — Apple will be just fine.

"Who Wants an iPad 3?"