Yes, iPad 2 hasn't even been released or even announced yet, and today there are rumors of an iPad 3 landing this fall going around. Personally, I don't believe it. Read on to find out why.

Today John Gruber of Daring Fireball posted about the HP Touchpad announcement today with a few comments.

Summer feels like a long time away. If my theory is right, they’re not only going to be months behind the iPad 2, but if they slip until late summer, they might bump up against the release of the iPad 3. And not only did they announce this with a distant ship date, they did it with no word on pricing.

As you might have guessed, people are really reading into this. Everyone seems to think John Gruber may know that the iPad 3 is coming out this fall because he specifically said the Touchpad launch, depending on when in the summer it does launch, could be right behind the iPad 3. MG Siegler of TechCrunch has added fuel to the fire by stating:

A few days ago, we heard from a very good source that Apple was assembling the pieces for a “big fall surprise”. While intriguing, that could obviously mean anything. But the “surprise” part clearly means it’s something beyond the regular iPod/iTunes (and perhaps MacBook Air) refreshes that Apple does in the fall. [...] But Apple has a history of not resting on their laurels. That’s perhaps the key reason why they’ve been so successful in recent years. And that’s exactly why they strike with the iPad 3 in the fall.

 It may be true that Apple doesn't rest on their laurels, but Apple also has yet to release an iPod or iPhone outside of its annual refresh cycle and I don't suspect Apple would do that with the iPad. Not to mention they would have a lot of pissed off iPad 2 buyers if the third-generation tablet comes out just months after the second-generation.

One could argue that the tablet competition is rapidly heating up so Apple needs to keep up even if that means breaking out of that annual refresh cycle. I say, iPhone generated the same amount of competition in smartphones. Apple keeps up in the form of software updates. iPhone 4 was released in June with iOS 4.0. iOS 4.1 came out in September, iOS 4.2 in November, and now iOS 4.3 is due very shortly. All of these came with new features and bug fixes.

Bottom line, let's put this rumor to rest.

Update (6:45p): Of course after I post this, I find that John Gruber has posted some additional thoughts on the potential for an iPad 3 in the fall.

iPad 3, shipping in September, announced at the annual iPod event. Running iOS 5.1, same as the next-generation iPod Touch. How could Apple release a third-generation iPad just six months or so after the second one? Maybe it won’t be an actual next generation model. Maybe it’s more like an iPad 2.5, or iPad 2 Pro — a new higher-end model that sits atop the iPad product family, not a replacement for the iPad 2 models (which, of course, haven’t even been released yet).

That sounds much more plausible. It could be possibly a 7" model that can be added to make an iPad line or maybe just a more powerful model priced a bit higher. Just please let's stop these iPad 3 rumors.