The word comes from Digitimes, of course, the site that's plugged in to the Asian supply chain like nobody's business.
Foxconn, Apple's major manufacturing partner, is also said to be starting production on the iPad 3 in January with the serious quantities ramping up in February and expected to meet the heady heights of 9.5 to 9.8 million units over the course of Q1 2012.
Read more at: http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/tablets/ipad-3-to-land-in-3-4-months--1047189